COVID19 Compliant - Morning Fewbie Plus Desert Drive - Shuwaib to Al Badayer - Sharjah - 26 Feb 2021

[N@ved]

@Lorenzo Candelpergher Sincere apologies for backing off at the 10th Hr, have some work commitment and wont be able to join tomorrow. 

[Lorenzo Candelpergher]

1 hour ago, Sinol said:

@Lorenzo Candelpergher I am really sorry that I can’t attend tomorrow’s drive due to the unexpected work at office.

No problem @Sinol, there will be other occasions. 

36 minutes ago, N@ved said:

@Lorenzo Candelpergher Sincere apologies for backing off at the 10th Hr, have some work commitment and wont be able to join tomorrow. 

No problem @N@ved, it will be for another time. 

[Varun Mehndiratta]

Thanks @Lorenzo Candelpergher for the wonderful drive. The steep dunes, awesome slopes and a bit of ridge driving it had all that i needed to practice skills learnt over my last Fewbie plus drive. Felt much more in control with manual shift today and all credit to leadership team and process at Carnity. The development chart is very well thought through providing a very structured learning curve. 

Thanks to @Shamil and @Arda Yagcioglu for regular support. And to the whole team for making it a fun drive. Looking forward for the next ride with you all. 

 

 

[Thomas Varghese]

On 2/24/2021 at 7:02 PM, Mohamed Seidam said:

Dear @Thomas Varghese you don’t need to wait tell you see me . If I can advice and be of any help I would be more than happy to reach me on 0554045278

best wishes for health and wealth bro 

Thank you Doctor. Its not serious but a muscular pain in my middle backside. Its not there in the morning but when I sit for sometime. Will consult you when we meet. 

The sun peeping out early morning to see the Desert Wanderers 

[Thomas Varghese]

The Marshal @Lorenzo Candelpergher

[Thomas Varghese]

@Arman

[Thomas Varghese]

[Thomas Varghese]

[Thomas Varghese]

[Lorenzo Candelpergher]

DRIVE REPORT

Dear Desert Wanderers, 

With 3 dropouts within 24h from the drive (@AlexPol, @N@ved and @Sinol) our convoy had only 9 cars. 

By 7:15am we were ready to go in a surreal atmosphere due to an unusual grey sky. 

Not even 10 mins in the drive we had a first serious stuck with @Thomas Varghese, in his first experience ad a 2nd Lead: his X-Terra got trapped in a tricky patch of very soft sand and bushes, to the extent that winching was required.

The medium / small technical dunes in Shuwaib are all but simple: with very unpredictable shapes, sudden pockets and sharp crests, they put immediately the convoy under pressure.  

The high and complex dunes we drove through forced everyone to give their very best, as they require a combination of control, speed, power and determination that are certainly a big step up from normal Fewbie Drives, let alone a good quantity of criss-crossings and very extensive ridge riding and side sloping in and out multiple bowls, a with a very high pace. 

Overall we crossed 11 areas with such high and demanding dunes and the convoy certainly paid its due toll of stucks and refusals, with my winch called in action other 3 times, as equally tough were the stints with small dunes in between. 

@Thomas Varghese was a good 2nd lead, following my tail very efficiently and surprisingly well in some of the trickiest and most adventurous moments. A few refusals here and there, well handled overall. 

@Aus Alzubaidi came through with very good pace and control of his capable car.

@Junaid120120 followed impatiently, eager for more dunes, sometimes finding himself a bit to close to the car in front. 

@Arda Yagcioglu was a reliable center forward, providing precious guidance in numerous occasions with refusals and stucks. For the future, a longer recovery rope will be advisable in order to be able to safely operate also in the extreme conditions like the ones we faced today, where - due to insufficient rope lenght - we opted for winching @Thomas Varghese down from the credit where he had ended up. 

@varunmehndiratta followed, showing a great improvements from previous drives, even in much more challenging terrains like today's one

@Arman had a hard time climbing some of the tallest dunes we attacked today due to the limited power of his Wrangler, but did overall very well. 

@Ali Abas did was magnificent with his Landcruser: today's drive wasn't certainly easy with such a large beast. At times it may have sounded a bit scary, but it was certainly a great learning experience. 

@Shamil at the back was a precious sweep. He had a couple of uncomfortable minutes where he was left behind, with his engine not pushing enough to get him through a huge and challenging bowl, while the convoy, unaware of his difficulties, moved away. Luckily someone at the back finally realized that @Shamil was not with us: having reastablished radio contact and understood his position, the convoy backtracked to get hold of him and then restart along our planned route. 

It was during the rerouting that followed the reconjunction with @Shamil that @Aus Alzubaidi got stuck in a nasty pocket, front and back deep into the sand and the rear right wheel spinning in the air. Once again the winch was in action and we could soon move again. 

By 11am we had just exited Super Bowl, where we probably indulged a bit too much, giving @Junaid120120 the chance for a frontal attemot after he had already successfully made it to the top, as also @Thomas Varghese and @varunmehndiratta (or was it @Aus Alzubaidi) did.

We were ready to hit the sabkha and make our exit, however the convoy asked to continue to Iftaar Bowl, which was in sight right in front of us.

As usual, the last minute extensions of the drive proved to be an unfortunate decision. We quickly made it to Iftaar Bowl oy to get held there with @Thomas Varghese's X-Terra showing an engine fault light while stuck in a dangerous position close to the west side ascent to the top of the bowl, where too many irresponsible drivers from other convoys were ignoring the presence of a car clearly in trouble and with an open bonnet.

Under @Shamil's experienced guidance, based on his own experience with X-Terra, the battery was disconnected a few times to force a total reset of the computer, which eventually got back to normal only after tugging the car down to the middle of the bowl, on flat area.

Having sorted out this last challenge, we gave up any further attempts to climb Iftaar Bowl and we made our exit to Tawi Ghadaya by 11.50am.

Overall we drove for 4h 37' of which moving time was 3h 1' (not to bad, considering the number of stucks and refusals). We covered 43.4km and a total ascent / descent of of over 250m, with a moving pace of 4'11"/km. 

Kudos to the whole convoy, who came out unscathed and hopefully entertained in a very demanding Fewbie+ drive today and thanks to @Arda Yagcioglu and @Shamil for their precious help. 

See you soon in the sand again! 

Edited March 2, 2021 by Lorenzo Candelpergher