b' Club Spotlight on how to sharpen chains. Followingclean up, refuelling and a generaldebrief, it was back to camp. Refreshingbeverages, good conversation anddinner was followed by a sound sleep.Highlights of the night included theover fire cooking skills of Billy, whosereputation as a bush chef wereestablished.Day 3Despite the threat of rain, day threeLROCV was another successful session ofwood cutting and furniture making.FWDV CHAINSAW OPERATORSWe consolidated our skills, reinforcedthe importance of safe operations,COURSE - MARCH 2021 and plunge cut, reduced, scarfed andripped our way through a tonne ofwood. We established safeFor those who have yet to be smitten kitted out with in-date gear. emergency routes, sharpened chains,with the desire to wield a chainsaw Following our briefing session we fired hammered in wedges and had an all-and for all members interested in up the BBQ for a well-earned dinner round good day.improving your safe operation of a and our first night of wind-blown Final thanks to Fred, our instructorschainsaw, I for one, would recom- sleep. One of our members who had and John Coupe and a special thanksmend you book into the next course chosen to sleep in their car found the to Alison McLaughlin from 4WDVIC foroffered. rocking and shaking to be too much getting us set up. Thanks also to theThe course is delivered by our friends to bear and resolved to sleep at home Club for subsidising the event.and capable trainers from FWDV - for the remainder of the course. By the way, everyone was assessedWayne, Greg and Ian. We were lucky Day 2 as competent and we look forward toto have such a good crew who made Up early to more wind and off to the participating in the many track clear-the three days enjoyable, action- Drouin Forest - Freds back paddock. ing outings organised by the Club.packed and above all, safe. The Maintenance Station was quickly Tom HadkissIn addition to the members from set up and daily inspectionLROCV, we had a couple of partici- commenced. A check of personalpants who came through FWDV (the safety equipment was undertakennames of whom I did not record, before we watched a demonstrationsorry). Members who participated of correct cutting techniques and thenwere, Peter, Stuart, Troy, Dali, Bill and went on to practice.Tom. Many thanks to John for rounding Constant reminders about safe chain-us up and making sure we got there. saw handling, ear protection, etc.Thanks also to Fred for hosting the ensued and we all felt safe and builtevent on his lovely property. our confidence in how to safelyDay 1 operate our machines. InterspersedWe all arrived on Friday evening to a with good and proper grip andwindy welcome. Tents, vans and stance were instructions and practiceswags were quickly sorted. We werevery lucky to have the lee of the shedto pitch our tents, as Drouin seemedto be the windiest spot in Victoria forthe entire three days.Once everyone was accounted for,we were quickly settled into our rusticlecture room and the fun started.Safety comes first and we quicklylearnt how to remove and reattach thechain to our soon-to-be best mate, thehumble chain saw. I personally enjoyedlearning how to appropriately maintaina saw as well as the safest way tostart, operate, stop and maintain asaw. As was to be reinforced through-out the course safety comes first andeveryone was well-equipped withchaps, head, ear and eye protectionas well as steel capped boots andappropriate gloves. All essential safetygear. I trust all of you using saws are6 MARCH2021 TRACKWATCH'