|
||||
|
Not a very exciting blog post, but one to mention that we have now opened the Overland Training store in conjunction with Expeditions West and Expedition Portal. The October Comprehensive Course is now available for purchase on the store site through the Course Catalog. Or go directly to the store page. cheers The OT team Central America Scouting Trip July 31 – August 14, 2010: $3,200 inclusive No Limit Expeditions is offering a rare opportunity for select individuals to join our preliminary scouting trip across the wilds of Central America. We will spend 14 days traversing jungle tracks through Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica & Panama. This trip will be our chance to map the tracks and trails that will be used in our upcoming season. We will be taking our expedition Land Rover Defender 130 and Land Rover Defender 110’s. We have plotted a route but it is unclear whether this route will be passable for the entire journey. Part of this experience will be the logistics of finding our way and piecing together a puzzle of various rainforest tracks that zigzag their way through remote sections of these countries. It will be a lot of work and we want you to come along as part of our team. This is a rare opportunity to see what goes into the logistics and planning of a real overland expedition. You will be a hands-on participant involved in every aspect of getting these vehicles and ourselves from Belize to the Darien Gap in Panama. We will be bush camping most of the time in rooftop tents and lodges when available. There will be rain, water and lots of mud but most importantly this is a unique chance to see this breathtaking untouched part of the world. Graham Jackson, Director of Overland Training, will join the team as a lead guide for this scouting expedition. We are long time friends of Graham and are very excited to have him on this expedition. Traveling overland with Graham will be a tremendous learning opportunity for everyone. His skills and credentials speak for themselves. We will be documenting the entire trip through video and photos capturing all of our experiences. A video documentary of the expedition will be presented to you upon completion. Participants will fly into Belize City and fly out of Panama City. When arriving in Belize City you will board a charter flight to the remote and beautiful Chan Chich Lodge. This will be our starting point for the expedition. Upon arrival we will have a cocktail meet and greet along with a gourmet dinner and orientation. The next day the adventure begins! The price includes in-country charter flight, food & drink, three nights of luxury accommodation, all camping and park fees, shared use of the NLX Land Rover Defender 110’s and Defender 130. You will also receive the photo & video documentary of the trip when it is complete. This opportunity is open to four adventurous individuals or couples. This trip is also open to people wanting to bring their own vehicles, please contact us for details and pricing. For further details please contact: James Brown, Director No Limit Expeditions The April Overland Training Comprehensive Course was supposed to cater for interested people coming off the Overland Expo. Unfortunately, it didn’t turn out that way, but ended up being attended by a military unit and a reporter. Certainly not ideal. There was some conflict, but in the end we all came to a great compromise and the course turned out very well. It was a modified custom course as the military guys had some specific requirements.  Fantastic scenery  The team sets up for a recovery challenge Ann Lockley covered the course and will be writing about her experience.  Ann climbing out of the river  The convoy stops for a view on the overland route We changed the format of the class slightly, ran more days in the field and had a much longer overland route for the last driving portion of the training.  Graham's Range Rover meets a local  The OT Range Rover in use Links: Ann lockley Jay and Alice of the Muskoka Foundation and builders of the massive (and impressive) Eco-Roamer came to Overland Training for some custom instruction on recovering and driving such a large vehicle. They both have a lot of experience as overlanders, but the Eco-Roamer, by virtue of its size and weight, presents some unique challenges for overland travel.  Eco-Roamer crossing the water The custom training we arranged included driving and recovery components as well as terrain evaluation and awareness and vehicle inspection. Duncan Barbour, stuck in town after the Overland Expo due to the Icelandic volcano was a great help in the training and added his extensive heavy truck experience to the mix.  Duncan discusses line selection with Alice  Alice guides the Eco-Roamer through the water  Alice stowing the winch line after a recovery exercise “Both Alice and I learned a lot, and it was fantastic pushing the EcoRoamer to it’s limits. I think we are now much clearer on the fact that it is not nearly as fragile as we had feared, but clearly a large / heavy vehicle with some substantial limitations,” said Jay after the training.  Maya, perhaps the youngest Overland Training recipiant You can see the build up of the Eco-Roamer at Expedition Portal. Jay also made a great video of the training and posted it to YouTube. Check it out. Links: Overland Training’s Graham Jackson is also the co-organizer with Roseann Hanson of ConserVentures of the annual Overland Expo. The 2010 edition of this event, which brings together the Overland community in North America for training and vendor interfacing, was a massive success. Held in Amado AZ, we had over 100 exhibitors, and 300 people signed up for the Overland Experience package that includes all of the Overland Training courses and sessions. The participants represented 25 US states, 4 Canadian provinces, 10 countries, 5 continents and a subcontinent.  