COVID19 Compliant - Morning Fewbie Desert Drive - Lisali to Qudra - Dubai - 26 Feb 2021

[Rahimdad]

Trip Report

Shorter convoy means faster pace. I couldn't have been more wrong. Arriving at the deflation point was amazing to see most of the convoy ahead of me deflating with Coid19 precautions. Once everyone was deflated we had our briefing over the radio and took off for a day which was going to surprise us in a good way. A good way because it gave us more time in the desert together. It showed us we can work together with the Covid19 restrictions in place. It made us a much stronger team. Last but not the least it taught us a lot of lessons and more about ourselves and our driving style.

We entered some nice dunes and it was good till ot lasted. However a dead end in some small dunes left a traffic jam. Thankfully I wS able to get out of the dead end along with @Niki Patel to leave some space for others to get moving. It took hard work digging and did take some time but it was worth the time taken as we all cleared on to the track. Quickly we found ourselves in some small technical area and like the day had planned for us some refusals and stucks were bound to trouble us. Hard work and determination to move as a team had us going again.

Once we tackled the technical area we were treated to some large rolling dunes with zero tire marks. Virgin dunes till eyes could see. This is where the frustrations were supposed to be left to rest. We played around at high speeds and covered up to lost time in the technical area. The icing on the cake was a long dune where we did an endless side slope. Nope that was not the happy ending. As we were enjoying ourselves, we were thrown back into some technical dunes, but this time they were medium sized ones. Although it was just a 600 meter ordeal, but at one time it seemed the desert just didn't want to part ways with us.

As we handled one really technical area which had us thinking of writing our wills, we just broke free from the shackles. We quickly travelled through quickly and trying to keep on top of every little dunes as long as we could and crossing over to the next. I was pleasantly surprised to see the whole convoy tightly following my line. In no time we were on a much forgiving area which led us to a nice sakhalin. It was time to play rally and saw everyone racing their engines towards the inflation point.

Pleasant surprise was to catch up with @Gaurav bhai, @Kailas and their convoy deflating. We started our inflation, but the smile and sense of achievement is wat I cherish the most. @Niki Patel as I already complimented him was an excellent second lead. This was something selfish for me. He has always complimented me for my smooth drive. I wanted him to drive behind me and copy me so I could see me through his eyes. Thank you @Niki Patel for doing so well, I was really impressed to see my reflection following me at all times.

@Hossam Anwar was at number 3. He had plenty to deal with throughout the drive, but I really loved his enthusiasm and never say die attitude. @Trekado was at number 4 and with our second Pajero for the day. He managed a little better but I hope he learned more from @Hossam Anwar and knew exactly what not to do. @Baskaran P.R with our third Pajero for the day and was at number 5 in our convoy. He managed well with the accepting of following our tracks on a couple of occasions. I am sorry regarding hour front bumper, but our powerful @Paul Zeitoun took care of that with his bear hands.

 @Ashy was my Center Forward at number 6 with @Brette to help him out as passenger. The duo really had a hard day in the office and managed to help everyone out with a huge smile. Kudos to the dynamic duo. Sorry @Ashy for your bent rim, and thanks to @Paul Zeitoun idea for removing the tire to inflate when we saw the rim bent from the inside where air kept escaping. @Ahmad Shaker was at number 7 with his FJ and managed well throughout the drive with a couple of refusals, but we'll done buddy.

 @Mario Cornejo was in the eight spot, and Danny had a Kit Kat bar waiting for me early in the morning. I'm never going to tease hi. About chocolates any more. Whatever Danny whispered in @Mario Cornejo ears as a Junior Marshal and his co-driver kept him afloat throughout the drive. I have driven with him a couple of times and had faith in him at the back. Well done Mario, really great driving specially on today's drive. My confidence Iin you is even higher.

@Paul Zeitoun was my sweep as he too has driven with me before and I'm very confident he would come through. Except for a pop-out which was challenging to fix, he did brilliantly in the sweep position, specially through some nasty small dunes.

so @Wrangeld we were not able to break any of your records, yet we walked in your shoes today and salute you for every time you have showed us some tough love. Above all was the jokes kept flowing and adding positive energy to the group to take each challenge with a smile and march on. The thing I enjoyed the most today was the team spirit and the never say die attitude from all the members. Thank you all for a wonderful day together. Hope to catch you all soon.

[Niki]

Thank you @Rahimdad Bhai for what was a challenging drive and for the confidence to put me as SL - such a privilege as following you felt like a 1:1 lesson the whole drive! 

The day required patience and every member of the drive showed that to each other which was amazing to see!  @Ashy and @Brette were an example to me on what it takes to do the SF role and @Paul Zeitoun was comedy gold which just lightened the mood for us all... almost every stuck I would hear laughter (even after 4 hours) .. you and @Rahimdad bhai made the hardest parts of the day full of laughter (18+ warnings required :)) 

I join the drives to escape the working week and collect some fresh air ... so no matter how many stops I really enjoy the environment we find ourselves!  

This was one of, if not the most technical drive I have been on (and the longest sidie)... the many stops allowed me to enjoy the views and surrounding and I hope others managed to take this in also (the sun breaking through the clouds was stunning).  The dunes didn’t have a single track on them- they were tight and resembled choppy seas .. added the pic below as i cannot believe we all made it through that as fewbies with smiles and a lot learnt!   Added a few more pics to the gallery and below to remind everyone what a beautiful day we were treated to! 

See you all on the next one 

 

 

 

[Paul Zeitoun]

Ok my turn now to comment after 24 hours since i cleaned up and uploaded some photos in the gallery.

This was one of the drives i truly enjoyed the most, tricky but full of experience and the team spirit was amazing. Kudos to @Rahimdad @Ashy and @Brette for being there at each and every stuck (except mine and Mario's, but we managed 😉), and to each one of you who carried his shovel and helped, and yes we laughed a lot, but isn't this the beauty of it? Turning an annoying situation into learning & fun?

A few improvement notes though from the rear of the convoy:

- biggest adversary was lack of momentum, many hesitated when reaching the crests and ended up stuck

- trying to unstuck yourself without assessing the situation from the outside is a No No, especially when one of the leads tell you to stop, but you keep spinning

- finally....(me me me) go and check you tires after a pop out especially a sliding pop out 🙂🙂🙂...approx 500g of sand came out of my tire 😂😂😂😂

[Mario Cornejo]

@Rahimdad, @Niki Patel, @Ashy, and @Brette -  what a great opportunity to learn from different situations during last Friday's drive, thanks for your support. 

I am counting this as my 3rd Technical Challenge drive of 5+ hours and I am in for more !   @Paul Zeitoun - thanks for your guidance for a successful self recovery.

Wish you all a great week ahead.