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COVID 19 Compliant - Afternoon Intermediate Desert Drive - EXPLORATION: Sea to Mountain - RAK - 12 Sep 2020


Ale Vallecchi

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On 9/10/2020 at 8:10 PM, Ale Vallecchi said:

Dear Desertnauts.

Time for sharing the convoy's order for this Saturday's PM drive.

Considering the complexity of the terrain, you will notice the list below is made up in a way that, when and if necessary, the second half of the convoy, the one just behind the Center Forward position, may be redirected slightly, to make sure it can proceed on clearer ground. With this in mind, we will drive as follows:

@Kalahari in Second Lead

@Shiju Manuel in #3 place

@asifk will be #4

@Desert Dweller at #5

@Chaitanya D as car #6

@Srikumar will be the Center Forward, and the first lead of the second half of the convoy (when it will be necessary to separate it)

@Pancho will be in position #8

@Najeeb Mohammed will follow at #9

@Rinelle Sanaani will take position #10

@Febin Frederic is going to be #11

@Wrangeld will Sweep the convoy.

Considering the vicinity of Barracuda Resort (and its Thunder Road Grill), the meeting can be either:

  • at the Grill for lunch, at 1:30PM
  • at the Emirates Motorplex for deflation.

So far, for lunch I have confirmations from Kalahari, Wrangled with Jeepie, and Desert Dweller with Foxtrot Oscar (for those who only know members by their nicknames, this will be a good opportunity to unveil their true names 😉). Anyone who wishes to enjoy some good pub food (or pizza and pasta) please confirm by tomorrow.

Those who will join at the deflation point, PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU ARRIVE BY 3:00 PM (30 minutes earlier than indicated): given the tricky nature of the drive, it will be better, and safer, to start a little earlier, to make sure we can exit before it gets dark (sunset will be at 6:26PM, and darkness is supposes to fall at 7:16PM).

Please make sure that all drivers have a compressor, as we will be exiting quite far from an inflation station. I am not going to mention all the others tools that all of you should be carrying in your cars, by now.

With all this in mind, I wish you have a good end of the week, a nice Friday drive (s), for those who cannot stay away from the desert even for 1 day, and will be seeing you on Saturday for this first exploration drive in RAK.

 

Umm Al Quwain's airport plane's mystery solved. 

https://youtu.be/PH9PLvHb_jk

 

 

2 minutes ago, Shiju Manuel said:

Hi @Ale Vallecchi sorry for the last minute notice, I must pull out from this drive due to an emergency situation at the work place. Really missed the drive and see you next time.  

Hi @Shiju Manuel. Sorry to hear that. See you next time.

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16 hours ago, asifk said:

Hi @Ale Vallecchi with sincere apologies, I will not be able to join this drive tomorrow as we have some last minute out of town visitors ! I'm super bummed as it sounds like an amazing drive and would have been my first intermediate ! Hope you all have a great and safe drive. Best, Asif  

No worries @asifk. Enjoy your visitors. Will see you on the next drive.  

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@Kalahari, @Chaitanya D, @Desert Dweller, @Wrangeld the booking at the Grill has been made for 1:30PM in the name of Carnity. See you soon.

@Srikumar, @Najeeb Mohammed, @Rinelle Sanaani, @Pancho and @Febin Frederic you can refill at the Eppco gas station just on the other side of the road in front (more or less) of Dreamland Aquapark.

See you all soon. 

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I'm so keen to hear how this drive went seeing as you were so close to my hood! I'm sorry I didn't read it earlier I would have met up for the lunch part of the drive :) Hope you had fun exploring!

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7 minutes ago, Ale Vallecchi said:

RUMBLE IN THE JUNGLE - Sea to Mountain Exploration drive's report

Exploration was the goal, and explore we did. The drive's idea was to find new locations, off the beaten track, with potential for providing new learning experiences for the members, and the possibility of honing less developed off-roading abilities.

This first exploration aimed to find a way from the sea to the mountains of RAK. To face such daunting task, we thought of filling up with some munchies at Barracuda's Thunder Road Grill, before setting off into the little known territory. After meeting up with the rest of the drivers by the Emirates Motorplex, just in front of UAQ's russian plane relic (see link above to witness its last landing), we ventured into the "savannah" like environment that characterizes the first kilometres toward E611. The plants here benefit from the high water level seeping through from the sea, and belong to botanical families which thrive on soils high in salinity. Vegetation is very abundant, mostly of creeping ground plants (gourds), or low bushes, both thorny and succulent. The sand dunes are very low, and covered, for the most part, by the abundant vegetation. Occasional higher cordons rise from the low plain (we are actually below the sea level here), with small goat and camel farms perched on their tops. Even these low dune cordons are tricky to navigate, due to their tightness and the presence of numerous steps and pockets. Moving toward E311 the bushes leave more room to groups of taller Ghaf trees, which become quite abundant once across the highway, giving the area a more forested look. Goat farms, herds of camels, and some small sabkhas, white from the evaporation of saline water, separate E311 from a large, very irregular, cordon of dunes (almost a plateau), beyond which E611 is occasionally visible. Playing on these dunes proved to be a small challenge, due to their tight and unpredictable nature: yet play a little we did, practicing some side sloping in a deep send bowl, with a big Ghaf tree in its middle. With E611 in sight we drove along the eastern side of the sand plateau, on a track jammed between the trees and the dunes, until we found ourselves on an elevated sand ledge, where a couple of major stucks on the very churned sand forced us to make a prolonged stop, just while dusk turned into night. The whole group came into action, some shoveling, some tying double ropes to the cars, others literally clearing the ares from the sturdy shrubs, or illuminating the very tight spaces where the recovery manoeuvres were taking place. After the successful group recovery effort, the delay meant we had to find our way out of the area with an exiting night drive, looking for, and trying to follow, very faintly marked tracks, away from the fenced area close to E611, and back toward E311, on the other side of the sand plateau. After a couple of failed attempts we did manage to climb the tallest dune of the day (and night), and reached the exit point: it was 4:46 hours after departure, with 38.6Km on the odometer, driven at an average moving speed of 16 Km/h.

My hat goes off to all the drivers, for managing very smoothly a very difficult and unusual terrain: good job @Kalahari, @Pancho, @Desert Dweller, @Chaitanya D, @Srikumar (special thanks for your guidance and assistance during the more difficult moments of the drive), @Najeeb Mohammed, @Rinelle Sanaani (you missed the fun night part of the drive), and the Pajeep duo (@Jeepie and @Wrangeld), for brilliantly navigating at the back, on very challenging tracks.

See you all soon for Sea to Mountain Part 2: from E611 to Al Khail, at the foot of the Hajar Mlountains. In the meantime, have a great week.

Sounds amazing, sorry I missed it ! 

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@Ale Vallecchi great drive exploring the lesser known areas far away from the crowded sought after bowls and rocks. Great to catch up with you all and have a chat at the thunder road grill. Driving behind @Desert Dweller ( it was great to see how she was managing the technical areas ) made my job easier , as I could gauge how to maneuver the tricky zones.

Some pictures uploaded in gallery ( all PC:  @Mohamed Seidam)

Can't wait for the Part 2, bring it on!!

Edited by Chaitanya D
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