Round tables provided participant contact with some of the top names  The vendor area included some amazing rigs Overland Training organized eight driving and recovery courses for 4-wheeled vehicles, and four for motorcycles. In addition we had 14 hands-on seminars on everything from choosing and setting up an adventure motorcycle to travel medicine and water treatment and 21 class-room seminars on subjects ranging from food storage, to traveling with kids, to communications, to disaster recovery.  Winching demo class.  Recovery class. To run all this we organized 47 instructors and presenters from all over the world, all experts in their fields and avid travelers. Names like Ted Simon (Jupitalia), Lois Pryce (Lois on the Loose), Austin Vince (Mondo Enduro), Tom Collins (Camel Trophy), Duncan Barbour (BATT & Camel Trophy), Sarah Batten (Land Rover Experience), Scott Brown (Chrysler), Bob Burns (Land Rover), Jim West (Camel Trophy), Nick Taylor (Exerro), Bruce Elfstrom (Overland Experts), Jim Hyde (RawHyde Adventures), Kirk Schmitt (RawHyde Adventures), and many others all came together to share their experience and enthusiasm with the overland community.  L to R: Lois Pryce, Austin Vince, Lorraine Chittock, Ted Simon, Guarav Jani Graham had a tremendous amount of help from Duncan Barbour of Barbour All Terrain Tracking and Camel Trophy fame during the event set-up and during the event, so great thanks to Duncan. And thanks again to all the instructors and presenters for their hard work and professionalism, and to Roseann Hanson for her tireless work. Links: So a couple of weekends ago Roseann Hanson, director of the Overland Expo and I went to Amado Arizona to scout routes for the driving sections of the Overland Expo and to finalize plans for the classes and seminars. This year the Overland Expo is going to be a very large event and is the only event of its kind in the world that caters specifically to overlanding. Experts and travel veterans will be converging on Amado, south of Tucson for the three days of the event. There will be a vendor area and classes offered by Overland Training, from driving to cooking to navigation.  Scouting for the driving course The Overland Expo is shaping up to be a stunning event this year. The venue is much better than the fairground we had in Prescott for OX09, and the driving sections will all be out in the desert. That, of course, requires a lot planning from Overland Training. I am working very closely with Roseann to make sure that all of the courses on the schedule are top notch. The instructor list is very impressive this year with notable names like Duncan Barbour, Nick Taylor, Tom Collins, Ted Simon, Austin Vince, Lois Pryce, Bruce Elfstrom and many others. If you would like a pdf list of all the courses and instructors, you can download one here. Once you’ve done that be sure to go to the website and sign up for your courses, or register if you have not yet done so. Courses are filling up fast. Also check out Expedition Portal where Roseann is posting updates on the Event. Overland Expo Website  Beautiful location for a class Overland Training recently completed the February Comprehensive course in Arizona. Much to our surprise the area we do the initial driving and recovery training was completely changed due to massive water flow. In some ways it was very nice as traffic was minimized, we had a nice river crossing to tackle and even mud, which is not usually a component of our Arizona training.  Marcos on the river crossing Just on the way to the campsite, we had three recovery situations which proved to be very valuable experience for the class.  Recent rains gave us the opportunity for some mud instruction  Alex easing a path for the Sportsmobile extraction Despite the rain and the damp, we still got good use of the sand area to practice with the pull-pal and sand mats.  Paul May hooking up the Pull-Pal  FJ Cruiser about to be recovered by sand mats We had a great group of people attend this course, and special thanks to Marcos Weskamp for the pictures used in this blog entry.  Heading towards Prescott Overland Training requires a Wilderness First Aid certification for our Overland Certification program, and to date we have (and still do) accept WFAs from various providers like NOLS and Wilderness Medical Associates. But, while great, these organizations cater to a large audience and one that is not specifically vehicle based. We saw that there is a need for a WFA program specifically for overlanders, one that includes international travel, vehicle situations and extractions, motorcycle helmet removal in a safe manner, telemed support as well as the regular WFA curriculum. We teamed with Remote Medical International (RMI) to create just such a class and this past December offered the first one to the public. The class was well attended and our RMI instructors Janet and Kate were phenomenal trainers and put together a wonderful program of vehicle based scenarios. The class lasted three days and also included CPR certification. For anyone who travels in the wilderness (defined in medical terms as one hour from medical support) having a WFA under your belt not only offers peace of mind, but sharpens your skills and allows a greater appreciation of remote travel. Now there is an option aimed specifically at expedition travelers that nicely complements the rest of the Overland Training certification program. In the near future Overland Training will be offering a set of medical kits for the overlanding community developed in association with RMI, and recently tested on our alumni expedition to Baja.  