COVID19 Compliant - Twilight Fewbie Plus Desert Drive - Lisaili to Last Exit - Dubai - 13 May 2021

[Batuhan Kulac]

Thank You @Wrangeld  and @Jeepie for the day and night drive. It was very enjoyable. Must make sure to join drives from now on with @Watteau and hope he brings his lovely wife 🙃. @JeromeFJ @Gok Krish @Lakshmi Narasimhan nice driving beside you guys as always and I hope to see you all again! Have a great weekend everyone.

[Matt.T]

@Wrangeld thanks for a great drive today was most enjoyable, and preferable for me than getting up so early for a morning drive!!!😴

@Jeepie great support as always and I really hope your Jeep is easily and cheaply repaired.

@Watteau good to have you in the middle sorting the recoveries.

[JeromeFJ]

Thanks @Wrangeldfor the drive this evening ! Very rich in experience and learning  ! Thank you @Jeepiefor the guidance, always there when needed, and thanks @Watteauand all for the assistance especially during my pop-out. It was fixed in no time thanks to your experience and tools

See you all soon on the dunes !

[Xavier Treasurer]

I would like to thank @Wrangeld, @Jeepie & @Watteau, It was a nice drive and well worth coming from Abu Dhabi. Oh and @Thomas Vargheseour second lead, thanks!

[Jeepie]

@Thomas Varghese @Xavier Treasurer @Matt.T @Lakshmi Narasimhan @Watteau @JeromeFJ @Batuhan Kulac @Gok Krish @Wrangeld @Jeandre Bezuidenhout pictures in the gallery

[Lakshmi Narasimhan]

Thanks @Wrangeld for leading all of us on the EID special drive and all the seniors for the support and great team work and assisting recoveries. It looked like easy terrain, but was challenging with very soft sand. While @Wrangeld taking all the beating helping us all to cross all the challenges.  I had struck on the very soft patch to be pulled out.

It was wonderful drive after sunset before having a pop out, hope @Jeepie gets the car fixed quickly and appreciate @Wrangeld and others helping to tow away safely after the drive.

Happy to drive with many known faces and make new friends. Thanks to entire convoy for the patience, team work and sharing the wonderful drive. See you all again back in the sand. Have a nice week end.

Edited May 14, 2021 by Lakshmi Narasimhan
Updated

[Wrangeld]

 

@Thomas Varghese @Xavier Treasurer @Matt.T @Lakshmi Narasimhan @Watteau @JeromeFJ @Batuhan Kulac @Gok Krish @Wrangeld @Jeandre Bezuidenhout @Jeepie

Post Drive Report

Wow, the summer heat has such an impact on the softness of the sand. After a day of the sun beating down, the sand retains a lot of heat and this makes the sand soft, more pliable, later in the day.

Not that the drive had an unusually high number of stucks or refusals, or that any of them were unexpected (last time I did this drive one of our vehicles literally ended up on two wheels) and we did have a long, long period in the drive where we just ... drove!

I like a drive that has the shift from day to night. It makes the second part of the drive more 'different'. As a few of the drivers remarked, the same sand somehow feels more ... sandy ... in the dark. The lights following each other as we snake through the dunes showing our train making it's way past unsuspecting campers or those simply terrified we did not notice them is wonderful site to see (perhaps you understand now why I sometimes indulge myself and snake back to see the convoy.  . 

What we did practice, a lot was criss-crossing. For anyone with aspirations towards promotion, along with the ability to self recover, safely crossing from one side of a dune to the other is an essential skill. Perhaps your ridge riding needs refining, but you simply cannot keep up with a convoy if you cannot follow it over the crests. Everyone did really well here: I cannot recall one incidence of someone crested while crossing - quite exceptional. 

I'm going to sign off on this post with a request. It's a general one, but also specific to some of the behaviour on the drive.

Give drivers the time to self recover. Undoubtedly, it is wonderful that there is such enthusiasm to help tug drivers out of their stucks, but that's not always helpful to them. Sometimes, a driver at this level and above just needs a moment and a bit of quiet to work out the best way to drive their vehicle out of trouble. We need to respect that if someone wants to try to drive out of a refusal or stuck (or wants assistance digging) we have to let them have this chance. 

I wrote this a few weeks ago. The recovery hierarchy is Drive, Dig, Rope, Winch, Helicopter. There is absolutely no need to propose a tug as soon as someone looks stuck. Yes, it might be the case that from your perspective that they cannot drive out, but maybe, just maybe they want to try before you pull them out. 

Perhaps it means that you are sitting waiting, but all drivers need these learning moments, and we do them no favours at all by pressurizing them into feeling that the convoy is being held up and that you know a quicker way to get them out, 'so we can get driving again'. 

Finally, a massive thanks to @Jeepie, sweeping, swooping and solving problems all drive long and @Watteau, perhaps not the busiest of drives to support, but where you did, once again, impeccable. Thanks also to @Thomas Varghese for your great second lead - making the adjustments when needed and advising of potential pit and pratfalls.  

See you soon in the sand

p.s. @Lakshmi Narasimhan - hope you remembered to put that relay back in place. 

p.p.s. @Jeepie Jeep is a little sick, but we did successfully get it taken to the car hospital, where after the necessary triage, I am sure it will soon be back on the road (and sand).  

 

[Lakshmi Narasimhan]

4 minutes ago, Wrangeld said:

p.s. @Lakshmi Narasimhan - hope you remembered to put that relay back in place.

Yes I did that first thing on exiting. Every drive with you I learn some thing new and I am happy to be on your drive. Thanks a lot @Wrangeld.

[Thomas Varghese]

Richard @Wrangeld I hope you are satisfied that I kept far away from your car so that you can warn us of hazards and close enough not to lose you in the mired of endless dunes. I hope I stopped myself pursuing your car the moment I sensed that route is not drivable and waited for you to re route and ensured I myself don't get stuck in the process. Maybe its my 3rd or 4th drive as your second lead but probably more than 15 drives in total behind you. I could sense the moment the Pajero is going to redirect from a difficult situation just by seeing the angle it makes while going straight or up and adjust accordingly. Its always a pleasure watching you drive in the desert and look forward for more with you.