Popular Post Nacho Posted June 19, 2020 Popular Post Report Share Posted June 19, 2020 Thanks everyone for an amazing morning in the dunes! Thanks to @Wrangeld and @Jeepie for a relly fun drive! Also thanks to @Frederic, @Ale Vallecchi, @Vanessa8580 for taking good care of the group as always! I would like to praise @asifk for his amazing drive today! Going behind you today was a pleasure,not only because of your good driving skills but also because you always keep the good route or adapt it making your follower's life easier and funnier! Thanks everyone! See you soon! 8 3 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Frederic Posted June 20, 2020 Popular Post Report Share Posted June 20, 2020 Some drives will test the limits of your patience, skills, and endurance. This was one of those drives. Seeing most people arriving before 7 and starting deflation is a wonderful thing to see, as we are battling the heat and want to head out as soon as possible. It was however disappointing to see few members in the wrong convoy that we had to go and collect. Which set us back quite some time. PLEASE always look at the meeting point coordinates and do not just join the bunch of cars from another drive you see further down the road. The drive lead specifically mentioned this in the drive topic. Furthermore, the briefing video has specific points mentioned that were put there for a reason. Bringing a shovel, and wearing closed shoes, is particularly useful in 40 degrees and the shovel is even a mandatory item. Testing new equipment should be done beforehand, not on the deflation point. From FEWBIE level onwards this is a hobby that requires some preparation and focus. This is not a Desert Safari Tourist Trip anymore. Having said that, the desert can be unforgiving, and the soft sand meant we had to deflate further down. The route from Fossil Rock towards Faya is consisting out of some technical dunes, and lots of pockets and ditches. This is perfect terrain for Fewbies to practice the use of momentum and pointing the nose of the car perfectly spot on the ridge riding it high enough to avoid ending up in the ditch. Most of them mastered this very well by now, some others kept using the raw power of the vehicle and came to realize soon enough the raw power alone is not enough. Despite the pop-outs and some challenging recoveries we kept a cool head (at least we tried in this heat), and got everyone out safely. A big thanks to the convoy for keeping their patience and offering help over the radio. An excellent drive lead from both @Wrangeld and @Jeepie, a wonderful second lead by @Foxtrot Oscar, great recoveries done by @Vanessa8580 and @Ale Vallecchi, and some of the fewbies really showed their worth. Well done guys ! 4 1 4 2 "Go as far as you can see; once you get there, you'll be able to see further." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ale Vallecchi Posted June 20, 2020 Report Share Posted June 20, 2020 On 6/19/2020 at 2:59 PM, asifk said: There were definitely a lot of teachable moments and the efforts of the trip leads @Wrangeld@Jeepie, @Frederic, @Vanessa8580, and @Ale Vallecchi were really commendable especially given the heat today. It was a great drive overall, despite the stucks. The one small negative thing I will say that being stopped for a while allowed me to notice how much trash people leave in the desert - empty bottles, cigarettes, even car parts. People who venture to the desert and enjoy the outdoors should be even more protective of it, but unfortunately we see the rubbish people leave behind, as evidence to the contrary. As a responsible car club, lets all of us try and do our part to keep the desert clean - and leave no trash behind ! Well said @asifk. One day we'll organize a "Rubbish Run" to collect trash from the desert. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ale Vallecchi Posted June 20, 2020 Report Share Posted June 20, 2020 On 6/19/2020 at 2:59 PM, asifk said: There were definitely a lot of teachable moments and the efforts of the trip leads @Wrangeld@Jeepie, @Frederic, @Vanessa8580, and @Ale Vallecchi were really commendable especially given the heat today. It was a great drive overall, despite the stucks. The one small negative thing I will say that being stopped for a while allowed me to notice how much trash people leave in the desert - empty bottles, cigarettes, even car parts. People who venture to the desert and enjoy the outdoors should be even more protective of it, but unfortunately we see the rubbish people leave behind, as evidence to the contrary. As a responsible car club, lets all of us try and do our part to keep the desert clean - and leave no trash behind ! Well said @asifk. We'll soon organize a "Trash Collecting Drive" to rid the desert of some of the rubbish that unfortunately fills it, in places (fortunately, mostly in the proximity of "play areas"). 