Training at Whitecliff

[RichardAllen]

Yesterday I completed Stage 3 Off-road 4x4 Driving Winching at Whitecliff Quarry in the Forest of Dean, near Gloucester. I had previously done Stages (Introduction) and Stage 2 (Advanced), and had a great day.

The emphasis on the previous stages was very much on how to drive so you do not get stuck, and over the intervening two years, I have regularly gone laning in all weathers on my own in Gloucestershire, Cumbria, Surrey, Devon and Ireland with no significant troubles. Yesterday I did the driving and recovery course aimed more at people doing expeditions.

Yesterday, as luck would have it, I was the only person who booked a course , so I had one-on-one instruction from Jim from 9:30am to 6pm with breaks for coffee and lunch. My choice was to use my own 90, though I could have used one of theirs. Since my last training day, I have modified my 90 a fair bit which could change the handling (2nd fuel tank, 80 litre water tank, winch and bumper, big 2nd battery etc, but no changes to standard springs and shocks) so I was keen to see how it now ran.

In the morning, we did a bit of classroom work including seeing some broken drivetrain bits showing what happens when you get it very wrong, and then I was able to catch up on the more difficult driving that you can do in the quarry, but I had not really encountered while laning, After that, at my request we spent about an hour practising failed hill climbs, engine running and engine stalled, on different hills, so now I am fully comfortable with the technique whereas before, I knew how to do them but was not confident.

Over lunch we went through how to calculate the effective resistance for a recovery including vehicle weight, terrain type, gradient and safety factor, and checking to see how to find rating on the gear, various rigging combinations (and some of Jim's curous knots) then it was back out to the quarry again.

We did:

- use of waffle boards, separately and two together

- lift and push over using a hi-lift to get out of a bad cross-axle

- straight line winch recovery from a very sticky pond, including full safety procedures, signalling, passenger safety and so on - I winched Jim's 90 out

- angled uphill recovery using two trees as anchors, including how to estimate if the tree will be strong enough,

- uphill recovery using a single tree , then over to T stakes as a ground anchor and then downhill lowering

- finally a kinetic recovery from another very sticky pond - again I pulled Jim out

lastly I easily drove first time up a tricky slope which had taken me 7 goes last time,

all in all I had a marvellous day and feel fully confident with all the techniques we practised.

I am a firm fan of doing thorough professional training to learn the right way to do things before going out, rather than having to learn purely by my own mistakes and seeing those of others. I can recommend Whitecliff without any hesitation and will certainly take all the drivers for my 1 year expedition (should it ever come off) through the full 3 Stage training I did.

Thanks very much to Jim and Geraldine for an excellent day

I have, of course, no connection with Whiteclif 4x4 other than as a very satisfied customer.

Regards

Richard

[western]

just no subsitute for good training.

[JJB Serenity]

I really want to do this, as with everything in life learning how to do things properly saves time, expense and possibly even lives. I'm well aware of my shortcomings and could benefit from some good training.

have you got a link or some details?

[JJB Serenity]

found it Linky winky

[RichardAllen]

found it Linky winky

That's the one.

[Davedef90]

Do you get a nationally recognised certificate to confirm your newly acquired skills or is it just a cert from White Cliff. If they have gone to the effort of gaining accreditation in offroad instruction, winching instruction then it looks like a very good company to go and see. But if it's just their take on things then I would of looked for other companys.

Most important thing is that you enjoyed yourself and a big bonus was 1 on 1. That is very expensive in the corporate world when training is involved

[RichardAllen]

I got a Whitecliff Certificate.

They do have BORDA instructors which was an initial attraction for me and they do a lot of utilities companies training. They noted a few times that the personal training goes well beyond the utility stuff because you have more time to learn just what your vehicle can do with more difficult driving and less time on the niceties of Provison for Use of Work Equipment Regulations

There is some stuff on their website under Professional 4x4 Training

I cannot speak for Whitecliff 4x4, but I am involved in providing some kinds of training for the Royal Navy Submarine Service and I am acutely aware of the implications on a company of formally certifying that someone is trained do do something, hence, I think the informal certification for private trainees.

Regards

Richard