BASIC 4WD COURSE  31/10/09 TO 01/11/09

Thank you everyone for the weekend, and Peter I guess we'll talk about the sharing of the car on weekends away now.

This was my first time ever four wheel driving, so as you can imagine I was a little nervous and apprehensive. With the patient guidance of Peter and the support of the more experienced drivers and girls I completed every obstacle over the weekend bar one, and once we'd done that I thought I could have done it anyway.

So now I have done, steep ascents, steep descents, snatch strap recovery in all three capacities (being recovered, recovering and supervisor), driven through lots of mud holes, stall start recoveries, and more. Now the stall start recovery was so easy, once I got over thinking I'm not letting my foot off the brake on this steep hill, and did what I was told, the descent was so controlled and safe.

I only got really stuck once where I had to be snatch strapped out, with more experience I imagine that I would have gotten through. I did have both front and rear lockers in though. (Think this is where most of the mud came from) It was fun watching the others and either copying them or taking another route. I enjoyed the technical aspect of where to put my wheels to get through each obstacle, and of course the end when I'd made it.

I enjoyed myself so much that Peter only got to drive his car once, and if I hadn't baulked at the one hill he wouldn't have even had that.

So in closing, once I relaxed and remembered to breathe, all was good, it was a challenge but an enjoyable challenge. I look forward to many more trips where I can share the driving, and become more experienced.

Sarah.