Morning Fewbie Plus Desert Drive - Sweihan (South) - Abu Dhabi - 22 Oct 2021

[Zed]

Dear @Mehmet Volga I will be driving the Y62 Patrol today as the LC100 is in garage. Not sure if this changes ordering, but I’m ok with front or back 😊

[Ruan van den Heever]

@Mehmet Volga an absolute perfectly executed drive in Sweihan this morning. And Mark for your lead during the latter part of the drive - thank you. It was exciting and some perfect lines. 

 

The pase was fast and continuous which meant that all drivers had to concentrate without interruption. I made two mistakes. Apologies @JeromeFJ for having had to quickly recover from 2 refusals which also had you break convoy and re-attempt. 

 

I had an absolute fabulous drive with @JeromeFJ at the back. 

 

Our CF were tremendous but unfortunately not too many people to dig out. Today you had an easy job with excellent drivers. Job well done.

 

We had a few pop-outs...but that was to be expected as our leads drove like bats out of hell. Perfect!

 

This however, was the good part of the day. Some angels looked over us today. @JeromeFJ and I were the last two cars to cross a ridge this morning with the rest of the convoy already cleared. As I was climbing the steep ridge, suddenly another well known convoy crossed the huge dune from the other side and drove directly infront of me. I immediately stopped, on a very difficult spot on the face of the dune. What is sad is that the other convoy did not even stop. The entire convoy crossed and kept in driving. @JeromeFJ can probably confirm better than me as he was seeing the incident from behind me, but the cars crosses probably 2 meters infront of my Jeep from the other side of the dune. It was a very close call.

 

I am not a naturally scared person but this incident had me a little rattled for a few seconds. Alas, I made a loop and crossed the dune after waiting for the other convoy to clear.

 

I dont think it was a fault of us or the other convoy.....no-one could see each other. But they could have stopped or slowed down. 

 

Keep your eyes open guys. Stay safe and have fun. 

 

Thumbs up and all my respect for the safety implemented by Carnity.

 

[Zed]

If Ruan wrote a report, that’s a testament of how good the drive was today 😄 Thank you @Mehmet Volga & @marks for coming all the way from Dubai to lead today’s drives. @Archibald Jurdi for CF too.

Thanks to bro @Mus_hus78 for being my spotter today, the Y62 is a heavy beast, and once gone into a bowl can be tricky to self-recover without having second set of eyes to find the work-around. Lucky no need to tug, after some forward-and-back dance and finding non-churned sand, car was able to go up again 😊

Thumbs up also to the rest of convoy for able to keep up pace with the front line 👍🏻

[MUSTAFA hussain]

Today’s drive was “FAN-fast -trick “ ….. altho I really wish we could have gone with our original drive plan in new area which was unfortunately messed up with deep trenches ….. luckily we got early Call from Carnity members to change to new location….thankful to @Mehmet Volgawho started our day with fast pace on dunes which later was lead by @marks….. it’s very rare to see a big grin on @Ruan van den Heeverface but hey thumbs up to both the leads to make it happen 😃….. altho we had some new faces in the convoy but i felt like I have been driving with them for a long time as they understood other drivers pace and kept enough space to keep the convoy moving at good pace … thanks to @JeromeFJ for sweeping all the way …… special thanks to @Zedas we kept each other on track 😬….. few refusals but was part of the game 😇…… hope to catch you all again for another drive …..

[Srikumar]

1 hour ago, Ruan van den Heever said:

This however, was the good part of the day. Some angels looked over us today. @JeromeFJ and I were the last two cars to cross a ridge this morning with the rest of the convoy already cleared. As I was climbing the steep ridge, suddenly another well known convoy crossed the huge dune from the other side and drove directly infront of me. I immediately stopped, on a very difficult spot on the face of the dune. What is sad is that the other convoy did not even stop. The entire convoy crossed and kept in driving. @JeromeFJ can probably confirm better than me as he was seeing the incident from behind me, but the cars crosses probably 2 meters infront of my Jeep from the other side of the dune. It was a very close call.

