COVID19 Compliant - Morning Intermediate Desert Drive - Al Bataeh Technical Challenge - Sharjah - 4 Jun 2021

[Dodi Syahdar]

Just now, Lorenzo Candelpergher said:

Dear @Dodi Syahdar, 

this is going to be a very technical drive. It is true that you've driven your Montero before, but you have been mostly driving your F150 Raptor in recent times. As a general rule we would not admit to an IM drive a driver with a new car, and your case is very similar, so I'm afraid you will have to skip this one, as the risk would be that you could find yourself frequently in trouble dealing with a car for which your instinctive responses are not tuned. I hope you understand that this decision is for your own and for the convoy's safety: had it been a Fewbie Drive, you would have been more than welcome.

It will be for the next drive!

Well noted Lorenzo, I will skip this and attend another trip next time.. 

[Looper]

@Lorenzo Candelpergher can you please confirm the time. I believe it is 5:00 hrs, though the calendar says 7:15 am. 

[Rizwanm2]

27 minutes ago, Lorenzo Candelpergher said:

Dear Desert Wanderers, 

this RSVP is now closed.

Please find below the convoy order for our drive:

@Goutam, @Rizwanm2, @Thomas Varghese, @varunmehndiratta, @GauravSoni, @Rob H, @Abu Muhammad and @Tero Vallas, this drive is going to be very demanding from a technical point of view, way more mentally for the drivers than mechanically for the cars despite the high temperatures. It will require your full and undivided concentration at every step, so make sure you come well rested and hydrated and that 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 4 (446.08125Mhz)

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.

Surprised to see Mitsubishi Nativa against my name.. 😃 that was long time back.

Now im driving Xterra. just to let you know in case if it effect convoy order.

See you tomorrow morning.

[Lorenzo Candelpergher]

8 minutes ago, Rizwanm2 said:

Surprised to see Mitsubishi Nativa against my name.. 😃 that was long time back.

Now im driving Xterra. just to let you know in case if it effect convoy order.

See you tomorrow morning

Dear @Rizwanm2, surely a copy paste mistake from my side. Convoy ordering is not affected, thanks for noticing. 

17 minutes ago, Goutam said:

@Lorenzo Candelpergher can you please confirm the time. I believe it is 5:00 hrs, though the calendar says 7:15 am. 

Dear @Goutam,

Meeting time is 5:00am as usual, aiming to start the drive at 5:15am. I guess the calendar got it wrong because I edited the post while I was in France yesterday and it probably switched to the CET time zone. 

Now it is fixed. Thanks for noticing. 

[Abu Muhammad]

Ohhh Yes indeed it was The most challenging route I’ve ever taking from the technical point of view. Thank you @Lorenzo Candelpergherfor planing such beautiful route. Here is some photos of refusals where I could see from the back lol 😂 reminded me of the Liwa. Also my first pop out fixed by @Lorenzo Candelpergher, @Tero Vallas,@Jeepieand @Rizwanm2Thamk you guys.

See soon on the next one. 

 

Sorry a bit more.

Sorry two more😂 

Edited June 4, 2021 by Abu Muhammad

[Abu Muhammad]

Sorry one more😂 

And this is my pop out. 

[Thomas Varghese]

@Lorenzo Candelpergher👌. Nothing more to say about the drive. SUPERB. Don't even have the energy to convert the pictures taken and post. Will do it later. Started the drive with a splendorous display of the sky getting painted red by the sunrise. What a view to start a drive. Only 1 suggestion - please make next drives 1 more hour early so that we can exit before the sun starts to blast us with his enormous energy. Will definitely join such kinds of technical drives as I enjoyed to the maximum.  

[Varun Mehndiratta]

Thanks @Lorenzo Candelpergher for the beautiful drive through this unexplored terrain. I think it's the first drive where we didn't see any other vehicle...thanks for locating this beauty.

Drive was surely  a good test of focus and skill... and ofcourse one of those drives which make a Jeep stand apart 😃 Actually we should think about a Jeep only drive through this terrain...

enjoyed every bit of the drive Thanks  @Jeepie following your tracks made it easier for me all through and thanks to @Gaurav Soni for feedback from the following rider's perspective...

thanks all, sorry for being a bit late in morning (google hadn't accounted for that extra 5-6km of turn i took around the military area 😃) hope to see you soon have a nice weekend ahead.

 

[Thomas Varghese]

The mighty sun coming out to welcome the desert wanderers early morning.

Edited June 4, 2021 by Thomas Varghese

[Lorenzo Candelpergher]

DRIVE REPORT

Dear Desert Wanderers, 

It doesn't happen very often to see an Intermediate Drive where all or almost all participants, including Lead and Seniors, get stuck at least once, but if it happens in an Intermediate "Technical Challenge", then it means the drive was up to its title. 

Al Bataeh area, the most recent addition to @Carnity drive locations, has its own unique character: a totally virgin terrain, where you don't get to see any other convoy and any tracks whatsoever, offering wonderful views across very irregular dunes, with occasional long ridges and recurring high dunes of complex shapes, often terraced at multiple levels, it is at the same time, an amazing place to put the skills of intermediate drivers to the test. 

