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Living La Vida Boricua text & photos: Nathan Kennedy [Nathan Kennedy, Minneapolis, MN, is an expedition and nature photographer working on a book of photographs of Puerto Rico. He shared his off-road training opportunity provided by Caribbean Rovers with us. –ed.]
“As slow as possible, as fast as necessary.” We're all familiar with Bill Burke's constant repetition of this invaluable lesson. These words rang true this February in Puerto Rico, especially last February, when most snowbound Rover enthusiasts planned winter ice events. Ricardo Gonzales and Brenda Soto of Caribbean Rovers invited Bill to teach two days of off-road training classes outside the city of Naguabo for their annual “winter” event. With mountains on one side and lapping ocean waves on the other, this working cattle farm provided the perfect visual setting and a fine place to live the Boricua (Puerto Rican stress-free attitude) while receiving instruction from the Camel Trophy legend. The 1,500 acre farm with both beach and mountain terrain on a tropical island looked fine for farming—flat and free of obstructions—but Bill Burke needed to “fix” it as an off-road course. Fortunately, Caribbean Rovers had planned a scouting day, complete with a crawler track backhoe. Bill saw things in the land that only someone with his years of experience would consider as “off-road-able.” He chose three main training areas, all of which had been completely ignored by earlier scouting trips. When the heavy equipment arrived he created a driver’s nightmare of articulation and traction control engagement with a series of fifteen holes, swapping from the left side to the right, each separated by the wheelbase of a Defender 110. He constructed a tight trail of blind, twisting, high-centering drop-offs and inclines, and used a natural rain gully formed in the hard terrain by flash flood-style tropical rain runoff. Each morning the groups met at the Palmas del Mar hotel and resort not far from the farm to go over introductions, basic driving technique, and spotters’ hand signals. Each day’s groups had different personalities: Saturday's group of 15 Land Rovers felt feisty, while Sunday’s nine Land Rovers seemed tamer and more studious. Bill gave each day's group an idea of what was to come, but he wisely kept some of each day's secrets to himself. When pounding tropical rain came through on Sunday, for example, Bill claimed with a straight face that he had planned these extreme conditions as part of the training ordered by Caribbean Rovers. It's still unclear whether or not anyone believed him, but it was clear that the effect of the rain on the unavoidable ... um ... cow pies ... made for interesting driving. Once the group caravans arrived at the farm they climbed a curving dirt maintenance road up to the highest drivable area. As they climbed, the view changed from thick trees on one side and natural grassy wall on the other to a beautiful view of a plantain farm field in the valley below. Rising past the fields the mountainous backdrop of the El Yunque rainforest (the only rainforest in the United States) stood tall, and as if this wasn't enough to fill the senses, the blue and aqua colors of the ocean shimmered off to the horizon to complete the perfect vista. With the scene set, the off-roading began. Above top to bottom: Crawler track backhoe setting up the course - Bill Burke going over basic driving techniques. - One of the amazing views from the farm. rovers magazine / 59
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Summer 2010 North America’s Sourc
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The publication for environmentally
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