COVID19 Compliant - Morning Newbie Desert Drive - Searching for Water: Solar Park - Dubai - 12 Aug 2021

[Raman_Dbx]

4 hours ago, Ale Vallecchi said:

Hello @Ramandbx. I am about to close the drive for good. Do you wish to participate, or can I let another member in? Thanks a lot for your prompt reply.

Hi @Zixuan Huang - Charlie. I can sign you up if you wish to confirm. Thanks a lot.

Hi. Confirmed fir tomorrow. Thanks. 

Hi @Ale Vallecchi have confirmed my status earlier. New to the forum so don't know of I am on or not. Thanks

[Gaurav]

18 minutes ago, Ramandbx said:

Hi. Confirmed fir tomorrow. Thanks. 

Hi @Ale Vallecchi have confirmed my status earlier. New to the forum so don't know of I am on or not. Thanks

Thanks for confirming @Ramandbx, I have added you to the drive calendar.

[Varun Mehndiratta]

Thanks @Ale Vallecchi and @Gauravfor organizing this drive through a beautiful landscape - was looking for a relaxed outing and calmness of Qudra (off the usual areas) early in the morning offered exactly that..

We started around 6:05am, was good to have a briefing out in open after a long time, reviving back the little humor and interaction during briefings.

Overall in our course to explore Water points across Qudra, we drove around 50km in 2.37hr of moving time. This is surely a good pace for newbie.   The convoy did really well. We had couple of crests and minor refusals however in general it was a smooth drive by all in convoy. 

@munkybiznessyou were a perfect SL maintaining right distance to Gaurav and responding nicely to all his instructions. 

 @Joji varghesevery nicely driven. Doubt (in where to go or on ones car's ability) is the most common reason for refusal and stucks . Your refusals and crests had Doubt written all over them. I am sure with more rides you will rock your Fortuner through these dunes. 

 @kiranshinde @Savio Fernandes you guys handled the Patrols very well. Just don't shy from giving some more gas - a bit more gas would have ensured much more smoother sails through those side slopes. 

 @Hilal Sharafudeen and @Damien Ranjit you guys rocked your Patrol and pathfinder with confidence..  very well done. 

Rest as i could see @Richard Franks @Adam James @Gilbert Khalil@Naim AounAoun you all had almost perfect drive, other than a small refusal with Naim, a case of just letting go a bit early. 

@topgear thanks for being there and ensuring convoy was always in order. 

Thanks all for the lovely time, hope to see you all soon. 

 

 

[Naim Aoun]

Thanks for a great adventurous ride. Those technical dunes were great even though at times it felt like Sheikh Zayed Road at rush hour

Can't wait to join you all again. 

[Ferl Brown]

Video of the drive. Convoy 1 with Marshal Ale

[Joji varghese]

7 hours ago, varunmehndiratta said:

Thanks @Ale Vallecchi and @Gauravfor organizing this drive through a beautiful landscape - was looking for a relaxed outing and calmness of Qudra (off the usual areas) early in the morning offered exactly that..

We started around 6:05am, was good to have a briefing out in open after a long time, reviving back the little humor and interaction during briefings.

Overall in our course to explore Water points across Qudra, we drove around 50km in 2.37hr of moving time. This is surely a good pace for newbie.   The convoy did really well. We had couple of crests and minor refusals however in general it was a smooth drive by all in convoy. 

@munkybiznessyou were a perfect SL maintaining right distance to Gaurav and responding nicely to all his instructions. 

 @Joji varghesevery nicely driven. Doubt (in where to go or on ones car's ability) is the most common reason for refusal and stucks . Your refusals and crests had Doubt written all over them. I am sure with more rides you will rock your Fortuner through these dunes. 

 @kiranshinde @Savio Fernandes you guys handled the Patrols very well. Just don't shy from giving some more gas - a bit more gas would have ensured much more smoother sails through those side slopes. 

 @Hilal Sharafudeen and @Damien Ranjit you guys rocked your Patrol and pathfinder with confidence..  very well done. 

Rest as i could see @Richard Franks @Adam James @Gilbert Khalil@Naim AounAoun you all had almost perfect drive, other than a small refusal with Naim, a case of just letting go a bit early. 

@topgear thanks for being there and ensuring convoy was always in order. 

Thanks all for the lovely time, hope to see you all soon. 

 

 

Thanks @Gauravand  @varunmehndirattafor your fabulous support and guidance, great adventure's experience. Awaiting for next ride... Thank you all team members👍

[Ale Vallecchi]

Searching for Water - Drive Report

"We can't help being thirsty, walking toward the voice of water" - Rumi

Water must be in high demand during this hot and dry summer, as what was expected to be a 12 car convoy, driving around Qudra "Searching for Water", eventually became a 26 car affair. First and foremost, thank you very much @Gaurav, for taking the lead of the second half of the convoy, which made it possible to open the drive to all the many and enthusiastic waitlisted members. It was a pleasure to see @kiranshinde, @Joji varghese, @Savio Fernandes, @Adam James, @Damien Ranjit, @Gilbert Khalil, @Naim Aoun, @munkybizness, @Hilal Sharafudeen, @Richard Franks, @topgear and @varunmehndiratta, and I hope you enjoyed the drive as much as I did.

As planned, we launched the drive along the bike track, cutting across central Qudra, exploring first the long range white dunes between the bike track and the pylons, where a great deal of slip faces end on flat surfaces, studded with mud rock formations, remnants of old sedimentary deposits of silt and clay, and testimony of a relatively recent past when surface water was available in this area. Water can still be found at 3 different locations, just north of the bike track: one is a natural set of fresh water pools, fed by a spring just above, the other is a small stream originating from the sand just below a tall dune, and the third is a the "famous" man made crescent shape lake that has recently seen headlines in the local press. North-west of here, just beyond a set of tall dunes and deep sand bowls, and past an area of technical dunes, the presence of water can first be guessed by the presence of numerous trees, feeding themselves with subterranean humidity, and then it becomes manifest with the appearance of a large lake, surrounded by a palm tree plantation. From here on, the terrain is made of the well known and navigated northern Qudra long range dunes, where the 2 more small bodies of water that we found, also in their still natural state, are the preview of the much bigger and landscaped Qudra Lakes. In all we managed to find and drive by 7 lakes or springs, and at the same time managed to quench our thirst for desert driving and exploration.

A very well executed drive by all members. @Zixuan Huang - Charlie at SL, @Islam Soliman at CF and @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ executed with precision and care their respective roles, providing an extra feeling of safety and control to a relatively inexperienced convoy. @Mahesh Khatry, @Alexanderrr, @Nibu Venu, @Ferl Brown, @Tom V, @Pieter Potgieter, @Ajit John, @Ramandbx and @Rsjiv Samuel, all drove very well and smoothly, certainly exceeding my expectations, responding with ease to the increased level of difficulty that the drive presented, especially toward the end. The couple of stucks and refusals that occurred in the final part of the itinerary, were likely the product of fatigue and loss of concentration, which is understandable considering the length of the drive.

We ended up covering 63.3 Km, in 3:59 hours (including two long stops for briefing and relaxation), at the fast average moving speed of 28 Km/h (16 Km/h total).

Thank you all again, from both convoys, for joining our search for water in Qudra's desert. See you all soon out there.

 

[Mahesh Khatry]

Thanks Ale for an amazing drive, have attached few pics from this drive.