Today's drive was intended and indeed proved to be a super technical one. With slip faces oriented in every possible direction and dune geometries constantly varying, there was no chance for any driver to predict what was coming next. Sudden pockets or soft sand patches, very tight maneuvering spaces, steep slopes and multiple passages at higher elevation, made driving in Al Bataeh an extremely difficult exercise. 

We made our way into the sand at 5:18am and gained a few minutes by doing a radio brief while already on the move. 

After less than 5 mins into the drive, in a fairly flat area, we had already counted two refusals before sunrise.. I must say I was a bit worried by this start, until I got myself crested 10 mins later, which required some serious shoveling to get me out: it was going to be stucks day!

As we moved north east, with the sun most of the time in front of us, we started driving though the characteristic Al Bataeh dunes. 

As this was meant to be a Technical Challenge Drive, I didn't spare any opportunity to make it a truly challenging drive. Stucks and refusals therefore abounded, but they were mostly resolved with self recoveries except for very few extreme situations. 

The convoy struggled as it was meant to be, but I believe everyone enjoyed this low paced super-technical drive where you couldn't let go for one second or you'd find yourself crested, stuck in a nasty pocket, digging in a soft sand patch or heading straight into a bush bigger than your car. 

@Goutam was a very good 2nd lead, generally very careful and responsive to my instructions, even though occasionally a bit too close, which didn't give me the time to advise on the required corrections to my lines. Stuck in a few occasions, he always managed to get out by himself, for the rest he was just perfect! He even tugged me out the 2nd time I got royally crested!

@Rizwanm2 followed, doing overall very well, especially considering that, compared with the rest of the convoy, his Intermediate experience was much more limited. A few stucks and refusals were all self recovered and well managed. The ability to negotiate steep climbs with a bit more momentum will come with time and practice.

@Thomas Varghese was in his ideal terrain today. His vast off-road driving experience was in full display: skillful and swift in manouvering across those challenging dunes, it was a pleasure to see his XTerra climbing succesfully most of the times. As for everyone else, not all attempts were perfect and a few refusals and stucks were collected also by Thomas, whose excitement for the drive was, however, a great reward for me. 

@Jeepie was again on the sand after some time off due to some repairs to her car. I was really pleased to have her on the drive, as I was really curious to hear her opinion about Al Bataeh area, which she first explored today. When she shouted on the radio "Beautiful!" I knew she was really enjoying it (maybe a bit less when she had her close encounter with a bush..) 

@varunmehndiratta was tailing Marjan with great precision. He looked comfortable at all times during the drive and I belive he was the only one today who didn't get stuck. The moment of highest stress was probably when, despite seeing us on the other side at the meeting point next to the roundabout, instead of crossing the road, he drove all the way to the Military Base and came back 15 mins later.. But with for tires being deflated simultaneously by the rest of the team, he was ready in no time.

@GauravSoni seemed to have made it the objective of the day to really find out his limits, as he got stuck a few times (requiring to be winched from a nasty pocket, which I would call the stuck of the day) and got both engine and transmission overheating after a demanding self recovery... Not sure if he found his limits, but for sure he got some serious fun: when I approached him, he was smiling from ear to ear, saying this was one of his best drives ever.. 

@Rob H was in Al Bataeh with me last week and I am very curious to read what he has to say after this double adventure. For sure, managing his beast in such tight spaces, with so little gas and at so low speed was a whole new experience. It seems today he was way more confident than last week with these driving conditions: as far as I recall he was stuck only once, when I had to winch him down from a crest. Well done!

@Abu Muhammad was quite right when he said today's supersoft and tricky sand reminded him of our drive in Liwa last year. What was way different was the driver, as Abu has become very experienced with his beast, even in tight and technical terrains like today's. His final pop-out, 200m from the exit point, I'm sure was just the result of a moment of distraction when the drive felt almost over. What shocked me was how much air can be swallowed by those giant tires... The compressor pumped forever until the tire popped! 

Last but not least at all was @Tero Vallas, a quiet but almost unstoppable off-roader, driving seamlessly his car, the most civilized in the convoy. I felt he particularly enjoyed beeing in sweeping position today, especially when we reached the high grounds during the second stint: the view from there was magnificent as Sweep Tero had the privilege to slow down as he wished to enjoy it a bit more. I recall only one crested stuck, at the very end: again a moment of distraction after 4h of outstanding driving in churned up and super soft sands. 

Today we were able to complete the intended route to Korfakkhan Road. We would have made it to the exit point on time if we hadn't lined up 2 stucks (to be winched) and 1 pop-out 500m away from the exit point. 

We drove for 4h 45', of which 1h 18' stopped and 3h 25' moving. Our average moving speed was 13.8km/h, very low for an Intermediate Drive, which tells a lot about the technical difficulty of the day. We covered 47.4km, with an ascent of +188/-182 m. 

Too bad we ended the drive a bit dispersed, as some of us left and some others went back to help fix Abu Muhammad's pop-out. I look forward to reading in this thread the comments that I couldn't exchange live while inflating. 

Congratulations to all for a great performance today and special thanks to @Jeepie and @Tero Vallas for their precious support. 

See you soon in the sand again!