Tow-ed: Skills and Confidence
Over our years of towing caravans, Di and I have often recognised the need for both of us to be able to tow and whilst Di can and does tow, she is not as confident as she would like to be and she lacked the skills to reverse park the caravan.
Our great friends Therese and Dave (Prousty) Proust are also avid caravaners who both tow. Therese is confident when towing and tows regularly but she also lacked the skills
and confidence to reverse their caravan into a caravan site. Due to their personal circumstances based around Prousty’s health, Therese may well need to do much of the towing and parking in the future.
So after having discussed the needs of both of the girls, Di started to investigate the opportunities to do the Tow-Ed program, an accredited training course available in all states. Di found that the course was delivered in our locality by Getabout Training Services and we booked the girls in for the one-day training course.
We took the Royal Flair and met our trainer Paul at the training location. Paul went through the paperwork and asked the girls what they hoped to achieve from the training. Both responded that they wanted to be more confident when towing and also to be able to reverse the caravan. I must admit, I thought at the time that this last aspect may be ambitious.
The course covers a lot of information on safety, techniques, procedures and hints for all aspects of the set-up of the vehicle, the connection of the caravan and the checking procedures. These aspects were delivered by Paul in a very informative and straightforward manner that was easy to understand and to put into practice. Both of the girls hooked up and disconnected the Royal Flair and carried out the checks to ensure the rig was ready to go.
Paul even covered one aspect of caravanning that is said to have caused the break-up of many a relationship – guiding someone while reversing. His instructions were so logical and simple I began to fear that many hours of free entertainment for caravaners would be lost. You know how much fun it is to crack a beer and watch people ‘guide’ each other into the caravan site? Well, if these simple techniques are followed that manoeuvre will now be hassle free.
The girls were soon reversing the caravan in a straight line, while taking turns to guide each other, then finishing the reverse with pin-point accuracy. Before long Paul had them reversing the caravan in a full circle and then driving slowly through a ‘slalom course’ to understand how to manoeuvre in ‘tight’ situations.
The finale was to have them both reverse the caravan into a mock caravan site. This was done by incorporating the techniques and strategies they had been building through the day and both Di and Therese easily managed to reverse into the ‘site’ a number of times. That’s what I call a great outcome.
During the recap of the day Di and Therese both excitedly declared that they were amazed at their progress and the level they had reached, and Paul reminded them that now it was time to practice whenever possible and maintain their newly found skills.
If you travel as a couple towing a caravan you never know when you are going to be in a situation where your partner may need to tow, so, make sure you both can!
The Tow-Ed course delivered by Getabout Training Services is a fantastic one-
day course that will give you skills and confidence to not only make your travels more enjoyable, but to also get you out of some very tricky situations.
For further information check out their website here.