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ale Vallecchi Posted June 20, 2020 Report Share Posted June 20, 2020 @Jeepie and @Wrangeld Great job as fisrt time Leaders!! You faced a very challanging environment (a lot of bushes, combined with increasingly hot and shifty sand patches) and yet navigated admirably well and with a decisive and sure pace. What's more important, when faced with a very tricky recovery, you guided a multiple effort with calm and inner coolness (while boiling on the outside😅) leading all to safety. As much a great feat for a first lead as any other, in my opinion. @Gaurav has mentored you well, especially in mastering recoveries. And @Fredericand @Vanessa8580 did a great job taking part in the gruesome effort, under the scorching sun. I am sure they spent the afternoon immersed in the pool!! As for the group, all rose to the challange, without major problems (pop out and some refusals happen, especially in these conditions). The Big Stuck was unavoidable, considering the tight technical dune area and especially the heat. See you next week on some patch of sand. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeepie Posted June 20, 2020 Report Share Posted June 20, 2020 You played a big part in the recoveries as well, Ale. Especially impressed with you getting yourself out a very sticky situation 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ale Vallecchi Posted June 20, 2020 Report Share Posted June 20, 2020 On 6/19/2020 at 2:03 PM, Wrangeld said: The One with lots of Stucks I am writing this covered head to toe in sand. As @Jeepie will tell you, I hate sand, but nonetheless, there's a big grin on my face after what has been, to say the least, a challenging morning for everyone (with a few honourable exceptions). And it all started so well. Everyone on time, almost everyone at the right start point and everyone with a compressor. A rolling brief so we could get moving quickly and a brilliant lead by @Jeepie designed to wake everyone out of their slumber. Perhaps we should have noted the early problems and a very early pop out from @Lorenzo Candelpergher (glad to have made your son's day) and understood this was not going to be an easy day. The sand is deceiving and today it was truly summer soft. Which meant our journey to fossil rock took longer than planned. @Foxtrot Oscar did an amazing job in second lead throughout and in this early stage was up with the pace and any challenge. Despite looking for more accessible routes, there were more and more refusals and Stucks.... but nothing that could not be handled. @Nizam Deen gets a big thank you from @Vanessa8580 for being her first tow off a crest. The ropes would be busy today, but we did not realise quite how much. @Ale Vallecchi and @Frederic were busy at the back of the convoy. Not surprising because the sand was getting churned. @asifk in the Pajero and @J J and @Nacho handled this admirably in their jeeps. It seems the Toyotas and Mitsubishi teams found the goimg a little tougher @Rizwanm2 @Jolly Abraham had a few moments. @Jorge Stepniak Felippe with the LR4 even found the going challenging. Eventually we made it to the dirt track with the choice of ascending Fossil Rock or not. We decided against it because we hoped to make it to Faya. It was not to be. Technical dunes, which are not the easiest to navigate, but an essential part of the development of driving skills proved to be filled with soft sand and an as we went cross country toward Faya and the refusals and stucks increased. Even trying to navigate through existing routes and keeping away bigger dunes, the delays continued. And then, the big stuck. Or as we like to think of it, the learning moment as @Nizam Deen got bogged down in a sticky bowl, and adding insult to injury with a pop out. The unpredictability of this hobby showed its fangs as @Frederic managed to get the recovery vehicle stuck as well, leaving us with a lengthy and difficult double recovery to manage. A massive thanks to everyone who waited patiently while we handled these recoveries. Both needed multiple tugs, and repair of a pop out. Once we got under way again it was already late so we headed for a track to exit. On the way we saw a lot of playable dunes, but given the time and the heat we did not want to risk more people getting stuck so we exited and inflated. So ... Faya will have to wait (again) or will be the first objective of the day. For the new Fewbies, I guess you know now why promotion does not come so quick. Be careful what you wish for. For everyone esle, thanks for the great discipline and the teamwork that was shown to get everyone out. Perhaps we did not cover as many kms as we wanted, but we learned a lot, and getting out of these tricky situations will help as you encounter more difficult terrain in the future. Thanks especially to the seniors on the trip @Frederic @Ale Vallecchi @Jeepie and @Vanessa8580 as it was a busy day and everyone did an amazing job. A quick reminder of one or two things. Fewbie and turning up without a shovel .... I will just leave that there. Shoes ... I challenge anyone still wearing flip flops or sandals to be useful in the sand when it's this hot. See you soon in the sand. @Wrangeld you're right about the shoe issue. Even the Big Barefeet One (i.e. myself) has given in to the comfort and safety of desert shoes 😅 😉 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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