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COVID 19 Compliant - Afternoon Newbie Desert Drive - Murquab - Dubai - 06 Nov 2020


Frederic

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33 minutes ago, varunmehndiratta said:

Hi @Frederic in case any spot open on this drive would like to join. Kindly advice. 

 

Regards 

Hi @varunmehndiratta unfortunately this drive is already completely full. Next drives will be announced coming Sunday. Take care !

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"Go as far as you can see; once you get there, you'll be able to see further."

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DRIVE REPORT

Murquab is an area that we normally preserve for Fewbie and above level, but recently we were able to find a clean track that leads us all the way through up to Solar Park. Taking that opportunity, and a massive convoy of 18 cars did come with some challenges but all did amazingly well.

From the deflation point in Murquab, it looked everyone was excited to explore this new area and see where it would bring us. With the help of @Wrangeld to get the massive convoy lined up, i found myself already in Solar Park while the back of the convoy was still on the tarmac. Many people ask me why we don't increase the drive count, and one should understand the convoy dynamics of adding a few cars and the consequences: every car added will easily 30m length to your convoy.

Having said that, everyone did fantastic on this first stretch through Murqab and the sight of some gazelles is always welcome. You all did so well that after 2 hours we reached the exit point, so i decided to cross the road and make our way through Qudra South. 

Recently some construction has been going on to extend the high voltage lines, and we came across a whole lot of road blockages and had to drive along the construction road to be able to enter the long range dunes. We started to have some small first stucks and refusals over there, and also helped out a couple that wanted to go camping but got themselves stuck. 

The next stuck was a nasty one, with an F-150 crested along the dunes on its belly. After quite some shoveling we decided to take the little blue and give the truck a gentle sidewards tug to pull it off the crest.  The recovery took some time and we saw the sun coming down faster than a Swiss skier from the Alps.

The last part consisted of making our way out to the exit in the dark, which is for beginners a more challenging task, as suddenly they have to drive closer to the vehicle in front and follow the EXACT same tracks, or they would get themselves into trouble. It took all the support from @Jeepie @Kalahari @Wrangeld to keep the convoy moving in one single pace and with the right distance in between. We made it out and passed a lot of people who decided to have gatherings with 30-40 people and more doing BBQ and music. Qudra on a winter evening is becoming a bit like Global Village it seems.

Special thanks to @Melenany for being an excellent second lead, totally in tune with the truck and re-directing where needed. 

A massive thanks to Everyone in the convoy as you guys did so well and took on the challenge of driving with me :) 

See you guys soon back in the sand !

 

 

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"Go as far as you can see; once you get there, you'll be able to see further."

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 Thanks for the drive @Frederic and support leaders .My learning from this drive has come at the cost of a broken bumper .When the convoy moved in the dark the car ahead moved away quicker than me .I tried to follow by sight as tracks were not visible so I ended up going over a ridge and hard fall .Luckily the jeep behind me saw this a veered left .I accept its my fault to drive by sight, I should have stopped and radioed for assistance to see the path. A suggestion for group in the dark is to move out slowly with cars following each others tracks to avoid what happened with me .Now for a police report , insurance claim and repairs .. is there any guidance for accidents in the desert to be reported to the police .Would appreciate.Thanks .

 

 

 

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12 minutes ago, Probir Mukherjee said:

 Thanks for the drive @Frederic and support leaders .My learning from this drive has come at the cost of a broken bumper .When the convoy moved in the dark the car ahead moved away quicker than me .I tried to follow by sight as tracks were not visible so I ended up going over a ridge and hard fall .Luckily the jeep behind me saw this a veered left .I accept its my fault to drive by sight, I should have stopped and radioed for assistance to see the path. A suggestion for group in the dark is to move out slowly with cars following each others tracks to avoid what happened with me .Now for a police report , insurance claim and repairs .. is there any guidance for accidents in the desert to be reported to the police .Would appreciate.Thanks .

 

 

 

Hi @Probir Mukherjee The first thing you will need is a police report, which you can get from the nearest Police station. Once you have that paper, you can submit it to your insurance for a claim. Depending on the type of insurance you have (third party, or full comprehensive with offroad cover) you can make a claim.

As the Landcruiser bumpers are quite low, it could help to get a bashplate / skidplate installed, which is a 8mm or 10mm aluminum plate that you can mount underneath the vehicle and that is folded upwards on the front. In the next occurance you would make a nosedive this one will take the impact.

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"Go as far as you can see; once you get there, you'll be able to see further."

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Hi @Frederic

Thank you very much for this beautiful afternoon and... night 😉 It was an incredible experience 🔥🔥🔥🔥

Looking forward to meeting you for the next trip.

See you

Frédéric

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6 hours ago, Probir Mukherjee said:

 Thanks for the drive @Frederic and support leaders .My learning from this drive has come at the cost of a broken bumper .When the convoy moved in the dark the car ahead moved away quicker than me .I tried to follow by sight as tracks were not visible so I ended up going over a ridge and hard fall .Luckily the jeep behind me saw this a veered left .I accept its my fault to drive by sight, I should have stopped and radioed for assistance to see the path. A suggestion for group in the dark is to move out slowly with cars following each others tracks to avoid what happened with me .Now for a police report , insurance claim and repairs .. is there any guidance for accidents in the desert to be reported to the police .Would appreciate.Thanks .

 

 

 

 

Edited by Andrei
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Great one @Frederic. Always a pleasure to drive with you. The drive was more technical rather than fun but we need some of those sometimes. 
We had quite a "colorful" crowd this time and it was nice to see the Discovery and F150 handling the dunes. @Wrangeld definitely needs to do something about that radio 😀. Richard, I might in Dragon Mart soon. Let me know if you want me to get you a Baofeng UV5r. They are around 70 aed and they do the job quite well...

 

I will be adding some photos to the gallery sometime soon

 

PS: It was sad to see some of the participants not wearing their masks specially towards the end of the drive when we had longer waits or we were inflating tyres. Are we still wondering if the virus exists?

Edited by Andrei
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