COVID19 Compliant - Afternoon - Fewbie Desert Drive - Love Lakes to Murquab- 12 Mar 2021

[Foxtrot Oscar]

20 hours ago, Watteau said:

just me tomorrow the wife is having a spa day.........

BREAKING NEWS - She's baaaacccckkkkk, didn't want to miss  @Foxtrot Oscar's drive, she enjoyed it so much last time, no pressure Angela.... 

Yaaaaaaaay! Mine's a pina colada, (mange tout Rodney) 😆

Edited March 12, 2021 by Foxtrot Oscar

[Thomas Varghese]

[Foxtrot Oscar]

Drive Report

We started off down the tracks before heading into the dazzling white sands. The wind whipped the sands up making the ridges difficult to read however everyone was coping well.

We had lots of opportunity to side slope on gentle dunes and navigate crossing over dunes. We had one tricky stuck to contend with before we were motoring again. As we continued along the dunes we continued to side slope and trued to avoid the many tiny baby oryx that we saw.

@Kailas provided us with a different flavour when he took over the lead and did an excellent job. After around 90mins he passed the baton back to me and we made for long dunes. The dunes provided an excellent training ground for ridge riding as they were low. After a couple of tutorials the convoy was doing a great job of getting on top of the dunes. It’s testament to how well you were all doing with controlling your steering and momentum that we didn’t get anyone crested.

It was close to 6pm and we headed for the exit. I tried a quick exit but the technical patch to reach it was a minefield of incredibly tricky dunes and with so many big trucks in the convoy I decided we should go via the long range dunes to a smaller, more easily manageable patch of dunes that I had identified. We still had lots of light and I tried a more direct route of  going over the dunes as opposed to crossing along them . A lack of momentum caused several refusals as we made our way out, the refusals cost us light and the lack of light whilst still in the dunes created a rather nervous convoy.

As I picked my way through the safest possible path we had more refusals, generally caused by a lack of momentum. Ironically the only place we didn’t get a lot of refusals was the technical patch at the end.

@stavros papachristos and @Serafinoboth had good drives, just some issues with momentum towards the end. @Matt.Tand @Watteau, were solid as per, only one refusal and a stuck. @Shehab Alawadhi you handled the F150 well, just the one stuck, easily dug out and self recovered well.  @Mario Cornejo you had a good drive, I don’t think you had any issues. Likewise @Arda Yagcioglu. @Thomas Varghese after your initial nose dive into the dune you did well for the rest of the drive. @Melenany you didn’t have any issues until the very end when you came off track. @bassel el rafei I'm going to nickname you pop out haha. I'd get your tyres checked out. You did well on the drive, a few refusals at the end , I think the dark didn't help you.

All in all it was a long day at the sand office with learning opportunities a plenty. You had the unexpected bonus of a night drive. 😉  I think the biggest learning moment was communication or the lack of it and how vitally important it is  on these drives.  Better comms would have prevented 3 stuck situations, but now you all know how important it is.

Thank you to @Kailas for being my second lead, for leading a section of the drive and offering support. Likewise to @Shehab Alawadhi who was CF and always on hand to help out. Further thanks to @Panchowho was sweep and helped with what seemed like a multitude pf pop outs. I think it was three.

Thanks again to you all for coming along on the drive.  

[Matt.T]

Thank you @Foxtrot Oscar it was certainly an experience and when the nervousness crept in, credit to your calm and continued guidance to keep everyone focused

@Pancho great job sorting the issues.

[Thomas Varghese]

1 hour ago, Foxtrot Oscar said:

Drive Report

We started off down the tracks before heading into the dazzling white sands. The wind whipped the sands up making the ridges difficult to read however everyone was coping well.

We had lots of opportunity to side slope on gentle dunes and navigate crossing over dunes. We had one tricky stuck to contend with before we were motoring again. As we continued along the dunes we continued to side slope and trued to avoid the many tiny baby oryx that we saw.

@Kailas provided us with a different flavour when he took over the lead and did an excellent job. After around 90mins he passed the baton back to me and we made for long dunes. The dunes provided an excellent training ground for ridge riding as they were low. After a couple of tutorials the convoy was doing a great job of getting on top of the dunes. It’s testament to how well you were all doing with controlling your steering and momentum that we didn’t get anyone crested.

