COVID19 Compliant - Mid-week Morning Intermediate Desert Drive - Little Sweihan Blitz - Dubai - 26 May 2021

[Lorenzo Candelpergher]

Drive Brief

Little Sweihan is one of those areas relatively close and easy to reach but packed with large and complex dunes, big bowls, steep climbs which make it perfect for a short midweek Intermediate drive. 

We will start our desert blitz at 5.15AM from the Solar Park Tower and make our way straight to Little Sweihan heading quickly south via a 9km stretch on dirt track, long enough to get our cars covered with dust.

We will then enter Little Sweihan from the south edge and spend a good couple of hours enjoying the wonderful terrain there, while slowly but steadily moving west until we reach the fence along which we will move back north, reaching the long range dunes on the south west side of Solar Park first from where, after crossing the sabkha and the pylon track, we will continue with another stint of long range dunes making our way progressively towards Bab Al Shams, where we will exit no later than 8.15AM, hopefully recharged for the remainder of the work week. 

General Infos

This drive is organized in full compliance with the COVID19 guidelines. We expect every member that joins this drive to go through below information and and strictly follow these guidelines in order not to jeopardize someone's health, and to ensure we can keep organizing these drives safely.

MUST READ AND TOTALLY AGREE: COVID19 Precautions

MUST READ AND TOTALLY AGREE: Ban Post

TWO WAY RADIO GUIDELINES

• Every Off-roader brings his own radio, programmed to the frequencies described in below advice topic.
• We will not share spare radios or program your radio on the drive. If you need assistance in programming the radio, post a topic on the Carnity website with your questions and we will help you out. 
• Make sure your radio is fully charged. It will be your only way of communication while driving.
• Before buying, please carefully read below advice so you are informed properly on which model / cost / shops...
• No radio = No drive. It is an essential tool and you should make sure you bring it on every drive and learn/practice how to use it.

SUGGESTED READING: Carnity Two Way Radio Frequencies

MUST WATCH: NEWBIE VIDEO BRIEFING

 

Drive Details

Level:  Intermediate and Above (All Levels)

When: 26 May 2021, Wednesday.

Meeting time: 5:00AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions)

Meeting Point: Solar Park - Dropped pin
https://maps.app.goo.gl/z69ckoKBd22nk6ft9

Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance.

What to bring along: Loads of water, snacks (for yourself), smiles, face mask, rubber gloves, enthusiasm, willingness to learn and your own compressor for tire inflation.

Approximate finish time: 8:15 AM

End Point: Bab Al Shams 

Limited Spots Available:

• Limited to 10 cars only. RSVP will close on Tuesday - 9 AM.
  • If the RSVP is full and you wish to join, please mention your name on the drive thread to add on the waiting list. 
• Latecomers will be returned back - without ANY EXCEPTIONS.
• Members without RSVP will be returned back - without ANY EXCEPTIONS.
• Please withdraw your RSVP, if you aren't joining, so your spot can be taken by others.
• Repeated no-show members after RSVP will have their account suspended for a month.

PLEASE RSVP ON THE BELOW CALENDAR EVENT 

 

[Gok Krish]

Terrific @Lorenzo Candelpergherfor posting this drive as a precursor for another drive I am going with you in the weekend...thanks for taking time out during the weekday to do this...

[Lorenzo Candelpergher]

Dear Desert Wanderers, 

this RSVP is now closed.

Please find below the convoy order for our drive:

@Hisham Masaad, @Gok Krish, @Ahab Shamaa, @Rob H, @Watteau, @Dodi Syahdar, @GauravSoni, @Nivin, this drive is going to be technically demanding, more mentally for the drivers than mechanically for the cars. It will require your full and undivided concentration at every step, so make sure you come well rested and you don’t have any reason for being distracted. Also, please consider carefully if you wish to bring passengers along with you.

We will be using Carnity Channel 2 (446.03125MHz).

See you tomorrow morning, ready to go (i.e. already caffeinated, deflated, flagged and briefed) by no later 5:15am (sharp), so make sure you make it to the meeting point at least by 5:00am.

[GauravSoni]

@Lorenzo Candelpergher apologies…. With a heavy heart I will have to drop out of the drive… m still at Office work due to unavoidable  situation on one of our sites! Won’t be in a state of mind and body to join the early morning drive. 
 

Edited May 25, 2021 by GauravSoni

[Alex Raptor]

Thanks everyone for today, it was just what I needed, amazing area and some great challenges, see you all soon. Great route @Lorenzo Candelpergher

[Lorenzo Candelpergher]

3 hours ago, Watteau said:

Thanks everyone for today, it was just what I needed, amazing area and some great challenges, see you all soon. Great route @Lorenzo Candelpergher

Glad you enjoyed. I could see it from your smile this morning:

[Lorenzo Candelpergher]

DRIVE REPORT

Dear Desert Wanderers,

I must say I am really starting to get addicted to these Wednesday mid-week morning drives.. Certainly a beautiful drive like the one we enjoyed this morning contributed badly to my addiction.. When you happen to meet @Gok Krish, @Hisham Masaad and @Dodi Syahdar at Last Exit Petrol Station at 4:50am getting the last shot of caffeine before the drive, it's a mixed feeling: on one side you realize you are totally mad, on the other side you realize you are not alone in such madness!

We were all set to go by 5:23am, well before the sunrise. We quickly drove around the fence of Solar Park, then headed South towards Little Sweihan, where we reached exactly at sunrise time, only to realize it was so foggy in the distance that we were only going to see the sun much later.

We then entered Little Sweihan Area and started testing the terrain and the convoy response, while the light (and visibility) where still quite poor, which - to my disappointment - caused my first pop-out as I completely missed to see a mini but nasty pocket at the bottom of a very innocent small dune. Luckily the pop-out was fixed in no time with the great help of the team and we moved again.

