COVID 19 Compliant - Evening Fewbie Desert Drive - Pink Rock to Big Red - Sharjah - 29 May 2020

[Wrangeld]

Boy, it's warm in the late afternoon at the moment, so it's great that our afternoon adventure into the desert started more or less on time. For a few people this was a first Fewbie drive, for others it was the first time back on a more challenging route. 

@Emmanuel replaced Srikumar as drive lead (as he had led the newbie drive in the morning) with @Ale Vallecchi in sweep and myself and @Jeepie as centre forward. As you'll know by now I share driving responsibilities with @Jeepie and on reflection it's a bit of shame that we had not swapped round the duties this Friday as we would have had three amazing female drivers showing us all how it's done. Normally I would not make the distinction between men and women, but it does seem that this hobby is disproportionately weighted towards men (even when a lot of women - assume wives - accompany them on the drives. 

I was delighted to see @Vanessa8580 taking an excellent second lead and @Desert Dweller (I think you used to be Jamy.B) showing us all how it's done in the Xterra. We have at least three amazing drivers here: controlled, careful, courageous and generous with their help. There should be more, but let's celebrate and encourage more women drivers in our club. There is absolutely no reason all the women should not be driving and every reason they should. Ladies - get out of the passenger seat and let the men be your passengers for a while!

This area has a great mix of technical, sweeping and playable dunes so a great way to bring fewbies who have not been in the sane for a while back into the groove. And it all started off well, with everyone handling the challenges well. @Chaitanya D had the mightly Y62 out because his new toy was not quite ready, @Najeeb Mohammed was there with his black FJ and it was good to see @Jolly Abraham who once again did an aamzing job with the Fortrunner. 

Unfortunately, Jeeps are not great in the heat of the desert (our own TJ had a moment where it needed to cool as well) and it quite soon became clear that this was going to be an ongoing problem for @Jun Zamora Jun showed us that it's possible to get to places that seem otherwise impossible in his Murano, but yesterday the Jeep was having none of it. Despite all our best efforts and after a few refusals we regrettably had to escort Jun to the safety of the highway and reinflation to allow him to get home and start investigating why the oil was overheating to badly. 

For the rest of us, we dived back into the sand to play and find our way back out into the big red. @Martin. @Rinelle Sanaani & @luwaimn aquitting themselves extremely well through out the drive. Playtime was had by all, everyone learned soemting new and we even got the chance to recover a large crested Patrol to add to the fun. 

Conscious of the impending curfew despite being a little earlier than planned we exited and reinflated with everyone, no doubt enthisuastic to sign up for the next chance to hit the sand. 

It was good to be back. The sand was a little soft in places, despite the rain from this week, and that made it more challenging in places, but the beauty of this part of the desert, expecially seeing now almost untouched because there have clearly not yet been a lot of drives coming through here since lockdown is stunning. 

We are blessed to be able to call this part of the country our playground. 

See you soon in the sand. 

[Najeeb Mohammed]

Yesterday was my first fewbie drive and it was lot of fun and thanks to @Emmanuel as he kept good pace which allowed to have some good momentum, so I dint have any fear of getting stuck. Location was scenic, and drive was more fun.

The play area was really testing the driving skill more than the power of the car and still trying to figure out why I could not do it.  

Badly waiting for my next drive and wanted to learn the required skills to conquer the play area like yesterday.

[Desert Dweller]

Many thanks to @Emmanuel, @Wrangeld & @Jeepie, and last but not least, @Ale Vallecchi for organizing, supervising and making the drive as fun as it could possibly be. I always learn something new in each drive, which exceeds my expectations when I joined the club. The heat caused some delays and deprived some drivers from fully enjoying the adventure. Be that as it may, the excitement was evident and the experience added another great memory to my UAE adventure repertoire.

Thank you @Wrangeld for the encouragement and the very nice words, particularly the supportive attitude towards women joining the club as active members.

See you all next Friday!

[Jun Zamora]

Once again thanks @Frederic for the sound advice. That was actually what i had in mind, Once my car is fixed i'll do some more newbie drives to test the car performance before i'll go back to Fewbie.  As for the radio , i can manage answering the calls  but my only issue is the clarity of message reception due to its poor quality. I have purchased the unit you recommend but unfortunately we were not able to program it yesterday to the right frequency.  That's why @Vanessa8580 offered her kind help to take it to an expert like you.

Thanks @Chaitanya D for the recommendation .I'll  try this one

 

See you soon guys !

