My opinion may not be of much worth but to me these training DAYS seem like too much talking and not enough wheeling. I'm all for SOME training but to me, what sounds better is a day of wheeling with a training (singular) at the end. My weekend days are precious and I'd rather spend more time behind the wheel than in a chair or standing around listening. Granted, a day of wheeling ends up being half driving and half BSing, but technically there is no "schedule" to the BSing. That's probably why I haven't attended in the past. They have seemed like amazing events for what they are and I'm not trying to shine any negative light on the efforts thus far, but I always have a project that needs to get done, and usually the project wins over a "training day." If it were a "wheeling day with a winch training in the middle" I may use one of my play weekends for it. I figure that between projects around the house, family commitments, church/service stuff, honey-do's, or work, I have one-ish weekend a month to play so I need to choose that activity wisely. If I can choose something that will include the wife and 2 kids, even better. For this reason, a training day that is similar to those done in the past just isn't appealing to me.
Here is what would get me (and perhaps some others in my predicament) out to a training day:
-Meet up at Tibble at 1pm on Saturday
-Leave for the Forest Lake trail at 2pm
-RME meet and greet/ show your rig in that hour or spotlight a particular rig
-Run forest lake trail
-Dutch oven cook-off/ "training"/ potluck until dark or whenever people want to leave (or insert whatever training you want)
Here's another one:
-Meet at Lehi Main/ Redwood crossroads Friday at 5:30pm
-Head out to little Moab at 6pm
-Set up camps in a general area
-night wheeling course for 2-3 rig classes. (showing the benefits of rock lights, spotters, etc)
-Saturday morning potluck/ RME meet and greet
-after breakfast show and tell of 3 or 4 of the better known RME camp set-ups and why they use what they use. (DAA, Steve, Davy, etc.)
-Break camp/ wheel more/ disperse.
These types of "events" would take less preparation (I think) and would IMO be more appealing to those who can't spare a weekend unless it's more "play" and less "training." Another benefit is that there would likely be breakage/ recovery situations at each one that would further help with "training" if/when needed. I'm no expert but I've learned a ton just by being out on the trail with a broken rig or helping somebody in the group with a broken rig.
If the "training day" is what the consensus wants, go for it. They have seemed like great events in the past. I just probably won't be able to squeeze it into the ever-growing schedule.
ps, my favorite event ever was put on by Kurt and some others I believe. If I recall correctly, it was called the "Duel at Dutchman Flats" and it was a team (2 rigs) event with all sorts of challenges. It was probably 2006-ish. Let's bring that back!
My .02
. Part 2 of your comment is what I had in mind. Maybe a quick run to the tunnel, eureka and loop back. Could do a big central bonfire with the talks/class instruction if the wind isnt acting up . 