The rather late sunrise on Friday morning meant that the  Basic training 2 convoy had to find their way to the meeting point while it was still dark, and cold.

After a somewhat lengthy safety briefing, where many of the group’s questions were answered, we set off to perfect the techniques that were learnt in the previous session. The first leg of the drive, which included a very technical section, was tackled quite commendably by our trainees. As a reward for their good handling of the technical area, the group was treated to some side sloping on dunes with gentle windward slopes, before taking a well deserved break for coffee.

Duriing the second leg of the drive the group was given a lesson on long horizontal side sloping and driving in low gear. The group handled the the descending side slope with ease. The ascending side slope, however, didn’t go so well. Even in low gear, the group struggled to find the appropriate throttle response,  which resulted in a series of second tries. To a large extent this was due to the abscence of a kill switch. I’d love to see this group attempt the same challenge with traction aids completely disabled.

Just as we completed the side sloping lesson in low gear, one of the Fellas started to experience technical problems and was safely escorted out of the desert by our sweeper Trainee.

The rest of the group picked up the pace and took full advantage of the long side slopes along the route to the  exit point. They ascended the dunes at high speed and maintained good convoy discipline while doing it. There are a few basic disciplines that this group still needs to master, but  I have no doubt that they’ll be making light work of much more demanding challenges as they progress through their training.

Thanks Marko for constantly  encouraging and supporting our trainees throughout the trip. Hussam had to double as second lead and sweeper at different stages in the drive and he balanced those roles very admirably.