COVID 19 Compliant - Fewbie Evening Desert Drive - Suwaydan to Faya - 28 Aug 2020

[Pancho]

any change for me to go?

I am second on the list

[Frederic]

@Tero Vallas as one spot became available and you are first one on the waitlist, I’ve added your name to the RSVP list. 
 

See you tomorrow!

1 hour ago, Pancho said:

any change for me to go?

I am second on the list

Sorry @Pancho, Tero was higher on the waitlist and has confirmed his attendance for tomorrow.

[Pancho]

No worries. No problem. Enjoy the ride.

Any last time cancellation i am in dubai and can make it

[Christian Andras]

@Frederic Just a quick question: I intended to bring my family along in the car for this drive, any problems with that? Haven’t done it before since I’ve never been on a evening drive before, and they are too lazy to wake up in the mornings...:-)

[Frederic]

38 minutes ago, Christian Andras said:

@Frederic Just a quick question: I intended to bring my family along in the car for this drive, any problems with that? Haven’t done it before since I’ve never been on a evening drive before, and they are too lazy to wake up in the mornings...:-)

Hi Christian no worries, as long as they wear seatbelts 😜

[Christian Andras]

2 minutes ago, Frederic said:

Hi Christian no worries, as long as they wear seatbelts 😜

😂😂 Hey man, of course they were seatbelts, we come from Sweden, our other car is a Volvo XC90, you know Volvo invented both the seatbelt AND the child seat...?

[Christian Andras]

25 minutes ago, Christian Andras said:

😂😂 Hey man, of course they were seatbelts, we come from Sweden, our other car is a Volvo XC90, you know Volvo invented both the seatbelt AND the child seat...?

 

[Tero Vallas]

Exciting drive this evening in Faya ! 

Thank you @Frederic and @Jeepie / Mariann (Do I spell right ...) managing the drive professionally, once again !

@Febin Frederic your help was really needed and advices valuable. 

See you on sand soon again.

[Frederic]

DRIVE REPORT

On my way to Second December Cafeteria I came across hundreds of cars that were parked next to the road, awaiting the predicted rain showers. As soon as the rains set in, it was funny to see all of them running outside their cars, splashing in the water and enjoying the rain. For me, coming from a country where it rains a lot more I must say it made me laugh quite hard while I was passing them by.

Upon arrival, where I found @Febin Frederic also had an itch to hit the sand early, we saw the cafeteria area already was a muddy pool, with locals arriving with buggy's and Landcruisers and Batrols hitting the sand and revving without deflating. 

We quickly set out by crossing the road and heading towards direction Faya. The Suwaydan area we went into is mostly left behind by other clubs because the terrain is more technical and quite bushy, with even a forest in the middle of it (we will come to that later). I have driven in that area before and although it is not the most exciting area, it does offer scenic views and for this drive I wanted to let the convoy digest some technical areas as it's important to learn them, and also the scenic views on this cloudy afternoon is something we should enjoy as this is super rare in UAE.

We had a strong convoy that day, and no-one really struggled, and even @Tero Vallas who was a little bit stuck in the mud at the back of the convoy managed to get himself out eventually by deflating a bit more and giving the mighty Prado a good kickin'  Well done !

We arrived at Sharjah Forest (don't laugh this is how I named that waypoint in my gps), and parked the cars next to each other and made some shots, which will be the perfect Insta and FB material I hope).

It was quickly getting more dark, even earlier as expected maybe due to the cloudy weather, so that meant we had pick up the pace and head over to Faya, where I was expecting to see hundreds of cars but fortunately the area was quite calm and all of us had our chance to climb from our so-called cheat route. Attacking from the front was simply impossible with all the muddy cross tracks, and I was sure we were all able to reach the top via that cheat route. 

As the dark set in, I was contemplating if we would play around in the Faya a little bit more, but it was getting quite dark and felt it was the right time to head out towards the exit as it had been a lovely day and sometimes my gut feeling tells me not to jinx it. We inflated at the dune buggy shops and I hope everyone appreciated the different type of drive this was today. We will just call it "Insta-Drive" from now

The whole convoy was super-cooperative, helpful, and all of you drove really well. @Veedooshee who lost a bit of the inside of her Pajero eventually found it back thanks to @Mels Wolf, and this event amongst others showed how much we try to look after each other, which is THE main reason why I gladly keep doing these drives. It is all about the community spirit, helping out each other, and having a good day in the sand. 

@Jun Zamora which I have not seen a while, has become a confident off-roader that easily digests whatever terrain is being thrown at him. Fantastic growth in a short time !

@Christian Andras as my second lead, and with the family safely strapped in (LOL), drove also very confident and did not break a sweat. Maybe it helped that we were driving in Tawi Swedan 😅

@Biju Abdul gave us the perfect excuse to have a difflock on board and used it on the PERFECT moment. Super !

@Edgar you drove really well today, and you went on Faya like you drove on Sheikh Zayed. Mighty impressive !

@David Ortells it was nice meeting your wife, and it will be great to see her joining the club too very soon !

@Yousef Alimadadi and friends, hope you had a good time !

@Jeepie as always the calm supportive sweep, a pleasure to have you in the convoy. Absolutely well done, and a big thanks also to @Febin Frederic for helping out with the recoveries.

See you guys soon in the sand !

 

 

[Christian Andras]

Being too humble to mention it, @Frederic was the perfect leader, taking “one for the team” and sacrificing parts of his car in the process, to find the perfect route 😀

It seems however the motto of this bunch is “we leave no one behind, nor do we leave any (car)parts behind”😂😂😂