It was close to 6pm and we headed for the exit. I tried a quick exit but the technical patch to reach it was a minefield of incredibly tricky dunes and with so many big trucks in the convoy I decided we should go via the long range dunes to a smaller, more easily manageable patch of dunes that I had identified. We still had lots of light and I tried a more direct route of  going over the dunes as opposed to crossing along them . A lack of momentum caused several refusals as we made our way out, the refusals cost us light and the lack of light whilst still in the dunes created a rather nervous convoy.

As I picked my way through the safest possible path we had more refusals, generally caused by a lack of momentum. Ironically the only place we didn’t get a lot of refusals was the technical patch at the end.

@stavros papachristos and @Serafinoboth had good drives, just some issues with momentum towards the end. @Matt.Tand @Watteau, were solid as per, only one refusal and a stuck. @Shehab Alawadhi you handled the F150 well, just the one stuck, easily dug out and self recovered well.  @Mario Cornejo you had a good drive, I don’t think you had any issues. Likewise @Arda Yagcioglu. @Thomas Varghese after your initial nose dive into the dune you did well for the rest of the drive. @Melenany you didn’t have any issues until the very end when you came off track. @bassel el rafei I'm going to nickname you pop out haha. I'd get your tyres checked out. You did well on the drive, a few refusals at the end , I think the dark didn't help you.

All in all it was a long day at the sand office with learning opportunities a plenty. You had the unexpected bonus of a night drive. 😉  I think the biggest learning moment was communication or the lack of it and how vitally important it is  on these drives.  Better comms would have prevented 3 stuck situations, but now you all know how important it is.

Thank you to @Kailas for being my second lead, for leading a section of the drive and offering support. Likewise to @Shehab Alawadhi who was CF and always on hand to help out. Further thanks to @Panchowho was sweep and helped with what seemed like a multitude pf pop outs. I think it was three.

Thanks again to you all for coming along on the drive.  

Angela I propose you should change your name to @ridgerider or @ridge queen from @Foxtrot Oscar

[Serafino]

@Foxtrot Oscar thanks for the lovely ride and the extra bonus of night drive. Was definitely the longest ride I ever had, but was full of technical experience and on top a night ride  you were surrounded by lots of jeeps as well as huge trucks.

Was very nice to see familiar faces @Watteau and to talk to new ones @stavros papachristos @Thomas Varghese. @Kailas I loved the path and route you took, was very nice.

overall, such rides get me more closer to my car and makes me feel more in control. Yes, I faced one may be two refusals at night time, but they were self recovered within very short period.

looking forward for similar ones @Foxtrot Oscar

[Shehab Alawadhi]

@Foxtrot Oscar thank you for the fun drive! I finally drove at night in a safe manner. @Kailas inshallah we see you as marshal! @Pancho hope the 3 giants in the convoy didn't make your life difficult 🤣

Great job everyone!

[Melenany]

Dear @Foxtrot Oscar it was a great drive too long ... too nice and a lot of adrenaline ... @Pancho many thanks for the Tug it was super courtesy from your side (Looking for the weight and angle factors) ... I never though it s possible but @Foxtrot Oscar she was buying in from the 1st Pull 😂

Here you go the GPS video and Multiple photos will be in the gallery   

 

see you soon in the desert 

[Thomas Varghese]

35 minutes ago, Melenany said:

Dear @Foxtrot Oscar it was a great drive too long ... too nice and a lot of adrenaline ... @Pancho many thanks for the Tug it was super courtesy from your side (Looking for the weight and angle factors) ... I never though it s possible but @Foxtrot Oscar she was buying in from the 1st Pull 😂

Here you go the GPS video and Multiple photos will be in the gallery   

 

see you soon in the desert 

She mentioned my name on the radio that she will attempt your tug the same way as she did mine. I suppose she is going to employ this trick in future recoveries. 

Edited March 13, 2021 by Thomas Varghese

[Foxtrot Oscar]

46 minutes ago, Thomas Varghese said:

She mentioned my name on the radio that she will attempt your tug the same way as she did mine. I suppose she is going to employ this trick in future recoveries. 

It's not new, and it is only when the situation calls for it. It's a once in a blue moon type of technique. Just so happened we had two blue moons on this particular drive.😆