COVID19 Compliant - Morning Intermediate Desert Drive - Lisaili - Dubai - 9 Jul 2021

[Niki]

Never tell me the odds! of @Wrangeld throwing in a last minute surprise!  excited to be back at the wheel and exploring from a new start point! Oh, my dear friend, how i've missed you @Ahab Shamaa - great to be on a drive together!

[Varun Mehndiratta]

Looking forward...see you all tomo..

[Varun Mehndiratta]

Thanks @Wrangeld for the lovely drive...it was smooth and rejuvenating start to the weekend. 

Car got a good sand shower and finally my rope and shackles have started to lose some shine (recovering ROE 😃). 

Thanks all and @Gok Krish wish your car a speedy recovery. Hope to see all soon. 

 

 

[Wrangeld]

Post Drive Report

I did not share with the drivers on this drive that today was the anniversary of my 'famous' technical drive into Lisaili. What took the convoy on that day (wholly due to my lead, by the way) two hours to cross was covered in around 10 minutes and without incident.  That meant that we were able to continue on our way through almost 4 hours of uninterrupted driving through what has to be some of the most beautiful and varied dunes in the region. 

We had great speed as the convoy was so focused on the drive, great banter (or perhaps that should be a bantu) and excellent teamwork and help for each other [none more than me as my car decided it had a liking for bottoming out on soft sand]. 

In the end we had comparatively few stops and those we had were really not too challenging which is how we managed to cover a lot of ground  - a fact that is even more impressive because we did venture into more than one technical patch.

With the wind whipping up at the end, we could not take all the ridges or crosses on offer. Did that take anything away from the drive: I don't think so. 

We would have made it Last Exit had there not been the unfortunate failure of @Gok Krish jeep. We all hope that it's not too serious. What's great is that we were able to get you out of the desert, and I really like the team approach of everyone that meant we all arrived together at Last Exit. 

A few individual comments: 

@varunmehndiratta - nice 2nd lead. No pop out this time (for either of us) and a very accomplished drive. Thanks for all the digging. 

@Ashok chaturvedi - pretty much first out of his car on any refusal and ready to help. That was noticed and appreciated. It's the sort of teamwork that sets a great example.

@Thomas Varghese - some good self recoveries and otherwise a well controlled and managed drive from your side. Tariq's loss was yours and the convoy's gain. 

@Gok Krish - Until the engine started playing up, it was all going very well. 

@Watteau - lives by the maxim of 'Always pass on what you have learned'. Leading from where ever you are in the pack. 

@Dodi Syahdar - the lack of comment from your side said it all: but maybe it was also the fact that maybe the strange radio was not working well enough? 

@Goutam - really nice drive today. Not the easist position in which to be in the convoy, and handled really well. 

@Kalahari - so good to see you back on a drive and benefit from your input and helping out. We really don't see you sufficiently regularly. 

@Niki - excellent sweep, excellent support, excellent communication. This is the Way. 

I really enjoyed the drive. So thank you all for making it so much fun. 

See you soon in the sand. 

[Thomas Varghese]

[Looper]

“Your focus determines your reality.” —Qui-Gon Jinn, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Today I observed one of the longest time in Radio Silence, which only indicated that everyone was really focused and was enjoying the drive. A great drive @Wrangeld, thanks a lot. @Niki was fantastic in the sweep as well as @varunmehndiratta was phenomenal in the 2nd lead, great job buddy.

I had a 3 refusals, which were on account of me missing the line while crossing over the ridges, which were all obviously taking a one full circle back to the line and crossing over. @Watteau you were behind me, do you have any observations as to what I might have been doing wrong. I must confess that somehow still I don’t like criss-crossing the ridges. I think its weird to have such a dislike - who does that?

[Thomas Varghese]

@Wrangeld the 1st refusal which led to the stuck was because I forgot to switch to 4H at the start of the drive. After replacing the differential last time the new 1 doesn't run on tarmac at 4H at all. It only runs smoothly on sand. It does a good job on sand but it doesn't move on tarmac at all. The 4H builds up great pressure on tarmac that it starts giving strange noise as soon as I start to move. I'm sorry for forgetting to switch it to 4H as soon as we hit the sand. Thanks to @Goutam I was out with a gentle tug. Thank you all for the patience. Hope @Gok Krish gets his car issue sorted out soon and we will see him again in the sands. Hope you all enjoyed the pictures posted here. @varunmehndiratta you did a great job as 2nd lead and @Niki as the sweep. 

