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Fewbie Afternoon Drive - Solar Park - 21 February 2020


Emmanuel

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26 minutes ago, Wrangeld said:

Friday’s Fun in the Sand

I think it’s fair to say, after the winter rains, the sand is getting drier.  The ‘hero’ drives, after the rain, when 4x4 was easy are well and truly over. Quite a few of us spent much of Friday knee (and in some cases, thigh) deep in sand digging out our friends who just a short few weeks ago had thought – what’s all the fuss about? Well … this!

Friday was a mammoth day. 34 drivers in three Newbie convoys in the morning and 12 on an afternoon Fewbie drive.

Before any details, I’m gonna get something off my chest. The pre-drive briefing is not optional. It’s not OK to arrive late. Or deflate while it’s going on. Or make it look obvious you ‘heard-it-all-before’. A safety briefing is given every time you fly, and they don’t let you ignore it for some of the same reasons these briefings are not optional.

When the *&it hits the fan, you might just remember enough to help you follow those instructions to save your life. @Xaf (back me up here?). In your 4x4 it’s no different. The stuff you hear in the briefing might just sink in enough so that when you are being calmly instructed to turn or reverse or do nothing, that you follow the instruction instead of turning ‘the other left’ or digging yourself into an axle deep hole in the sand.

Oh. And it’s simply polite. If 30 odd people can get up early and get to the meeting point on time … OK. Rant over.

I imagine that while we are tucked up in bed on Thursday nights dreaming about the dunes (or whatever else you may be dreaming about [please, this is not a request to share]), @Srikumar@Gaurav @Emmanueland @Frederic are looking at the list of probable attendees at the drives and trying to work out who goes in which convoy and where. Why? Because, by the time we all turn up its organized and all we have to do is take our place in line and off we go. [Perhaps, sometimes it does not feel quite as immediate as that, but convoy placement is not just a case of sticking a line of cars in the sand.]

And off we go, we did. The three radio channels no longer interfere with each other, the convoys are not too long and with (in my case) @Frederic in the lead we know that the challenges will be, well, challenging while staying in the bounds of the capabilities of the drivers.

Having been on a few newbie drives, I am pleased to say this one was quite ‘standard’. We had our share of refusals, and challenges and found ourselves digging from time to time, and pretty much, in our convoy everyone acquitted themselves extremely well. @Colin Jordan 'allowed' Cara to take the wheel of her car in the same way that @Jeepie allows me to drive from time to time :-) As ever, the Wranglers in the crew motored on almost without incident @bunty_and_pops @Febin Frederic well done. You keep up the reputation beautifully. 

As ever we learned a thing or two about the sand and about recoveries. Thank you to everyone who conveniently got stuck. Without these opportunities to try recovery techniques they stay theoretical.

As ever, we also had our fair share of laughs. Highlight of the day of course was the battle of the Pajeros.

Actually, before I do that, the true highlight of the day was @Vanessa8580. The original plan for this drive was that she would take the wheel of the Pajero and Frederic would be her passenger. For other reasons, Frederic ended up leading so Vanessa could not drive. However, having cleared the stuck you’ll read about below, @Vanessa8580 took the wheel of the car and with a gleeful smile as wide as the horizon launched little Pajero flying over the same dune that had defeated @md sarfaraz . I am sure I heard a scream of ‘Yeehaa’ through the window and over the considerable engine noise, but cannot be 100% sure.

Back to the battle of the Pajeros. To set the scene, big Pajero (crested on a dune) would not succumb to the best efforts of our spades and shovels so it was decided Frederic would recover with the kinetic ropes. So far so good. Everything was set up perfectly. Soft shackles attached, everyone out of the way, drivers in their seats, radio communications correctly made.

Like David vs. Goliath the battle line was drawn as the tiny Pajero took up its stance to pull back its big brother. All checks had been made: 4 low, reverse, parking brake off. One, two, three and … nothing. Undeterred our brave champion set up for another go. One, two, three. Give it some gas. Again nothing.

Approaching the stuck vehicle I decided to make sure all the instructions were understood. Reverse, handbrake off, 4 low, straighten the wheels … hmmmm your engine sounds rather quiet, are you sure you turned on the ignition and the engine is actually running?  

The rest, as they say is history (and will probably go down in Carnity history, as apparently this has not been an issue before).  

After that, the newbie drive was quite uneventful. The fewbie drive could be called plain sailing. Sailing into sand that is. Acting as second lead to @Emmanuel was a fantastic opportunity to exercise restraint and care for those coming behind.

These technical dunes are an excellent playgound for the Jeep of myself and Jeepie. It has to be said, however, the technical dunes of Solar Park were quite a challenge for the long wheel bases of many of the following pack just about everyone had a challenging moment (my own, cresting a dune as Emannuel asked me to take a different line while I was already commited to a dune!).

Notwithstanding the whole crew @Jeffrey Osito Pilgreen @Lucky sAm @Joe Biju Joseph @Mahmoud Hamzawy @bony raphi @Rizwanm2 had their moment(s).

I think it’s best to leave it that @Brette had a chance to not only test but to perfect his recovery skills with the rope, while the rest of us had enough time to prepare all the Instagram images (@Michael sammy @Joe Biju Joseph), we might want of our vehicles in the desert. I was truly delighted that we took advantage of every last moment of the light before sunset before exiting, re-inflating and driving back to the city.

Apologies if I missed out any names. Thanks one and all. Special call out to @Joe Biju Joseph whi is back off to Australia now the summer vacation is over. We are going to miss your green Hummer on the dunes mate. 

See you soon in the sand

Fantastic report that has become our weekly journal we all look forward too. 
Fully agree on the drive briefing: Coming on time and attending the briefing is something we keep asking everyone and that comes naturally if you respect each other’s time. Considering the fact that you’ll remember maybe 25% of the briefing on your first drive means that you’ll need to attend at least 4 full sized briefings before things slowly start to creep into your mind, let alone using these tactics in action.  It’s also disappointing to see that although we have so many MUST READ articles on the forum,  but seeing people showing up without having anything read.  Ok rant over 😉.

Again we had experiences, stories, laughter, Newbies who did great and were enthusiast, and our dose of healthy sun. And that makes it all worthwhile !

PS I heard that Yihaah too when my little blue one flew over the dune 😅

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"Go as far as you can see; once you get there, you'll be able to see further."

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It was a great lead from  @Emmanuel

And amazing support from the second lead @Wrangeld 

You guys made it a great day with a safe drive full of support and new learning tips for everyone 

 

And i would like to thank everyone who participated in yesterday drive and made it fun drive.

 

It was nice meeting new members. See you soon in the next drives

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Thanks @Wrangeld for giving me the opportunity to ride the trip with you guys with the help of your trip report. Amazing as always and some very good points raised. Definitely we will be looking to make things better in near future by taking appropriate actions.

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26 minutes ago, Joe Biju Joseph said:

That afternoon drive is probably the best send off for me back to my studies. I have thoroughly enjoyed my time with this group, looking forward to the drives every weekend. Even though I am leaving at the end of this week, this is not the last you've seen of the green H3. *Terminator Voice* "I'll be baack".

See you guys soon!!

I am happy to see you as Fewbie. You wanted it :)

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