 

It's quite strange that the other convoy didn't see the 8 cars coming through and still decided to make an attempt, or was there a gap in the convoy for them to think that our convoy was already through.

 

14 hours ago, Zed said:

Dear @Mehmet Volga I will be driving the Y62 Patrol today as the LC100 is in garage. Not sure if this changes ordering, but I’m ok with front or back 😊

How did you manage to get the Y62 out for a FB+ drive? Did you tell the wife that you were going for a NB drive?

[Zed]

29 minutes ago, Srikumar said:How did you manage to get the Y62 out for a FB+ drive? Did you tell the wife that you were going for a NB drive?

@Srikumar: Told her it was another Newbie drive… better ask for forgiveness later than missed the opportunity 😂😂😂

[JeromeFJ]

Yes @Ruan van den Heever, it was definitely a scary moment. These guys were falling from the top of the dune like rolling stones. I don't think there was any mistake form any side. We had no gap in the convoy, and we were going one by one negotiating this delicate criss crossing on top of a steep climb, and you have started just after @Werno cleared the way. They suddenly passed the ridge way above us, from the side, and I don't think they could have seen us either. However, the same way we had spotted them 2-3 min before, they should have spotted us also, and taken this steep slope with care. You had the good reaction, aborting the climb and going down safely, but they did not show much consideration, and the rest of the convoy was continuing coming down at the same speed. I don't think the cars came as close as 2m, but this is the closest collision risk I have seen in the desert.

For the rest, the drive was beautiful, thank you @Mehmet Volga and @marks for the lead, and the perfect choice of dunes. The convoy was really performing well, and we all enjoyed the continuous pace, and the nice lines on the sand. It was a pleasure to drive behind the 2 Jeeps @Ruan van den Heever ans @Werno, always perfectly in line despite the churned tracks. @Mus_hus78 was one more time demonstrating his skills at taking the Pajero on the top of the highest dunes, and giving helpful support when needed. 

@Zed, @Archibald Jurdi, @Anoop Nair See you all very soon !

[Mehmet Volga]

Not much left to mention after all these comprehensive posts above. It was another amazing day for me in AD - i love it because of sound and friendly drivers like you! 

Again there was no any weak ring in our drive chain; you all were incredible @Zed @Mus_hus78 @Archibald Jurdi @Werno @Anoop K. Nair @Ruan van den Heever @JeromeFJ. Perfectly responded to the high pace we kept with maximum attention but also did great job in the technical part close to the exit. Well done ! 💪💪

Agree with @Mus_hus78 that the terrain was not same with the one we originaly planned at the north Sweihan to Nahel. Unfortunately most of the big dunes were full of cross tracks left by many other convoys, making it  a "public offroading zone" which we do not prefer to drive on. Those type of zones are not bad only because their uncomfortable tracks to slide on, but they are also dangerous with too many cars irregularly drifting and causing dense traffic like on the streets. I even saw some single cars driving around without following any convoy! The event @Ruan van den Heever mentioned is a good sample that it is always possible in crowded offroad areas to drop into some risky situations even if you keep maximum and continuous attention all the time. And as we experienced yesterday, many other convoys are not good to show enough attention we expect from them. Good timing and decision by @Ruan van den Heever to stop and going down as the other convoy didn't do anything (though they are assumed to point at least one of the 6 cars already crossed the dune ahead). And also thank you for sharing it here as such posts keep our safety instincts awake especially for experienced drivers who are tended to be overconfident. Safety first!

Anyhow @marks made a great job and found us many virgin areas in between such public spots and made our trip better.  Thank you very much buddy for your excellent lead! Looking forward to drive with your lead again.

Thanks to our excellent supports; @JeromeFJ kept our tail in the line and @Archibald Jurdi was on board whenever needed (though there was not much to do with the great drivers. We can compensate this easy day in our next drive together 😉)

It was leaders' day to have pop outs - I and Mark did it to create some opportunity for the convoy to workout. Mine was better with 2 at a time 🙃 

Thank you again for your high  performance, excellent support and friendships. See you all again on the next!