COVID19 Compliant - Afternoon Fewbie PLUS Desert Drive - Little Sweihan Blitz - Dubai - 23 Jun 2021

[Ashok chaturvedi]

10 hours ago, Humayun Ghias said:

Thank you @Ale Vallecchifor this challenging drive.

Even before the drive began, I had this feeling it would be a different one. The variety of things that we got to do kept me on my toes and I remembered how Ale had mentioned prior to the drive that it would require our constant concentration. 

I was bummed and embarrassed with my pop out early in the drive but I was reassured by @Lakshmi Narasimhan''s encouraging words over the radio. Thank you Lakshmi, Ale and everyone with your patience and help with the pop out.

It was a pleasure driving behind @Ashok chaturvedi and seeing @Gok Krishin the rear view mirror.

@Darren Brookeglad to hear the new axle is working fine. Good to see you all on the drive and see you soon! 

 

Pop outs, stucks and refusals  are usual and norm on drives we all experience it.. at the end of drive I too had a stuck perhaps the first ever one this FJ and thankful to the team to help me out. Have to take my new FJ to check the various gear engagements.. this stuck actually will make me take the car back to the fellow who installed the kill switch.... I always enjoyed driving with Ale he is very professional. Thanks again to the team look forward to the next drive.

[Shaaz Sha]

Thank you @Ale Vallecchi for another wonderful drive. Thanks a lot for the terrain and drive experience offered to us and belive everyone had a wonderful evening offroading. The sand being super soft, it was a great experience manuvering through and as always we all had some thing or the other to learn from this drive too. Thanks to @Lakshmi Narasimhan for a well executed 2nd lead.  @Ashok chaturvedi, @Humayun Ghias, @Gok Krish, @Russ and @Darren Brooke, guys did really well and it was a pleasure driving with you. @Gaurav Soni, thank you buddy for the tug and as always enjoyed being with you and  finally @Ranjan Das, our real time sweep, man you did amazing making it through the most churned up sand. well done bro. Thank you guys and see you soon

[Ale Vallecchi]

Little Sweihan Blitz - Drive Report

"If you finds all roads and paths blocked, He will show you a secret way that no one knows." - Rumi

Blitz: from the German word "blitzkrieg", meaning lightning. The drive aimed to embody the meaning of this word. A fast move onto the area of Little Sweihan, south-west of Solar Park, beyond the area I call "the Middle Earth" (a set of tall, long range dunes, very bushy and bumpy) and protected to the west by a tall fence enclosing a military practice zone. We reached it quickly, through a dirt tracks, the outer perimeter of the Middle Earth dunes, and the sand track next to the military fence. Then, across a sabkha, into the first set of dunes, moving along the length of Little Sweihan's triangle, from its base next to the military fence, to its tip, toward the north-east. Once almost at the tip, we turned around, to descend toward the triangle's base, moving toward its center. The goal was to continue this zig-zagging along and across the dunes, up and down the length of the area, to finally reach the southern limit of Little Sweihan's triangular base. There were times when the blitz had to take a much more sedated pace. In particular, toward the middle of the second iteration, when we suddenly started driving in a very tight set of tall dunes, coming from their slip face, which forced the convoy to make a few stops, and following the Poet's advise, to improvise and "be shown a secret way that no one yet knew".

The so-called "Little Sweihan" is a very unpredictable area. Enclosed by very tight dunes on both its sides (only the base is open and accessible), once across this first challenge, its core is often changing shape, due probably to the high and constant winds that blow from north to south, redesigning the dunes angles, filling bowls with soft sand, and sharpening the ridges. Therefore, there are times when it's possible to easily drive its length through an endless string of open bowls, and other times, more often, when the convoy has to struggle through high and sharp criss-crossings, deep bowl descents and climbs, and especially with patiently finding a way around blocked paths, retracing one's steps until an opening appears, and the going gets miraculously easier, again. 

Hence, the fact that we only had a pop-out (the combination of soft sand, tight turns, and lower deflation is sometimes lethal for heavy cars such as Patrols< so this things happen), and two stucks requiring tugs, was an indication that the convoy behaved greatly on such difficult terrain, made perhaps more unpredictable by the heat of the day (measuring 46 degrees at departure) and soft sand.

As the sun started to set, we moved north. across the Middle Earth (leaving the sand track next to the fence for the weak at heart), and ridge-rode our way toward the exit, at Solar Park, with only a minor interruption on a sharp and tall crest, where we executed our last tug of the day, with the sunset at our back.

