Westfield 4 x 4 - Witsand - 30 December 2010
Posted: Thu Dec 30, 2010 8:36 pm
We did the above trail earlier today. It's near Witsand at the mouth of the Breede River and about 80 km's tar from Swellendam. There's gravel roads that are shorter but they take longer and we needed to be there by 9 am. So tar it was. Besides if you live in a town without a Wimpy you don't think twice about what route to take (Heidelberg has a Wimpy!)
I've been wanting to do a proper dune trail for ages now, and it's everything I expected. I've done some sand riding but my results were always, er lets say less than satisfactory - to such an extent that I once overheard my son telling one of his buddies "My Pa het ook 'n fourbyfour maar hy sit vas." So I needed to get some perspective on me and my vehicles capabilities in sand. I firmly believe our combined Achilles heel is sand. I even packed a spade and 2 x streepsakke.
In our group was the guide with a 2.7 Hilux SRX 4x4, 2 x DiD Fortuners, my LWB and a petrol Land Cruiser with 33" BFG Muds.
It was windy and overcast but no rain. Our guide said that they had some rain a couple of days ago but the wind dried out the sand quickly.
We met under an old Bluegum tree and deflated to .8 before setting off. We were told to ride in a particular order with the guide in front, then the Fortuners, our LWB and the LC at the back. After a pretty boring ride to the dunes, the fun started. With the wind, waaisand had been blown over the dunes and our guide made a beeline for the biggest ones he could find!
The first dune wasn't that big, but quite steep. You needed to storm it and off course, once we've all made it to the top, we realised all our cars had nice inverted smiley faces from running into the dune. The 2 Fortuners had their damaged nudge bars removed to avoid further damage to the plastic bumpers - it was dumped in the back and I overheard the owners discussing insurance claim options. Neither of the Fortuners had number plates on and looked brand new. My LWB didn't have anything in the line of nudge/bull bars to remove, so the smiley will probably stay. I'm not certain if I'm insured against sand dunes.
Then some nice relaxed dune riding followed. Some sharp corners which was fun with the diff locks on. Some steep declines. One or two steep inclines.
Then we got to a sand dune that had what looked like at least 20m waaisand blown over the top. This thing was huge and I couldn't believe that we would even attempt to get up there. The guide showed us where he wanted us to ride and then got in his bakkie and demonstrated. There was an escape route here but off course everyone tried a couple of times. The SRX got up with relative ease, so it could be done but I didn't know...
One of the Fortuners made it on about the 10th run. When it was my turn I did 2 runs but couldn't make it up. The guide came down, and showed us a different line. I tried again and got soooooo close but alas the dune got the better of me, so we and the other Fortuner took the escape route.
Then we did one or two other dunes but none as big as that one. I started getting confident again as some of the other guys got stuck and had to be dragged out or had to try a couple of times on some of the dunes that we made.
Finally we got to what looked like an amphitheatre. The guide showed us how he wanted us to do figure 8's and we got to enjoy some fast and furious (and scary) dune riding in relative safety as it was one at a time and we all decided to stay away of the really loose stuff. Then some of us were treated in a spin with the guide and WOW that was awesome as he wasn't afraid of the loose sand and really gave it berries - one of the highlights of the day for me.
As always the pics doesn't do it justice but the trail is very enjoyable and rather challenging. I think I'll do Vleesbaai next and probably go back to Westfield as everyone enjoyed the day. The kids can't stop talking about all the sand (biggest bloody sand pit they've ever seen) and once we had them through the bath the drains were clogged!
All vehicles performed superbly. I'll admit to some pressure being the only non Toyota. The guide is obviously skilled enough to go pretty much anywhere in the SRX. The Fortuners did surprisingly well although they were the only vehicles to get stuck. The LC was superb as you'd expect. As far as I know there was only one spot it couldn't get up - we were right at the back so it looked like the beaches of Normandy by the time we got our chance.
My pride is intact and my car has a new inverted smile - great day out!
I've been wanting to do a proper dune trail for ages now, and it's everything I expected. I've done some sand riding but my results were always, er lets say less than satisfactory - to such an extent that I once overheard my son telling one of his buddies "My Pa het ook 'n fourbyfour maar hy sit vas." So I needed to get some perspective on me and my vehicles capabilities in sand. I firmly believe our combined Achilles heel is sand. I even packed a spade and 2 x streepsakke.
In our group was the guide with a 2.7 Hilux SRX 4x4, 2 x DiD Fortuners, my LWB and a petrol Land Cruiser with 33" BFG Muds.
It was windy and overcast but no rain. Our guide said that they had some rain a couple of days ago but the wind dried out the sand quickly.
We met under an old Bluegum tree and deflated to .8 before setting off. We were told to ride in a particular order with the guide in front, then the Fortuners, our LWB and the LC at the back. After a pretty boring ride to the dunes, the fun started. With the wind, waaisand had been blown over the dunes and our guide made a beeline for the biggest ones he could find!
The first dune wasn't that big, but quite steep. You needed to storm it and off course, once we've all made it to the top, we realised all our cars had nice inverted smiley faces from running into the dune. The 2 Fortuners had their damaged nudge bars removed to avoid further damage to the plastic bumpers - it was dumped in the back and I overheard the owners discussing insurance claim options. Neither of the Fortuners had number plates on and looked brand new. My LWB didn't have anything in the line of nudge/bull bars to remove, so the smiley will probably stay. I'm not certain if I'm insured against sand dunes.
Then we did one or two other dunes but none as big as that one. I started getting confident again as some of the other guys got stuck and had to be dragged out or had to try a couple of times on some of the dunes that we made.
All vehicles performed superbly. I'll admit to some pressure being the only non Toyota. The guide is obviously skilled enough to go pretty much anywhere in the SRX. The Fortuners did surprisingly well although they were the only vehicles to get stuck. The LC was superb as you'd expect. As far as I know there was only one spot it couldn't get up - we were right at the back so it looked like the beaches of Normandy by the time we got our chance.
My pride is intact and my car has a new inverted smile - great day out!
