COVID 19 compliant - Fewbie Plus Morning Desert drive - Pink Rock - Sharjah - 18 Dec 2020

[Abu Muhammad]

Thank you @Jeepie and everyone for fun drive. We had good times and hopefully see you 🔜 on Sands. 

[Shaaz Sha]

Hi everyone, Good day ahead!! Thank you guys ☺️ for a perfect morning fewbie plus drive. Thank you @Jeepie for a great lead and selection of terrains and @Veedooshee for the second lead. The drive was a perfect combination of ridge rides, small dunes and technical dunes. It was a pleasure to drive with a great convoy today...with two roaring monsters @Abu Muhammadand @Francois Germishuys  and our cool CF @Nivin and sweep @Mehmet Volga  and of course @Ahab Shamaa with his extreamly extream FJ behind me. I think me , @Ahab Shamaa and @Mehmet Volga  had all the real fun today being at the tail end of the convoy. It was nice to see @Abu Muhammad @Nivinand @Francois Germishuys moving and at times  felt like @Nivinrunning for his life like a small fish in between two sharks. Me and my little monster were looking for patches to get away from the sand churned up by @Abu Muhammad beast. And finally at the RISE & SHINE time we all had enough time to evaluate our selves conquering the heights. It was nice to see @Ashok chaturvedi charging to the top with his pajero (for which he had doubted the capability of the car in first attempt 🤪)All together I believe we all had a clean  great drive ..even though we had few refusals and stucks which is a part of this great sport. Thank you all once again and catch up soon in the Sands. Keep cool👍👍

[Jeepie]

@Veedooshee, @Ashok chaturvedi  @Nivin @Francois Germishuys @Shaaz Sha @Mehmet Volga @Abu Muhammad @Ahab Shamaa Posted some pictures in the gallery

[Ashok chaturvedi]

Thanks @Jeepie what an amazing short and long combination of technical, sidie, ridge riding and at a speedy continous pace. It was a busy day and sand was messed near everywhere which made it more challenging to keep up.. @Veedooshee you are such a good driver that following the leader was made it look so easy as I was behind you to watch. Only challenge was to keep on your tracks and a couple time it became like a ball room dance as I had no idea that you were circling to come out and I followed along your tracks. two Pajero in sinc. must be a site to watch. Was pleased that there were no one in the convoy seriously stuck just few tugs and spading a bit. I in the very end of the drive felt that my pajero lacked some power climbing but then changed my technique and did the same climb 3 times over. Altogether another memorable drive. Thanks again @Jeepie for the this adventure drive.

[Veedooshee]

It's been sometime since I enjoyed a drive with you @Jeepie and was glad to have made it today. Thank you so much Marjan for an excellent drive taking us through this route (while I thought I would recognize the way but actually didn't😬), only the pink rock stayed where it is🤪. 

Great drive guys...cheers see you all soon😊

4 hours ago, Ashok chaturvedi said:

Thanks @Jeepie what an amazing short and long combination of technical, sidie, ridge riding and at a speedy continous pace. It was a busy day and sand was messed near everywhere which made it more challenging to keep up.. @Veedooshee you are such a good driver that following the leader was made it look so easy as I was behind you to watch. Only challenge was to keep on your tracks and a couple time it became like a ball room dance as I had no idea that you were circling to come out and I followed along your tracks. two Pajero in sinc. must be a site to watch. Was pleased that there were no one in the convoy seriously stuck just few tugs and spading a bit. I in the very end of the drive felt that my pajero lacked some power climbing but then changed my technique and did the same climb 3 times over. Altogether another memorable drive. Thanks again @Jeepie for the this adventure drive.

Thank you @Ashok chaturvedi sir...I totally see that point of view of the Pajero following Pajero..but ya challenges are part of the learning process  and we just handle them...😄.

Kudos for doing those spins well, it was so enjoyable..totally agree...

[Francois Germishuys]

@Jeepie pics uploaded ✌🏼 And thanks for a really good drive, this drive was the first time that there was a lady who was not one of the leads or sweepers @Veedooshee i was well impressed as she was better than most men driving the same car, i found some of the sections quite challenging so well done to her for managing it without any issues! 

