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Fewbie+/Intermediate Afternoon Drive - Sweihan - 27th Dec 2019


Emmanuel

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Last call for 2019... Since the weather got cooler, let’s plan an afternoon and fast paced drive through the amazing dunes of Sweihan desert. This area offers plenty of opportunity to test your off-road skills and it might be quite challenging. That’s why this drive is only for Fewbie+ (at least 3-4 drives at Fewbie Level) and above. Plan is to start at 1 PM and drive till sunset.

Level : Fewbie+ and above

When: 27 December 2019

Meeting time: 1:00 PM, convoy will move at sharp 1:15 PM

Where: ADNOC service station Naheel

GPSCoordinate: https://goo.gl/maps/ZecvshnuzTN2

Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 10 inches of ground clearance.

What to bring along: Loads of snacks, plenty of water - whatever you like with little extra to share, water, liquids, smiles, stories, enthusiasm and willingness to learn.

Approximate finish time: 5:30 PM

Please RSVP the below calendar event

 

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Quick response, challenging drive for me. Had a busy week behind me. Was hesitating if I should go or not, due to the lack of time/ sleep. Sleep is key people.

My sister is visiting me these days. I promised my sister to bring her to the desert, the timing was great, because she landed the same morning, a morning drive would be not an option for us. So there was actually no excuse not to go.
She is a petrolhead like us. Enjoyed the drive as well.

Compliments to @Rahimdad, she was offered to sit shotgun next to him. We had the opportunity to play. I refused because I didn’t feel to take my LC out this day, where Rahimdad took the opportunity. 
My sister said, “very confident driver that superman”

@Emmanuel, thank you for the lead. 
 

@Fuad @Shamil, see you next drive again and @Asif Hussain, share that footage with us :)


See you next year everybody! 

 

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17 hours ago, Wrangeld said:

Hopefully next time, with a few more drives under the belt.. 

Yes, it’s just a matter of time. I’m sure you will become confident enough to go to challenging such as Sweihan very soon.

16 hours ago, Xaf said:

Sleep is key people.

totally agree. No sleep is a no go TMO. 

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Trip report from my eyes.

Firstly I was really looking forward to this drive as Sweihan visit was long due for me. The second thing that got me excited was @Asif Hussain got in touch with me to join along which is always a pleasure. I left on time from home and reached the nearby Masjid in good time to offer my Friday prayers. It took me exactly 3 minutes to reach our hero @Emmanuel who was about to take us through the thrilling sands of Sweihan. Everyone soon joined us with @Xaf, @Fuad and @Shamilto head off to the wilderness.

On the way we dropped @Asif Hussain car on the way and he finally joined me for what was going to be a brilliant day out. After a very short but useful briefing and deflation we set off in the dunes. For most of the parts it was fairly clean and we had a few virgin dunes. The thing that excites me about this place is although you have long range clean dunes which you feel you can play in forever, it does come with a word of caution as the sand formation here is very much different compared to the dunes in the sand box. Just when you think you have a nice firm patch you will come across a soft one, and sometime what looks like a soft patch turns out to be hard.

Since the drivers were very capable we hardly had any down time, except for a pop-out for @Xaf, but thanks to @Shamil and @Emmanuel we were able to fix the pop-out within no time. The only other stoppage I remember came when @Fuad Pathfinder would not race, but he knew exactly where the problem was and again with @Shamil offering help through his toolbox and @Asif Hussain cleverly using the available tools we were moving within no time at all. So a big hand to all who kept the convoy moving at a good pace. The only stuck we had was a third party driving a Nissan Patrol who did not believe in deflating. Funny response as I asked him about deflation and his reply was but they are balloon tires. @Emmanuel was gracious to lend his rope to them as the other truck guy jerked the life out of the Patrol to get it out and moving again, in this episode I feel sorry for the rope.

The place was full of Nissan Patrols flying around with a few Land Cruisers and the raped up dunes around made us feel it was not for us. As we moved from there we had a sharp decline and 4 Low 1st gear was our call for the moment. As everyone headed down my passenger had gone missing and after shouting around like a fool for @Asif Hussain I was informed that he had snooped the ride down with another car. As I made my way down it was time to head out as the sun was going down, we again came through a nice patch of dunes however the sun at this time was in our eyes making the dunes difficult to read.

As we sat around with the snacks and 3 different flavours of tea, we were spoilt for choice by the many selection of food and drinks. As we finished and packed up to leave we headed out, @Fuad was the happiest from the bunch as he was closest to his place. After inflation we set off, however I got a bit lost and thanks to @Asif Hussain sense of direction and reading the map well we ended up driving a long stretch of a gauge road before seeing signs of the tarmac. One on the road I dropped @Asif Hussain to his car with a last cup of tea we promised to meet each other soon and parted our ways. Many thanks to @Emmanuel for a fantastic day out.

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Thank you so much @Rahimdad ! I was working on my report, but you already said everything 😀, and in a much more proper English than mine! 

What can I add?

... That @Shamil was my second lead, thank you buddy, followed by @Fuad, then @Xaf (with his sister who we were pleased to meet), then @Rahimdad in sweep. I had decided to follow backwards the route we had done two months ago, on 18th Oct, which means to enter near Al Ain Dairy Nahil Farms and exit SW, at Yahar high dunes spot. The only disadvantage for this option, as you rightly pointed Rahim, was that we got the afternoon sun hitting directly our windhsields and dazzling at some points. I must admit that I didn’t think about this tiny but quite anoying detail… 

... That it had been quite a while since last time we saw FUAD driving. And because he was the only fewbie to join that day, we started at a moderate pace, but soon we noted that he wasn’t struggling at all, which allowed us to inscrease the pace. This positive impression was confirmed when we stopped at our first playing spot. There we saw a totally different driver than the one we saw last year. Well done Fuad !

... That all the other drivers also managed absolutely well. No stuck at all, only a few refusals. Xaf's pop out was fixed in 5 minutes and we only took a short break to clean the MAF sensor of Fuad’s Pathfinder. Other than that, convoy was always on the move… Thank you all ! 

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On 12/31/2019 at 1:28 AM, Asif Hussain said:

Thank you  @Rahimdad for a ride. @Emmanuel it was a awesome lead. @Shamil @Xaf @Fuad enjoyed everyone's company see all soon.

Drive Video:

 

100 Points awarded to @Asif Hussain for creating and sharing beautiful Drive Video.

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