2004 African Offroad Adventure Back in 2001 I started planning an adventure competition for offroaders who own and drive standard 4x4 vehicles. The event must be fun, exciting, challenging and must push participants to conquer practical offroad competitions. Twelve months later the first African Offroad Adventure was born with the first event being in Cape Town followed by events in Gauteng, KZN and in the Northern Cape. 2003 saw a large and successful event being held in Cape Town. All competitions are limited to 22 vehicles, all participating vehicles must be four wheel drive with low range. There will be two competitions running parallel, one for standard off the floor vehicles and one for modified vehicles. I contact Leisure Wheels and they jump on board offering media coverage, a few more calls and we have almost R20 000 worth of prizes. The Cape's wintery sun starts to sink in the west and the vehicles start arriving to collect documentation, T shirts, stickers and to be scrutineerd. The chief marshall, Stewart Nolan has been involved since 2002 and he checks each vehicle. The first stage is in the Atlantis Dunes. Driving in dunes at night tests the participants to the limit and exposes them to a little more risk than driving dunes in the daylight. A few people got stuck in the soft sand including some of the marshals who had failed to deflate their tyres sufficiently. We regroup at Springbok at 04h30 and it is very cold, temperatures have dropped to 2 degrees and ice is forming on the roofs of the parked vehicles. We stand around and talk until 05h00and then jump into our vehicles and try and grab an hour of sleep before we are on the road again. At 06h30 we are all awake and the temperature is just below zero.somewhere I read that the "darkest/coldest hour is just before the dawn!". The participants arrive from Gauteng and the Free State, some coffee and a quick briefing for them and we leave for the first long navigation stage. To test the driver and navigator's compatability we have a 150 meter blind driving stage, the driver wears blacked out goggles while the navigator talks him through the stage. It does not sound difficult until you try it yourself! Mike Porter and Gary Bauer won this stage for the modified class in a time of 46.19 seconds. After navigating to the next check point, the participants braai'd early as the night stage was only to finish between 22h00 and 24h00. After 10 kilometers the teams were stopped by a marshal for a quick timed tyre change. This was a surprise event and while the average time for the event was around four minutes the team of Mike Porter and Gary Bauer completed the event in 1min 59.06 seconds. After a 65 kilometer navigation stage the teams arrived on the banks of the Gariep River and had their first chance in two days to wash. A little while later the participants were split into two teams and had to get their teams across a ten meter wide, water filled ditch without getting anybody wet. Deliberation and soon winch cables were harnessed with snatch blocks and tow straps and the teams crossed at high speed and with much laughter. The team events are always very popular and are always favourites. We finally arrive at Vioolsdrif and cross the border into Namibia. We refuel at Camel Lodge. Nishi and Steve from Camel Lodge had been extremely efficient and helpful during the planning of the event and so after an hours break the participants departed for the dune climb. As the dune climb progressed the surviving vehicles started pulling away on the side of the dune in an attempt to eliminate the lesser drivers. The standard class was eventually a tie between Pieter van der Merwe and Willem Roux in a V8 and the Modified class was won by Deon Venter and Philip van Rensburg in a 2.7 Hilux. The final stage was an event separated into standard and modified vehicles and during this stage the participants had to evaluate all the participants for team spirit. This event traversed a narrow gorge passing some abandoned mines and finally ending at Camel Lodge for the prize giving. The overall winners were: Modified Class 651 points - Mike Porter and Gary Bauer in a Land Rover 470 points - Neil Bradford and Steve Hurst in a Jeep 389 points - Elrico Koen and Pierre Genis in a Range Rover 345 points - Hendrick Susan and Trevor de Klerk in a Discovery Standard Class 571 points - Willem Roux and Pieter van der Merwe in a Discovery 490 points - Peter Sherlock and JP Ridgway in a Gelandewagen 476 points - Wikkie and Sure Kotze in a Colt 428 points - Bert Desseyn and Gawie de Jager in a Land Rover The Team Spirit award went to Mark Hutton Brown and Brendan Rice A special word of thanks to David Schady and David McRae who assisted one of the marshals when his vehicle developed and electrical problem. Organisers of the event were African Expedition Company Sponsors of the event were: Leisure Wheels (Media) Namaqua wines and sherry (Main sponsor) Dunlop (Set of Cooper tyres) Winelands 4x4 (Packing system) - Contact Christine (021) 851 2244 Two Oceans Aviation (Peninsula tour for two people in one of their Cessna aircraft) - Contact Izak Smit 082 579 7207 R & D Offroad (Recovery gear for five participants) - Contact Cris Ingram 082 564 2202 Smit Marine SA (Flares for the night stages) - Contact Jaco Warrington 021 5075879 or 0826900131 S&G Signs (Door numbers) - Contact Karel de Haas (021) 510 3400