COVID19 Compliant - Morning Intermediate Desert Drive - Sweihan - Abu Dhabi - 2 Oct 2020

[Srikumar]

27 minutes ago, Nivin said:

Test done crossed Border and reached AUH 

Expect 10-15 mins delay at the border. They are opening doors and trunk for checking.

A little too early for tomorrow's drive? 😁 See you in the morning. 

[Najeeb Mohammed]

Me too test done and reached the nearest Petrol Station. Going to sleep for sometime 

[Janarthan]

Extraordinary drive and a great experience. Thank you @Srikumar and real pleasure in knowing and driving with @Asif Hussain bhai. 

[Srikumar]

TRIP REPORT

Sweihan or Little Liwa as its known among the offroading circle is considered as one of the most amazing as well as challenging terrains that is available in UAE. So with Sweihan calling and the weather getting better a trip was needed to be planned. Despite the current movement restrictions, with some early posting and planning we had 10 cars that had signed up for the Sweihan drive. Many had prebooked the DPI test appointment and some took the test a day in advance. More on the procedures in a separate post. Even with having to start in the dead hours of the night everyone made it to the meeting point at sharp 5:30 AM. Lot of respect to all the drivers.

Sweihan has changed a bit in the past 6 months, with a more than usual amount of vegetation creeping on many of the dunes. This adds to the challenge of having to negotiate through some hard bumps as well especially when side slopping at high pace. Other than a few stucks and refusals the convoy was maintaining a pretty decent pace, till Sweihan decided its time for a challenge. As we were descending a steep hill one of the cars got stuck in a nasty pocket at the top of the dune. Getting to the stuck car itself was a challenge and recovering it from that position in a single tug was an even bigger one. A single hard tug was the only option else we would have had 2 cars stuck by the rope on the top of that dune. Perfectly executed and managed by @Asif Hussain to help recover the stuck vehicle. 

We then started moving deeper into Sweihan playing along the awesomely tall dunes to reach a bowl that I had marked for the drone shot. Along the war we had to go through a pop-out, a leaking tire and an overheating car that had a dead battery. But all these challenges seem like a walk in the park when you have an excellent team who have the patience and a willingness to help. So while few where replacing the leaking tyre, others where helping with recharging the battery. Took us close to an hour but thankfully the car started with no sign of any issue. 

With the time reaching close to 12 pm, it was getting seriously hot and we needed to find as flat a track as possible through the Sweihan dunes. Not an easy task, believe me. However we did find one with the minimal amount of dunes and we sped our way towards the exit point. Such is the massiveness of Sweihan that even after exiting the dunes, the flat track to the road itself is a good 20 km stretch. This made up for a good fun rally kind of drive with speeds touching close to 70 kmph. As we were approaching near the exit I heard over the radio that another car started overheating and there was a break in convoy. With the exit just a km away it was decided to exit out the first few cars in the convoy while me and Chaitanya returned to attend to the overheating car. With no solution in sight, it was finally decided to tow the car onto the road. 

We had a brief but a super exciting glimpse of @Chaitanya D's lead which I am sure that we are all looking forward to seeing again in the very near future.

Unfortunately we couldn't make it to the marked locations for @Lorenzo Candelpergher's drone shots, but hopefully we can do something very soon or plan a separate drive for the drone footage.

Extremely well done to all the drive participants for keeping your calm and composure in a challenging terrain which gave challenging problems. But nothing that can't be solved with a cool head and some good humor to liven the atmosphere.

Special word of thanks to one of our oldest and senior most member @Asif Hussain for supporting the drive in every possible manner. Thanks Sirji

[M.Seidam]

@Srikumar reading your trip report makes me try imagine the adventure you all guys have been through , although I am pretty sure that the reality was over imagination. Well done and God bless you and all desert   enthusiasts along . Hat off !

have some rest and we wait some pictures and clips. 
 

cheers 🙏🏻🌷👍

[Kalahari]

Respect for @Srikumar for his lead in challenging area, @Chaitanya D for taking the lead with zero hesitation, and @Asif Hussain for showing the difference between Expert and Advance!!! Awesome. 

[Najeeb Mohammed]

Thanks @Srikumar for wonder drive. 
Sweihan indeed a different experience enjoyed a lot. First time met @Asif Hussain it was pleasure meeting you. I heard there are good terrains in Alain also very scenic and amazing drive it can offer. @Asif Hussain please consider more intermediate levels drives in those areas as well.

thanks again to @Asif Hussain and @Srikumar for wonderful coordination and a perfect planing to make this happen especially when we have this cross border challenges etc..

[Nivin]

@Srikumar Thank you for a wonderful experience, Really enjoyed the first intermediate drive.

@Chaitanya D It was pleasure driving with you leading and looking forward for more drives with you.

@Asif Hussain Good to see you again and thank you for your assistance  

Special Thanks to @Chaitanya D @Asif Hussain @Lorenzo Candelpergher @Najeeb Mohammed for helping me fix the pop-out in record time. Got the tires cleaned and balanced on the way back from Abu Dhabi and the steering was still vibrating over 100kmph got it fixed in the evening from Sharjah. It seems the guys who did the balancing in AUH didn't know how to get the job done properly. 

 

 

Edited October 3, 2020 by Nivin

[Asif Hussain]

Drive Video

 

[Chaitanya D]

3 hours ago, Srikumar said:

We had a brief but a super exciting glimpse of @Chaitanya D's lead which I am sure that we are all looking forward to seeing again in the very near future.

Thanks @Srikumar for this opportunity. Well driven everyone and great team work fixing pop outs.

Fantastic to catchup with @Asif Hussain.

1 hour ago, Nivin said:

@Chaitanya D It was pleasure driving with you leading and looking forward for more drives with you.

Thanks @Nivin. Whole convoy  today will be a memorable one.

 

2 hours ago, Kalahari said:

taking the lead with zero hesitation

@Kalahari thanks! well we have been driving together since we joined this club most of the times. Great to see and learn from your enthusiasm . Not to mention you came back to dubai and joined the evening drive, bravo !