As for the convoy, as mentioned, it rose to the challenge, and behaved like a pack of veterans. Clean and safe Second Lead by @Lakshmi Narasimhan, and a very well executed "tutoring" session by each higher ranked member (@Ashok chaturvedi, @Gok Krish, @GauravSoni and @Shaaz Sha, in the order of driving) leading the more junior drivers (respectively @Humayun Ghias, @Russ, @Darren Brooke and @Ranjan Das, who also moonlighted as Sweep). 

The drive ended after 3:22 hours (of which 2:46 while moving, with only 36 minutes of pauses, including all recoveries), covering 71.2 Km, at a pace of 26 Km/h while moving (and 21 Km/h overall).

Thanks to all for joining, and hope to see you soon again. Have a great weekend ahead.

[Humayun Ghias]

35 minutes ago, Ale Vallecchi said:

Little Sweihan Blitz - Drive Report

"If you finds all roads and paths blocked, He will show you a secret way that no one knows." - Rumi

Blitz: from the German word "blitzkrieg", meaning lightning. The drive aimed to embody the meaning of this word. A fast move onto the area of Little Sweihan, south-west of Solar Park, beyond the area I call "the Middle Earth" (a set of tall, long range dunes, very bushy and bumpy) and protected to the west by a tall fence enclosing a military practice zone. We reached it quickly, through a dirt tracks, the outer perimeter of the Middle Earth dunes, and the sand track next to the military fence. Then, across a sabkha, into the first set of dunes, moving along the length of Little Sweihan's triangle, from its base next to the military fence, to its tip, toward the north-east. Once almost at the tip, we turned around, to descend toward the triangle's base, and moving toward its center. The goal was to continue this zig-zagging along and across the dunes, up and down the length of the area, to finally reach the southern limit of Little Sweihan's triangular base. There were times when the blitz had to take a much more sedated pace. In particular, toward the middle of the second iteration, when we suddenly started driving in a very tight set of tall dunes, coming from their slip face, which forced the convoy to make a few stops, and following the Poet's advise, to improvise and "be shown a secret way that no one yet knew".

The so-called "Little Sweihan" is a very unpredictable area. Enclosed by very tight dunes on both its sides (only the base is open and accessible), once across this first challenge, its core is often changing shape, due probably to the high and constant winds that blow from north to south, redesigning the dunes angles, filling bowls with soft sand, and sharpening the ridges. Therefore, there are times when it's possible to easily drive its length through an endless string of open bowls, and other times, more often, when the convoy has to struggle through high and sharp criss-crossings, deep bowl descents and climbs, and especially with patiently finding a way around blocked paths, retracing one's steps until an opening appears, and the going gets miraculously easier, again. 

Hence, the fact that we only had a pop-out (the combination of soft sand, tight turns, and lower deflation is sometimes lethal for heavy cars such as Patrols< so this things happen), and two stucks requiring tugs, was an indication that the convoy behaved greatly on such difficult terrain, made perhaps more unpredictable by the heat of the day (measuring 46 degrees at departure) and soft sand.

As the sun started to set, we moved north. across the Middle Earth (leaving the sand track next to the fence for the weak at heart), and ridge-rode our way toward the exit, at Solar Park, with only a minor interruption on a sharp and tall crest, where we executed our last tug of the day, with the sunset at our back.

As for the convoy, as mentioned, it rose to the challenge, and behaved like a pack of veterans. Clean and safe Second Lead by @Lakshmi Narasimhan, and a very well executed "tutoring" session by each higher ranked member (@Ashok chaturvedi, @Gok Krish, @GauravSoni and @Shaaz Sha, in the order of driving) leading the more junior drivers (respectively @Humayun Ghias, @Russ, @Darren Brooke and @Ranjan Das, who also moonlighted as Sweep). 

The drive ended after 3:22 hours (of which 2:46 while moving, with only 36 minutes of pauses, including all recoveries), covering 71.2 Km, at a pace of 26 Km/h while moving (and 21 Km/h overall).

Thanks to all for joining, and hope to see you soon again. Have a great weekend ahead.

Such a detailed and well written drive report! Always a pleasure reading your drive reports. 🙏

[Russ]

Thanks @Ale Vallecchi for the mid-week drive (they break the week up so well!), the area you chose (my first time there and hopefully not the last) and the great post-trip write-up.

Thanks to @Shaaz Shafor the tug (sometimes even gravity can overcome a Raptor 😉) and the rest of the support team and drivers for a very enjoyable afternoon.

See you all soon.