Popular Post Ale Vallecchi Posted April 3, 2021 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted April 3, 2021 "As you start to walk on the way, the way appears" (Rumi) - Mystery Drive Report Dear Desertnauts. Although the general direction of the drive was revealed to Richard (@Wrangeld) and me this past Thursday, neither of us was sure of the details of the itinerary. Hence, as the Sufi Poet sings, we just started driving, and the way appeared 😜. The first part, in Murqaab, took our convoy in an unexplored area, just north of the entry, with tall, complex dune structures, while it surprised Richard's convoy with an unexpected repair job (witnessed by hot air balloons circling the idle convoy). After the first rendezvous, at the entry to the "Highway to Lisaili" (up to you to decide if it's a highway to Heaven or Hell), we proceeded toward the heart of Lisaili, where we all played on innumerous bowls, ridges and slopes, until we reconnected with our twin convoy, next to a camel farm. After the fly by, we had a great time, with the two groups running side by side, one crest apart, from the turnaround to the eastern reaches of Lisaili, the kingdom of long range dunes. Finally, we snaked our way around, literally guessing our way through the blinding, sand, to the pylon track running between Lisaili and Qudra, and across it toward the Lisaili Fort, through a nasty little set of technical dunes. All members drove brilliantly, overcoming the mostly inevitable refusals and stucks, the number of which demonstrates the challenging nature of the terrain, full of soft ridges, hidden pockets, and invisible drops, magnified toward the end by the glaring sun, making it very difficult to see and evaluate the shape and conditions of the sand ahead of the convoy. My great thanks go to all those who cooperated at recovering my 2 stucks, the second of which would have taken a long time and sweat to solve, if it hadn't been for Ahab's precious winch (while the first was a team effort - except on my part, as I was mostly furious with myself for not seeing the pocket, and my mechanic for, almost certainly, not reconnecting the A -Trac feature of my car). Great Second Lead by @Ahab Shamaa, impeccable Anchor by @Islam Soliman, precious coordination of the convoy by @Jeepie, and meticulous supervision by @Francois Germishuys in Sweep. My compliments to @Kenneth Bollhardt for a perfect debut as Fewbie, and hat off also to @Nihal17, @Goutam and @Rizwan Waheed, and @VipinShetty, who kept the pace, and completed the drive with great form. @Lorenzo Candelpergher I hope you managed to discover the full potential of your brand new Rubicon: thanks for joining last minute. I'd also like to thank the members of the second convoy - @Yousef Alimadadi, @Niki Patel, @Thomas Varghese, @Mobeen Anwar, @Humayun Ghias, @Watteau, @stavros papachristos, @sheri, @Sreejith Sreenivasan, @Rob Harper and the unlucky @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ (hope your "shoulder" is repaired ASAP), for allowing us to double the convoy, and experience the exhilaration of driving in tandem through our beautiful desert. After all, after the first step, we did find quite a long way to go, completing a 72.1 Km drive in 4:47 hours (of which 3:09 moving) at the pace of 15 Km/h (23 Km/h while moving). Have a great week, and see you soon out there. 9 1 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ Posted April 3, 2021 Report Share Posted April 3, 2021 11 minutes ago, Ale Vallecchi said: hope your "shoulder" is repaired ASAP All fixed, as I said it was a minor issue. I also got longer sway bar links, so the car is ready for action. See you next week. 6 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kenneth Bollhardt Posted April 3, 2021 Report Share Posted April 3, 2021 @Ale Vallecchi and all... Thank you for the incredible drive this morning, it was a Carnity highlight seeing both convoys side by side cruising the crests! See you all very soon. 4 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Thomas Varghese Posted April 3, 2021 Popular Post Report Share Posted April 3, 2021 1 hour ago, Wrangeld said: Drive Report Convoy #2 I am hoping not to forget anyone in this report after what was a really interesting double header drive from Murquab this morning. Firstly thanks to @Ale Vallecchi for dealing with all the admin on the drive. This was not made easier by the fact that the drive was so popular it was opened it up to a second convoy that I had the privilege to lead. Our mysterious plan was to start at Murquab mosque, make our way to the outskirts of Solar Park and then double back to end at Lisali Fort - perfect symmetry as my Friday morning Fewbie drive had started from there. In planning the drive with Ale, we had decided that it would be fun if we met up with each other at the start, at two points in the drive and at the end. Amazingly, we managed to make that happen, ending within 5 minutes of each other after a 4.5 hour drive. Yes, we had a few recoveries (myself included) but this was a really smooth drive with everyone doing their bit to so that as far as possible we could keep moving and keep the ther convoy in sight. Things were made a little more challenging by the unplanned conversion of @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ Jeep into a Rubicon by @Rob Harper early into the drive (after which he was exited) but after that it was pretty plain sailing. It was