Ive driven with most of the guys on this drive before and Ive noticed that all have improved well, which is a good thing... I also have to note a few issues which keeps happening on most drives which the drivers need to start working on to improve moving forward from my point of view (definitely issues that Fewbie and above should have already learned to avoid at this stage) 

1- waiting to long to follow the driver in front of you then getting lost and not following the correct route (very dangerous as “we” me and @Jeepie have seen on this drive) 

2- stopping on the crest of the dune, and then 9 out if 10 times getting stuck. This becomes an issue for the rest of the convoy especially when you are following the car in front of you and they already cleared without any warning to the rest following, if the cars in front of you cleared then the chance for you to get into any dangerous situation is very small so no reason to stop because you will get stuck! If you have to stop “on” the crest then let the nose of your car tip over and face down before you stop. I have never experienced any situation where i had to stop on the crest for any reason even if the car in front of me stopped on the other side of the dune, if the cars flag in front of you is not visible anymore (and no stop warning was given)  then it should be safe to get over (very important to have a flag) you will have more than enough time then to assess whether to stop or to continue. If you absolutely have to stop just over the crest in this position your car and your flag would still be visible to the following car which will allow the driver to stop if he sees your car stopped.

3- stopped on the other side of the dune waiting for the cars in front of you to move on and not informing the drivers behind u, in this position you create a danger for the following cars that CANNOT see your car or flag anymore (always an issue with the middle size dunes, with big dunes there is a lot of space and with the small dunes you can still see the car in front of you or at least you can still see its flag) you only become visible to the next car as he gets on/ over the crest of the dune, in this situation the next driver most of the time just stops on the crest and then gets stuck or they need to swerve in another direction to pass you. When you have no choice but to do this then PLEASE notify the team over the radio that you stopped, thats why we all have radios to communicate with each other, the radio is not just there to let everyone know you need a bio break ..... (again safe following distance between the drivers is a must). 

4- listen and follow instructions giving to you, if you dont fully understand or didn’t clearly hear the instructions then DO NOT proceed to drive, stop and ask again until you are crystal clear on what to do, in this drive I again as with few previous drives see people doing the opposite what is told over the radio, and then getting stuck or getting them in a dangerous situation....

5- leave enough space in from of you to be able to get to a save parking spot in case you have to stop due to the convoy stopping due to refusals or whatever reason, this for me was an issue few time on this drive where i have to anticipate the drivers moves in front of me and then also trying to give space for the driver behind me because im in a difficult situation because i suddenly have to stop with my big truck due to the drivers actions in front of me, the dunes certainly made it difficult for me to just suddenly stop and in few instances i just could not stop and wait for the cars in front of me to re-attempt to follow the lead and i just had to pass them and follow through and then stop in a safe place behind the lead. 
 

6- Getting stuck.... as with many other drives I keep seeing drivers getting them self stuck and then just keep driving like nothing is wrong and then just dig themselves in more and more when they clearly are not going anywhere. When your vehicle is not moving forward anymore and you are stuck or unable to move forward anymore just stop, 9 out of 10 times recovery will be much easier to manage. Then when you are stuck, unless told by someone to remain in your car for safety reasons please get out and be the first to start digging unless told otherwise by someone/ the lead. I see guys sitting in their cars waiting for the rest of the convoy to start helping with the recovery before attempting to get out and help, at the end of the day its you that got stuck so you will need to help with the dirty work, like this you learn how to do the recovery and most probably understand why you got stuck in the first place and how to avoid it as you see the results of your action. 
 

Lastly during this drive I on several occasions radio’d in stucks and refusals in front of me and even behind me, its not always possible for the driver that has a refusal or who got stuck to notify everyone of this so please, if the driver in front of you have any issues get on the radio and inform the rest of us, like this the leader knows thats going on and can stop the convoy, few times I radio’d in refusals/ stucks when @Jeepie clearly was in a difficult spot to just stop,  so early warning makes it easy for all of us. 
 

Thats the end of my observations, I hope it’s constructive and whoever reads it will remember it for the next drive.....

 

 

[Mehmet Volga]

Long time elapsed from my last drive to Pink Rock, I had forgotten how beautiful terrain around. it was excellent drive all in high tempo without any serious trouble. Thanks to leads @Jeepie @Veedooshee @Nivin for such a great coordination and all the others for their very good performance. See you on the next drive!