Edited July 9, 2021 by Thomas Varghese

[Thomas Varghese]

7 minutes ago, Goutam said:

“Your focus determines your reality.” —Qui-Gon Jinn, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Today I observed one of the longest time in Radio Silence, which only indicated that everyone was really focused and was enjoying the drive. A great drive @Wrangeld, thanks a lot. @Niki was fantastic in the sweep as well as @varunmehndiratta was phenomenal in the 2nd lead, great job buddy.

I had a 3 refusals, which were on account of me missing the line while crossing over the ridges, which were all obviously taking a one full circle back to the line and crossing over. @Watteau you were behind me, do you have any observations as to what I might have been doing wrong. I must confess that somehow still I don’t like criss-crossing the ridges. I think its weird to have such a dislike - who does that?

The refusals were probably because you were following my line as I was avoiding the big channels left by @Ashok chaturvedi's new AT tires. Those tires leave a big channel on the sand like a big ship in the sea and bobs up all the smaller boats around it. Those tires just cut into the sand and slice it like butter. Next time I'm buying those tires for my car. 

14 minutes ago, Thomas Varghese said:

Out of all these pictures I like @Watteau's car against the backdrop of the rising sun. Man it looks like a beast about to pounce. 

Edited July 9, 2021 by Thomas Varghese

[Alex Raptor]

2 minutes ago, Goutam said:

“Your focus determines your reality.” —Qui-Gon Jinn, Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace

Today I observed one of the longest time in Radio Silence, which only indicated that everyone was really focused and was enjoying the drive. A great drive @Wrangeld, thanks a lot. @Niki was fantastic in the sweep as well as @varunmehndiratta was phenomenal in the 2nd lead, great job buddy.

I had a 3 refusals, which were on account of me missing the line while crossing over the ridges, which were all obviously taking a one full circle back to the line and crossing over. @Watteau you were behind me, do you have any observations as to what I might have been doing wrong. I must confess that somehow still I don’t like criss-crossing the ridges. I think its weird to have such a dislike - who does that?

"let go of your hate" for Cris-crosses , my observations would be that you are not getting two wheels over the top of the ridge soon enough, for me in my truck my objective is to get "anchors" over the other side as soon as I can, that way the risk of fishtailing or sliding down into a pocket is massively reduced, it also avoids that 90 degree spin effect when the wheel goes over and you are left in no mans land for a moment. The higher line on a cris-cross is usually the better one, but with today's sand blowing it was tricky to see the tops, refusals are no issue at all, it means you are being pushed you are learning to trust the force, don't worry about them, it will come, this is the way.

4 minutes ago, Thomas Varghese said:

The refusals were probably because you were following my line as I was avoiding the big channels left by @Ashok chaturvedi's new AT tires. Those tires leave a big channel on the sand like a big ship in the sea and bobs up all the smaller boats around it. Those tires just cut into the sand and slice it like butter. Next time I'm buying those tires for my car. 

Out of all these pictures I like @Watteau's car against the backdrop of the rising sun. Man it looks like a beast about to pounce. 

That’s @Dodi Syahdar but great photos

[Gok Krish]

Hello Everyone, @WrangeldRichard, it was a very interesting drive....Refreshing....Intermediate drives do not need to be 100% time action - we also enjoy that with total drive focus all the time, but only our videos later tell us where we had driven. We miss out on the scenery or the distant terrain backdrop etc...Just like, "All whiskeys are enjoyable albeit there are flavour differences". 

.... This drive was a 75/25 mix - enjoyed it that way for a change. Crisscrossing, technical, slip side sidees with fish tailing, ridge riding and bonus was that "extreme Philosophy in the mid of the Intermediate drive".  I would like to thank you all who helped me cool the radiator, tugged me in the last leg of the trip...

It was bit of a disappointment for me too for not completing the fully planned drive...We will make up for it guys when we line up again...

I will drop a video of the drive dedicated to you all...more of action from everyone as we had some zig zag routing where I could get shots of people on sidees...  Nobody shd blame me for posting videos where everyone was fishtailing, ha ha....