With better light we started increasing the level and the pace. @Frederic had rightly warned me that "Little Sweihan can be deceiving" and he certaingly wasn't wrong. The sand is beautifully shaped by the wind in apparently gentle and round fashions and, given the absolute absence of any tracks, it is incredibly appealing, however the dunes layout in this area is very irregular, with frequent small and medium pockets, deep and steep bowls, sharp and curved crests.. in other words, the perfect ground to challenge a well motivated Intermediate convoy, a chance that - of course - we didn't miss!!

As we moved slowly east, we had a very entertaining stint of rapid climbs, ambitious criss-crossings, evasive manouvers to get out of deep bowls, all combined in an amazingy fun "spaghetti drive", as can be seen from the below photo, taken real time from my navigator display (this is what I call "Spaghetti Little Sweihan Sauce", which has quickly gained one of the top ranks in my favourite mid-week breakfast menu):

As we continued in our restless wandering, we experienced a 2nd pop-out by @Nivin, who was greatly supported by @Dodi Syahdar while the rest of the convoy enjoyed the fantastic morning views, some of which are here below:

It was during this short break that we made radio contact with @Wrangeld who was leading a Master Class not too far away. 

As the 2nd pop-out was fixed, we continued satisfying our off-road appetite with more spaghetti, putting the whole convoy to a hard test. The terrain was indeed quite difficult today, with sudden patches of soft sand and very tight maneuvering spaces in many occasions, but everyone did very well:

@Hisham Masaad was a great 2nd lead, following without hesitation my funambulist lines or holding back waiting for me to complete the full round of the next fun bowl. 

@Gok Krish, at his very first Intermediate Drive, showed a brilliant performance, handling most difficult situations very well and managing every time to get out of trouble by himself.

@Ahab Shamaa found hopefully enough challenges for his experienced drive, while providing precious radio guidance to Gok in the occasion of a his very rare refusals.

@Rob H managed his Tundra magnificently, considering the inherent difficulty of maneuvering in such tight spots and across many sharp crests. Exiting one of the big bowls he got crested in a moment of hesitation, but a quick winching got him out in no-time.

@Watteau had "THIS IS FUN" written in capital letters on his face during the whole drive, exhibiting a 32 teeth smile every time his tinted window was down, as documented in a photo published in a previous post. I guess it must have felt great to handle the F150 across such a demanding terrain!

@Dodi Syahdar was equally awesome at the back, managing the drive with very little hesitation, betrayed only by a small tricky step at the entrance of the last big bowl of the day, which costed him his first ever pop-out. As with @Christian Andras last weekend, experiencing the first pop-out after having made it all the way to Intermediate was a bit of a shock for Dodi, but his supercool temper prevailed in just a few seconds as he was already on top of the truck digging into his mega storage box for compressor and floor-jack.

@Nivin at the back was as cool as a cucumber, diligently updating me about the status of the last cars in the convoy and super-helpful with Dodi's pop-out.

With the 3rd pop-out fixed, we were all in the mood to continue for another couple of hours, but I had the unfair duty to be mindful about the time and to lead the convoy to the sabkha to reach the fence of the military area on the west side and then head north towards Solar Park long range dunes. We moved so fast on the dirt track that @Hisham Masaad raised his concerns about the possible presence of speed traps 😂..., then entered the dunes again starting to ride some very long and appealing crests.

It was again a beautiful moment, but it lasted just a few mins as @Gok Krish's Wrangler had a few sudden power cuts due to overheating. After cooling down the car, it was decided to make our way out through the fastest and easiest route, i.e. along the existing dirt tracks, all the way to Bab Al Shams. It was the right thing to do, as we reached the exit point by 8:15am, our intended exit time.

Overall we drove 58.2km (approx. 22 on dirt tracks) for a total time of 2h 55', of which 1h 55' moving and 1h 00' stopped, for and average moving speed of 30.3km/h (clearly doped by the long stints on dirt tracks, where we exceeded 90km/h).

It was an energizing short morning drive, literally distilled fun in Little Sweihan, thanks to a wonderful and capable convoy. Too bad @GauravSonicouldn't make it today! Kudos to all, as the terrain was all but easy to drive through. 

And see you next time in the sand!!!!

[Gok Krish]

@Hisham Masaad thanks,  i was following you....that made it easy looking at the finesse with which you are crisscrossing etc.

 @Ahab Shamaa thanks for the pep talks in break times and valuable advice to keep more space between me and car in front, it became better

 @Rob H, hello, got to say hello to you

 @Watteau Good to see you again guys, as always fun

Pak @Dodi Syahdar, likewise, great to meet you and look forward to driving more with  you

 @Nivin, good to know you from the start of the drive....seeing new friends in this level, awesome...

@Lorenzo Candelpergher what a wonderful route you took us through, small area but so much variations to catch up within short distances....exhilarating stuff after some stagnation of adrenalin in Fewbie drives. as always, thanks for taking us safe while keeping it adventurous.

Finally, my Car says Sorry for getting hot ending the drive a bit prematurely...I will do some video editing and post shortly, some nice shots have come...

[Gok Krish]

Added a short video folks - more also to be posted, there are some more jaw dropping stuff to share!

[Hisham Masaad]

This is the first drive for me in this area @Lorenzo CandelpergherAnd it is really amazing, many thanks for that. @Gok KrishI think this is the first drive together, pleasure joint you. @Ahab Shamaaglad to see you again, and to leave the drive before sharing any costly recommendations 😂 @Nivin I think first time with you, pleasure. All others did very well, unfortunately was not able to meet, since I reached late and started immediately. Look forward to see you again in sand