a lead I enjoyed because of the way the convoy really helped each other and was a good mixture of experience. I think that as drivers progress in the club they sometimes forget how much fun it can be to join drives at all levels (and not just at their rank) and this weekend has been a perfect example of that. More experienced drivers really help less experienced drivers by joining drives and driving a great line in front of them, helping with recoveries, sharing experiences. Stand out contributions from today: @Thomas Varghese: Flawless drive in 2nd lead. Followed every line and every instruction given. I am sure that @sheri was a beneficiary of that example. @Yousef Alimadadi I was was quite hard work as CF today and you did a great job done, using all the newly learned knowledge to everyone's benefit. @Watteau brilliant as Sweep. Calmy talking down drivers from their stucks (no mean feat because you are not so often stuck yourself), and self recovering very well when you did. I am sure that the churned up sand meant that you might even have been able to get the car out of 2nd gear today! Thanks for the assistance from everyone else who drove so well including @Niki Patel, @Humayun Ghias, @stavros papachristos, @Mobeen Anwar, @Sreejith Sreenivasan it was a pleasure. See you soon in the sand Thank you Richard @Wrangeld for your kind words of appreciation. The only thing I had to do was follow your Pajero and I think my Xterra was not left far behind even though struggling to keep pace. I'm thankful I could witness your expertise in handling dunes upfront being the 2nd lead and believe me it was a treat to watch. You and @Ale Vallecchi's styles are different. Its like asking if you like the adventures of Indiana Jones or do you like the precision of Sherlock Holmes. Both are really good and both are my heroes. I consider Richard @Wrangeld to be Indiana Jones as the adventure is fast paced and turns out to be unexpected thrill all the way. @Ale Vallecchi is like Sherlock Holmes, very precise and investigates prior to any attempt before making a move but nonetheless daring and adventurous. I dread the time when I have to choose 1 marshal over the other to drive with as both are my favorites. Thank God it was the straw's decision which convoy I'm in today. @Wrangeld I'm really thankful for the valuable, left right, blip blip, 4Low crawl out technique you taught me on a previous drive. I'm successfully using it now a days and I hope you witnessed it in quick self recovery's used yesterday and today. @Yousef Alimadadi I suppose you had a week's gym workout today. I was amazed at the way you were directing the inexperienced drivers to self recover or to pull them out when needed. You have a very cool composed voice over the radio, never panicked at any situations. In fact the drivers who had the refusals or stucks must have felt very confident & reassured getting clear instructions from you. @Watteau even though driving a beast difficult to tame, I wonder how to managed to drive and direct the convoy from the back with a cool composure maintaining sharp focus doing multitasking. For sure the tracks must had been destroyed by all the cars in front of you but still you kept on chugging like the train and announcing that everything is well at the back. Thanks to everyone who joined the convoy and looking forward to play more with all of you soon in the sands. 5 1 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Francois Germishuys Posted April 3, 2021 Popular Post Report Share Posted April 3, 2021 @Ale Vallecchi thanks for recognizing my “meticulous supervision” skills haha 😆 yes it was a good drive, difficult sand situation i also struggling to see properly in some areas but we all made it with minimal issues. Thanks to everyone in the convoy that helped each other good job! Ive uploaded some videos and pics in the gallery which was able to upload..... @Wrangeld challenge accepted 🤣✌🏼 7 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Islam Soliman Posted April 3, 2021 Report Share Posted April 3, 2021 very well plan @Ale Vallecchi and @Wrangeld for the day wrapped with mysterious buzz which obviously attracted lots of adventure seekers. As usual, amazing drive with just the right amount of spices which started becoming more "hot" towards the end with Lisalili's white sand reflecting the shinning sun into everyone's eyes making it very hard to read the dunes or follow the track.. no wonder glass is made out of sand! Still everyone managed extremely well with minor refusals and stucks here and there quickly and flawlessly managed by an amazing team work. @Ahab Shamaa thanks for a flawless 2nd lead .. I still think you can make loads of money for every time you put your winch to work @Francois Germishuys great sweep and great recovery job today buddy.. well done.. you only need to work on your speed .. you are tooooo slow on the road :)))) @Jeepiesorry that you had to deal with with all the destroyed tracks the beast leaves behind .. was great to drive with you again 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Humayun Ghias Posted April 4, 2021 Report Share Posted April 4, 2021 An amazing drive! Thank you so much to everyone! It was my first Fewbie drive and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Got crested once but was able to get out with help! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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