Graham with the very talented instructors Janet and Kate at the first WFA class  Graham crashes his motorcycle and awaits first aid. Links: I have always wanted to visit Coco’s corner. Not sure where I first heard of the place, but it was certainly related to the Baja 1000. So when we at Overland Training decided to run our first alumni expedition to Baja I knew this would be my chance. We are exceptionally lucky to have Al Walter as an Overland Training graduate and he was willing to come up with an excellent itinerary for the expedition. Of course it included Coco’s.  Coco's Corner So on November 29th a group of 12 vehicles met just north of the Tecate border post and proceeded across the border into Baja. The range of vehicles was massive, from a Suzuki DR 200 to an Earthroamer XV-LT the convoy covered a significant range of the typical overland vehicle types. We had one Adventure Trailer on loan from Adventure Trailers who were (unfortunately) unable to make the Expedition and four (yes four) Sportsmobiles including one driven by the owner of Sportsmobile West, Alan Feld.  Nick and Andrew showcase two classic overland trucks  Jeremy with his DR and the XV-LT At our first overnight at Meling Ranch we met up with two additional vehicles bringing us to 14 vehicles and 17 people. For some it was their first time in Mexico, for some this was just a relaxing trip to old stomping grounds with a few new places thrown in. In all cases the people who came to this event were graduates of the Overland Training comprehensive course and were Overland Certified. Traveling with people who know what they are doing and are confident to make their own way is far more relaxing than running a traditional convoy tour, and the itinerary that Al put together gave great variety in both terrain, historical features, remote camps, beaches, mountains, and taco stands. Of note were the seven different mission sites all of which I personally planned to visit, and none of which I managed to visit. But that just leaves a goal for the next Baja adventure. One of the freedoms of overlanding is to be able to pick and choose where you go.  Checking navigation on the second day  Al watching birds and seals at a lunch stop The group got smaller as people fractioned off to explore on their own or to head back north. Lance of Disabled Explorers had to get back to work in Phoenix so he and three other Sportsmobiles turned north early as the rest of us continued south.  Defender 110 close to our southernmost point  Camping after a long day in the Baja dust Our expedition got as far south as Bahia de Los Angeles and in nine days saw some fantastic features of Baja including dry lake beds, deserted beaches, seal rookeries, ancient rock art, inspiring roads and wonderful food. But it was the people who made the memories of this expedition great and I have to thank every single one of them for coming along and for trusting in a new and as yet small organization called Overland Training.  Troy in photography mode We did make it to Coco’s Corner, and I finally got to log in in Coco’s famous guest book while enjoying a Pacifico with the man himself. We gave him an Overland Journal sticker for his quad and I spotted stickers left behind by other overland travelers from around the world. Coco is a great personality and his corner should be on every Baja expedition.  Coco talkes to Connie For the first Overland Training Alumni Expedition, I have to say I was very happy. Incredible people and a wonderful place to explore; what more could you want? Adventure Trailers, becomes an “Overland Certified Company”. For Immediate Release Adventure Trailers, manufacturer of Expedition Trailers and Overland Equipment has become a member of the elite group of “Overland Certified Companies”. By completing the certification process, Adventure Trailers has reaffirmed its commitment to the Overland Community and its core values of embracing responsible practices while prioritizing customer service. To celebrate this achievement, Adventure Trailers is extending a free one hour “Solutions” consultation to all Overland Certified Students. In addition to their ruggedly built Expedition Trailers and accessories, Adventure Trailers has expanded their vehicle accessories options and customization of the inside of vehicles for long distance remote travel. AT’s commitment to provide the Overland community with high quality reliable gear is first and foremost. AT is dedicated to staying on the innovative edge of clean functional design. Mario Donovan, VP of AT, said “We’ve been helping people modify their vehicles with a myriad of solutions such as truck shells, RTTs, showers, water tanks, heaters, composite storage units and 12 volt power systems. The demand for our expertise in this arena has grown and lead to development of new products for release in 2010. Stay tuned!” Mario Donovan is a seasoned explorer, growing up in Ethiopia and Kenya, exploring East Africa by motorcycle, 4×4 and on foot. He is an avid outdoorsman and the original owner a Jeep Comanche highly modified for Overlanding with over 350,000 hard use miles on it. Adventure Trailers was started in 2002 by Mario Donovan and Martyn Davies with the intent of expanding the possibilities of Overland Travel in North America. “We’ve had a lot of fun growing our company over the past eight years. We have watched the Overland community grow along side us. The access to information about Overlanding through venues such as the Expedition Portal has created greater access to remote locations. With that access comes the responsibility of stewardship and we feel that our involvement in the Overland Training Program is part of accepting that responsibility.” said Mario.  Mario Donovan of Adventure Trailers |
||||
|
Copyright © 2010 Overland Training - All Rights Reserved |
||||
