Crawl Before You Can Walk…

If you think driving a 4x4 comes naturally to most people, you’re wrong, reckons Jaco Kirsten. And that includes himself.

- Jaco Kirsten

To drive a 4x4 is almost like riding a bicycle – you never really forget how to do it. Sure, if it’s been a year since you drove big dunes in the Namib it might take a day or two for you to find your feet. But the basics are the basics. Tyre pressure, momentum, don’t brake, don’t release the accelerator before you’ve reached the crest of the dune... That sort of thing.

But as I’m sitting here, writing my last column for Drive Out, it dawned on me: I might not be the best 4x4 driver, but I know a thing or two more than the average Joe – and it wasn’t always like that.

Almost 20 years ago – those were the days you could still drive on the beach – a friend and I decided to go camp somewhere next to the ocean. He used to be a instructor and lifesaver for See & Sand so I thought that he understood these things.

We had big plans to drive a long stretch past Gansbaai and to then eventually pitch camp. When we hit the first bit of sand, the conversation went something like this: Gerrit: “So, we must deflate the tyres now.”

Me: “Are you sure?” 

Gerrit: “Yes, apparently you have to do it for sand.”