COVID19 Compliant - Afternoon Newbie Desert Drive - Roundabout Qudra - Dubai - 2 Apr 2021

[Lakshmi Narasimhan]

3 minutes ago, Shehab Alawadhi said:

@Lakshmi Narasimhan alright so basically what happened was a few things that led to this.

1 I didn’t get enough sleep and before this drive I was in a morning Fewbie plus drive, so the number one mistake here was me being exhausted (please get rest if you’re going to do 2 drives in one day).

2 I felt my car slipping so I downshifted (to gain more power) to not slide down the dune, as I downshifted my front tires hit a patch of hard sand and got traction which basically shot me over the ridge that’s why you can see my tail moving roughly around but my front firmly on the ground. Now normally I wouldn’t need to downshift on this type of dune but I didn’t have enough momentum from the bottom which in turn required me to give more power. Furthermore, if I would have pushed my gas pedal down I would have dug myself in and ruined the sand that’s why I resorted to downshifting (each car is different I’m not saying you should do this with your car, I’m just telling you how my car works)

3 I miscalculated where the crest was and my front left tire barely went over the ridge and gravity won as usual and pulled me down. That’s what happened. 

 If I would have turned to my right I would have flipped side ways. If you saw in the video my rear right tire was in the air. So the best thing to do at the time was to turn left, exit the dune and re join the convoy

I was lucky there was a sort of gradual decline or if there wasn’t my car would have rolled down the dune. 

This situation happened due to me not sleeping properly, I had gotten 2 hours of sleep the night before and had been awake all day on a sugar and redbull fueled spree, I wasn’t functioning correctly because I was most definitely having a sugar crash. I was actually very luck in this situation, I didn’t panic and tried to the best of my ability to safely go down. You can hear @Foxtrot Oscar saying it was right to exit at that point. Which at the time was what I knew I had to do it. But in all honesty if there was a steeper drop on the other side it would have become and accident. 
 

Moral of this story is. Please sleep well before your drives (this situation would have been avoided completely if I did get rest) pay attention to the dunes to the left, right, ahead and to the CAR behind you. 
 

 

Thanks for being honest and briefing in detail. I was also on second drive for the same day, will have to be more careful with second drives and to have enough rest before drives. Good lesson for all.

[Kolin]

On 4/4/2021 at 2:48 PM, Wrangeld said:

Post Drive Report

 

@AlexPol @Yawa @Desert Dweller @Pacific @Shehab Alawadhi

  @Lakshmi Narasimhan @TT_Dubai  @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil @kolinrrj @Foxtrot Oscar @Niekku @Darren Brooke @Ale Vallecchi @Wrangeld @Jeepie

When we started driving in Carnity, it was not such a surprise to see more senior members in every drive, so it was with a sense of excitement that the drive Sunday had such an impressive contingent of senior club members. Personally, I think that it should always be like this. For just about every Newbie there was a senior club member in front of them showing them a great line to drive and helping them to self recover when the going got tough. 

I loved it, friends I have been driving with for some time and new friends to be made joining in the fun and showing such enthusiasm that it was contagious. In the end the drive was a high level Newbie (mainly because I pushed everyone to try a few criss crossing moves that would not normally be in the Newbie handbook) which took us from almost Solar Park roundabout the Qudra dunes and all the way back to Last Exit. 

For me, there's a sense of achievement in getting back into Last Exit as the end point to a drive because its that point where you can relax, inflate at ease, get a drink if you need, find a bathroom and take time to chat to a few people before you make your way home and off to your next activity. 

All the newbies should be immensely proud of themselves for this drive. I do not underestimate the added pressure of knowing that the seniors are all around you (how ever comforting that might be) and the possible feeling of "will I ever be able to do that?" watching them float above the sand effortlessly as they come to someone's rescue or seeing them hold a long ridge ride or side slope that looks terrifying or too difficult for you. But we've all been there. We were all beginners too and none of us ever forgets that. We all remember that fist excitement of 'wow, my car can really do this, and so can I' and it does not leave you. That's why we all love Newbie drives. OK - for the more experienced it can be a little more relaxing than some drives, but we know that each and every one of the less experienced drivers is an essential part of the lifeblood of the club. Without you the seniors are nothing more than a group of enthusiastic sand drivers!

I hope that everyone enjoyed the drive as much as me. 

See you soon in the sand. 

Thank you @Wrangeld and all for a great drive.  The most number of senior and lady drivers in a convoy that I have joined. Awesome! 

[Kolin]

19 hours ago, Lakshmi Narasimhan said:

Thanks for being honest and briefing in detail. I was also on second drive for the same day, will have to be more careful with second drives and to have enough rest before drives. Good lesson for all.

Oh wow!  My jaw dropped watching your video.  Thank God for @Shehab Alawadhi's decisive response. 

Definitely a lesson to remember.  I signed up for the 2-convoy drive the next morning with @Ale Vallecchi and @Wrangeld, couldn't sleep due to the excitement, woke up at 4am, got ready and suddenly fatigue hit me so I had to pull out of the drive.  I felt bad pulling out last minute but it would have been worse had I gone on the drive.  Safety first, always! Nonetheless, I was kicking myself reading the report and looking at photos of the drive 😏