Afternoon Intermediate drive - Al Shuwaib - 03 May 2019

[Gaurav]

3 minutes ago, Javier M said:

I watched it already and planning to watch it again this Saturday

OMG, seriously......! Have you liked it so much or have you missed a little on the first go....?

Beautiful movie but stretched it too long for 3 hrs, could have compressed within 2 hours easy.

[G.huz]

48 minutes ago, Javier M said:

I watched it already and planning to watch it again this Saturday

Yes, same here... Very good movie

[Javier M]

1 hour ago, Gaurav said:

OMG, seriously......! Have you liked it so much or have you missed a little on the first go....?

Beautiful movie but stretched it too long for 3 hrs, could have compressed within 2 hours easy.

It is very entertaining and I loved the last part but it is actually a really bad movie and it has many mistakes. I want to watch it again to see all the mistakes I didn't see the first time. 

[Javier M]

My reaction when I noticed @amir.rophail and @G.huz signed up for the drive.. 

[Frederic]

Guys I had so much fun on this drive. @Emmanuel blessed us with a fantastic track that combined both the short technical dunes, and the long and high dunes where we had to push our cars to the limiter. We had a small setback with @G.huzhis nasty pop out, and it was nearly impossible putting it back into place in that location. I loved how all worked together and kept a cool head. We all learned a great lesson and that’s what matters. 

@amir.rophail @Javier M @G.huz Thanks for the great company ! @Emmanuel it was a blessing to follow in the pursuit of the mighty velociraptor, containing one hell of a great guy and off-road expert ! See you soon back in the sandbox !

[G.huz]

I wanted to test @Emmanuel's knowledge with pop outs 🤣 it was a nasty pop out indeed.. Thank you all for your help.

The big dunes, oh my God... Absolutely wonderful.

Great track, great drivers 💪

[Emmanuel]

TRIP REPORT 

What a good time we had yesterday ! So happy that we have such an amazing intermediate team in Carnity… @Frederic, @G.huz, @amir.rophail, @Javier M

I reached the meeting point a few minutes before time and, to my surprise, found everyone already waiting, except @Frederic who was just behind me, as I found him somewhere on Lahbab Road, so we made our little convoy together till ADNOC station in Al-Madam. After filling up, we went directly to the entry point, a few kilometers away. We had a first sight from the road to the stunning high dunes we were going to venture in a few minutes later. The Omantel signal on our mobile phones reminded us that we were only at a few kilometers from Oman. Temperatures were still very high, close to 40°, so we deflated in no time and I limited my briefing to the essential points (what to always bear in mind when temperatures are high, a few indications about the route and convoy numbering). I decided to keep Fred as my second lead (and I must say he did an absolutely perfect job, well done) and to have @Javier M in sweep, as he is the most experienced driver in the group - thanks for your support, buddy. Soon after taking off, as we were climbing the first high dune, we faced a serious trial : @G.huzhad lost momentum and popped out in a very tricky place. We tried to move the car a few meters ahead, then back again, but it was still in a slight incline and the sand was very soft. Impossible to jack the car properly in this place, so we pulled him out (not without difficulty...) on a flat surface. There, fixing the pop out only took us a few minutes, but the all process lasted about one hour. Here I want to emphasize on the team's amazing spirit. Sometimes, when a convoy faces that kind of issue, we see many people just waiting inside their car, considering they just have to be patients and let the marshals deal with the issue. Yesterday, despite the blazing sun, everyone was out of his car from the first second, shoveling, helping to put the jack, bringing the tools, ropes, shakles, water, helping to maintain the tyre while inflating.... Finally we took off again and after playing a bit on those high dunes, we entered in what was actually the most challenging part of Al-Shuwaib : very technical dunes, big bushes, continuous slip-faces looking like China Great Wall, nasty bumps, hidden pockets... The kind of area that will make every offroader measure the importance of having a skid plate if his vehicle’s ground clearance is low. That said, everyone did very well, as we just had a few refusals.

After about 10 km, the landscape totally changed. We were now in another wonderful set of high dunes where we could increase the pace and have some good adrenaline. The sun was already declining, unfortunately, so we had to leave this amazing area and head in direction of Super Bowl. As none of us felt like joining the crazy crowds of this famous spot, we decided to play a bit, but on the backside. At this point the night had fallen. We enjoyed some night driving and played before we reached Iftar Bowl side, where found a nice little spot to relax and share our snacks and stories. About 30 mn later, we headed to the exit point where we inflated. 

Hope you guys enjoyed as much as I did.

[G.huz]

Loved every bit of it, thanks for the great support from everyone.

Thanks for the great track man 👍

Let's see what's next

 

[Javier M]

Full drive here

 

 

[G.huz]

That's was super fast @Javier M, thanks dude... I subscribed to your channel, awesome content hehe

Edited May 5, 2019 by G.huz