 

 

[Emmanuel]

@Wrangeld thank you for your precious support and for the amazing trip report. I agree with every single word in it. Indeed, since I started off-roading, I never ever saw Big Red area in such a beautiful shape. Usually you see 4x4 footprints on each dune, but yesterday it was like another world.

@Najeeb Mohammed you did absolutely well all along the drive, don't focus on a little refusal. With practice you will learn how to unleash your FJ power and reach the highest dunes of the Emirates.   

@Desert Dweller it was so nice to see how much you got confident. Very well done ! 

 

[Jun Zamora]

Thanks @Chaitanya D for this info👍😊

[Ale Vallecchi]

On 5/30/2020 at 11:09 AM, Najeeb Mohammed said:

Yesterday was my first fewbie drive and it was lot of fun and thanks to @Emmanuel as he kept good pace which allowed to have some good momentum, so I dint have any fear of getting stuck. Location was scenic, and drive was more fun.

The play area was really testing the driving skill more than the power of the car and still trying to figure out why I could not do it.  

Badly waiting for my next drive and wanted to learn the required skills to conquer the play area like yesterday.

@Najeeb Mohammed As you also drive an FJ I can try to offer you my view, as it was watching you from a bit far away. First question is what gear were you driving to go up the dune in the play area? With shifty sand, and a few ruts (you were going 4th or 5th) you probably needed more momentum, using perhaps a lower gear than 4H-4. Did you try a lower gear?

Also, as @Emmanuel mentioned on your second attempt, it was important that you approached the ridge where you had problems from a higher point. The FJ has power, but it's still quite long, and if you climb from a low point, the rear will tend to be dragged down on the incline (especially if the momentum is not enough).

Your car is lifted (if I remember well) so the issue was not clearance over the ridge.

You will have time in the next drives to get more acquainted with each gear you can use in 4H, based on the different terrains and angles (all the way to the lowest 1 gear, very handy in steep climbs of tall dunes, where you need power and control), and see how the car and yourself feel when taking a bit higher approaches. Side sloping is a good time to practice these skills, so try to use these opportunities, while always having the possibility of going down the slope safely, as soon as you feel the gravity is pulling the back of the car, or the momentum is no longer enough.

[Najeeb Mohammed]

6 hours ago, Ale Vallecchi said:

@Najeeb Mohammed As you also drive an FJ I can try to offer you my view, as it was watching you from a bit far away. First question is what gear were you driving to go up the dune in the play area? With shifty sand, and a few ruts (you were going 4th or 5th) you probably needed more momentum, using perhaps a lower gear than 4H-4. Did you try a lower gear?

Also, as @Emmanuel mentioned on your second attempt, it was important that you approached the ridge where you had problems from a higher point. The FJ has power, but it's still quite long, and if you climb from a low point, the rear will tend to be dragged down on the incline (especially if the momentum is not enough).

Your car is lifted (if I remember well) so the issue was not clearance over the ridge.

You will have time in the next drives to get more acquainted with each gear you can use in 4H, based on the different terrains and angles (all the way to the lowest 1 gear, very handy in steep climbs of tall dunes, where you need power and control), and see how the car and yourself feel when taking a bit higher approaches. Side sloping is a good time to practice these skills, so try to use these opportunities, while always having the possibility of going down the slope safely, as soon as you feel the gravity is pulling the back of the car, or the momentum is no longer enough.

1st attempt i was going in Auto so i dint get enough power at the end, 2nd attempt i used low gear 2 which gave enough power but  as mentioned by @Emmanuel my strategy was wrong as car slided while turning so i lost the momentum and then i dint try. Lets see next time to understand what exactly i am doing wrong. 

[Ale Vallecchi]

10 minutes ago, Najeeb Mohammed said:

1st attempt i was going in Auto so i dint get enough power at the end, 2nd attempt i used low gear 2 which gave enough power but  as mentioned by @Emmanuel my strategy was wrong as car slided while turning so i lost the momentum and then i dint try. Lets see next time to understand what exactly i am doing wrong. 

@Najeeb Mohammed if you used 4H-2 that's plenty of power and momentum for that dune. Then it's just a matter of approach. Don't worry, you'll perfect your trajectories with each drive.

[Jun Zamora]

Hi guys. I got  refusal using 4H-D On my approach at the foot of  pink rock mountain on full trottle. 

Should i have shifted the gear to 4H-2 or 1?

Please advice. 

Thanks