COVID 19 Compliant - Evening Fewbie Desert Drive - Al Qudra - Dubai - 16 Oct 2020

[Shaaz Sha]

Thank you Vanessa, see you 👍👍👏👏👏

[Vanessa8580]

updated convoy numbering

Attendees	Level	Car	Radio	Pos #
Vanessa8580	Advance	Mitsubishi Pajero LWB Blue	Y	1
Nacho	Fewbie	Jeep Wrangler Unlimited White	Y	2
Sinol	Fewbie	Mitsubishi Pajero LWB White	Y	3
Tero Vallas	Fewbie	Toyota Landcruiser Prado Brown	Y	4
Topgear	Fewbie	Toyota FJ Cruiser	Y	5
Jose Martin	Fewbie	Mitsubishi Pajero SWB	Y	6
Desertdweller	Advance	Nissan Xterra Black	Y	7
Mukundan Nair	Fewbie	Nissan Xterra White	Y	8
Shaaz Sha	Fewbie	Jeep Wrangler	Y	9
Pancho	Fewbie	Jeep Wrangler SWB	Y	10
Ilya Golubinsky	Fewbie	Jeep Wrangler	Y	11
Srikumar	Crew	Jeep Cherokee XJ Green	Y	12

[Veedooshee]

On 10/15/2020 at 6:51 PM, Vanessa8580 said:

Evening Fewbie Drive Al Qudra Oct 16
Attendees	Level	Car	Radio	Pos #
Vanessa8580	Advance	Mitsubishi Pajero LWB Blue	Y	1
Veedooshee	Fewbie	Mitsubishi Pajero LWB White	Y	2
Sinol	Fewbie	Mitsubishi Pajero LWB White	Y	3
Tero Vallas	Fewbie	Toyota Landcruiser Prado Brown	Y	4
Topgear	Fewbie	Toyota FJ Cruiser	Y	5
Jose Martin	Fewbie	Mitsubishi Pajero SWB	Y	6
Desertdweller	Advance	Nissan Xterra Black	Y	7
jodha singh shekhawat	Fewbie	Nissan Xterra White	Y	8
Mukundan Nair	Fewbie	Nissan Xterra White	Y	9
Nacho	Fewbie	Jeep Wrangler Unlimited White	Y	10
Pancho	Fewbie	Jeep Wrangler SWB	Y	11
Ilya Golubinsky	Fewbie	Jeep Wrangler	Y	12
Srikumar	Crew	Jeep Cherokee XJ Green	Y	13

Ooops, hey @Vanessa8580, I just saw that I was in the convoy numbering whilst I had already left the drive around midday on Thursday...

[Vanessa8580]

@Veedooshee we close the RSVP convoys at 9am and then we try to put in people from waitlist to the drives. A heads up from you that you left the drive would have been useful ....

[Srikumar]

Thank you @Vanessa8580 for a lovely evening. From my perspective, I would split the drive in two parts. The first part where you set a pretty brisk pace with plenty of side slopping and dunes crossing. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it also gave me the chance to test my new gear to the limit. 😄 

The second part was what I would like to call a recovery drive which brought out everyone's thinking caps and ofcourse shovels, ropes, jacks, etc. Though it did seem like a troubled recovery, the friendly banter and team effort set the right atmosphere for the next couple of hours. Fantastic effort by those who were actively involved as well as those who very patiently waited and enjoyed the sunset besides their cars. 

While everyone did an amazing contribution a special mention has to be made to @Pancho @Desert Dweller @Foxtrot Oscar @Nacho and ofcourse you @Vanessa8580 for keeping calm and accessing the problem one step at a time. Offroading is not just about driving, but about overcoming challenges and those couple of hours brought the best out of the entire team.

Kudos to everyone. See you all next week. 

[Tero Vallas]

Thank you @Vanessa8580, @Srikumar and @Desert Dweller for an exciting drive yesterday ! 

Few photos in gallery.

 

[Vanessa8580]

The drive with many challenges but excellent teamwork

After a very good first lead last Friday, I was super excited to do my next one. I choose an area that I am very familiar with and I drove in that area a few times already so I was not concerned at all. Everyone came perfectly on time and after a short briefing and the radio checks, we headed into the dunes with @Nacho as my second lead, @Desert Dweller in center forward position and @Srikumar in the sweep.

The first hour was amazing, everyone did great, the pace got kicked up a little bit and everyone enjoyed the slide sloping. The sand was very soft and there was a lot of wind but that didn't stop us at all !!

I marked a very nice play area on my GPS and I really wanted to reach it because it's beautiful and I wanted everyone to have some fun playing around but I took a wrong turn and all hell broke loose. There was a big bowl with extremely soft sand at the bottom and the moment I drove into it, I knew I was in trouble. I quickly announced on the radio to @Desert Dweller to stop the convoy. Only 4 of us were in that bowl and I tried to get out but got myself stuck in a very ackward position. With a lot of shoveling, tugging and fixing a pop out of my rear tyre, we were able to make a move again. We even got the help of my hubby @Frederic which I was extremely happy about .... 

I want to thank everybody for their patience and their help with shoveling. I really saw some very good teamwork and I was very pleased to have such an amazing bunch of people with me that evening. 

A special thank you to @Srikumar @Desert Dweller @Pancho @Nacho @Jose Martin and @Sinol for the shoveling, tugging and especially staying very calm !

I hope I didn't scare you all off and hope to see you on one of my next leads ....

Kuddos to everyone and see you soon !

[topgear]

This was my absolute fewbie drive. I was nervous initially especially when I have not been driving in the desert for 6 weeks. I also made an error with my deflation and was slightly slow to be ready. However, once the convoy started rolling, I really enjoyed the route, scene, pace and terrain. I had some refusals and thanks to @Desert Dweller for the clear and precise instructions on what to do. Apologies for not acknowledging  to all of them because I was too busy and nervous fighting the car 😅

Also thanks to @Tero Vallas for radioing me to stop and I am the first car who missed the tricky soft bowl area. 
 

Thanks @Vanessa8580 and @Srikumar for the drive and recovery efforts. The recovery segment of the drive was part of the overall experience and I’m sure everyone came out of it stronger. Special thanks to those who did all the hard work with shoveling and recovery efforts. My son was nervous to be out of the car because of the strong wind as it had blown off his face mask. 
We had a great evening because my son took a nap in the car and we grabbed McDonald's on the way home 😆

[Desert Dweller]

No worries at all @topgear 😃 I just wanted to make sure your radio was working properly. Happy to help and you did a great job 👏

[Veedooshee]

On 10/17/2020 at 11:36 AM, Vanessa8580 said:

@Veedooshee we close the RSVP convoys at 9am and then we try to put in people from waitlist to the drives. A heads up from you that you left the drive would have been useful ....

My apologies for this @Vanessa8580, I indeed forgot to post a msg..😔