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Full Day Intermediate Desert Drive - Liwa Yellow Truck - Abu Dhabi - 01 Dec 2021 - Gaurav


Gaurav

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Hi off-roaders,

It was a long awaited day for me to make it to LIWA and was excited as LIWA is a destination every off-roader in uae would want to try. From the signups, it was clear that the faces are gonna be familiar and expected to have a good time with @Gaurav and other buddies in the convoy. Me and @Rizwan M. reached the meeting point at 3.30 AM and took a nap in the car . Early in the morning itself i could see the people preparing their car, strapping the bags and belongings and getting ready to hit the mighty desert in LIWA. We had 15 cars in our convoy, every one with an adrenaline rush and after briefing we started to move in through the sand track. My assumptions about LIWA was that the topography might remain the same all over UAE, but with bigger dunes and massive bowls. But in contrast i was surprised by the nature and formation of the dunes, super soft sands and very tricky and stay away kind of ridges...it was a treat for the eyes and enjoyed maneuvering . After few minutes of drive through relatively less complicated areas, we had an opportunity to experience the sharp and really long drops which literally gave a feel of driving in a sand stream flowing down and soon after we were taken to a bowl where we started our adventure.As discussed and decided in advance I was all prepared and studied the route to lead part of the convoy.. but kept as a surprise which @Gaurav.wanted to unfold during the drive. After deciding up on the convoy and the radio channel our convoy with @Ranjan Das as 2nd lead and @PaoloMaraziti, @Rawad, @Ashok chaturvedi, @Thomas Varghese and @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil as sweep, started our drive, heading towards the yellow truck. It was a superb experience making our way through super soft patches and some moderate dunes and bowls. 

After around 40 minutes of drive we came across the worst nightmare of an off-roader when @PaoloMarazitigot deviated from the track and ended up getting stuck on the slip face of bigger dune. Me and @Ranjan Das were through and were on the other side of the dune, when @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil informed us about the situation. We back tracked and reached the spot and were speech less for a while😳..After discussing with @Ranjan Dasand @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil, we decided to secure the car with a rope in front and winch at the back. Mean while the engine started releasing white smoke and we asked @PaoloMarazitito switch off the engine. After securing the car from above with a rope and a winch and clearing the sand wall from the side we tried to start the car but failed. The only way in front of us was to give a slight movement for the car front ways by a gentle pull. As decided we asked @Rawad to position himself at the right angle to give a gentle pull and every thing went as planned. While executing the recovery plan.. @Rawadcar- Y62 slipped down when giving the pull resulting in the most unfortunate event of the drive. @PaoloMaraziti car flipped side ways pulling down the cars on top slightly down. We rushed to @PaoloMaraziti to check if he is fine and found him safe. Our priority was to get him out from the car and asked him if he could stand up and try to come out. But to our surprise he was hesitant to move and chose to wait for the senior convoy to come. We were under tremendous pressure and worried about Paolo being inside the car and @Rawadand @Alain Canivet-Abikhalilkept on watching @PaoloMaraziti from outside to make sure everything is ok with him. We informed the senior convoy about the situation and they were around 10-15 km ( i believe) away and to our relief they took the best possible route to reach the scene in 30 minutes and @Gaurav took over the recovery. Thanks to every one else in the convoy for your tolerance and support and thanks to @Ranjan Das, @Alain Canivet-Abikhaliland @Rawad for your most valuable support when needed ,,,keep it up guys.Thanks you @Gaurav for the opportunity to take over a part of your convoy and for your presence when needed the most. Thanks to @Rizwan M., @Mario Cornejo, @Ruan van den Heever, @Arman, @JeromeFJand @varunmehndiratta for the support and help. The whole recovery process took almost 4 hours and the IM convoys couldn't make it to the yellow truck. 😫.. Some images in the gallery.

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Edited by Shaaz Sha
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No worries @Shaaz Sha for the mishap. End of the day what matters is nobody got hurt. The stuck on the slope was already on an awkward angle. Thanks to @Rawad who stopped immediately following @PaoloMaraziti and to @Ashok chaturvedi for halting the convoy to avoid further complications following Paolo. The moment I saw Ashok stopped I came down the 1st stage of the slope to avoid a stuck. I was surprised when you called out my name when I went down the slope to enquire what went wrong with me as I was further down the convoy. Great concentration from your part about the convoy and its drivers even though you were so high up the slope with your car and almost out of sight. No point in doing a post mortem of the incident at this point though I need to stress 2 points at this level of drive. From the beginning I joined the club the Marshals have stressed not to deviate from the path they have already set. An IM driver is supposed to follow this rule throughout the drive. 2nd point is once you have lost your momentum there is no point in fighting gravity to make up for the loss of momentum. How many times our Marshals have stressed this during the initial briefing of a drive. I can't understand why someone cannot follow these 2 basic instructions. I'm sorry to say this @PaoloMaraziti you broke both these rules. Don't think I am harsh on you but this is the truth. 

Once anybody accepts a Marshal to lead them through these unforgiving places then they should be trusting him to get him out alive. A marshal has already put his life on the line to lead us through a place where there is no path so that we can follow him to learn and to enjoy. I was flabbergasted when @PaoloMaraziti refused to come out of the car when the car was securely anchored not to slip down with @Ranjan Das's winch and a rope tied to @Shaaz Sha's car. This created some tense moments for his safety as white smoke started to come out from under the engine hood. Anyways it was Paolo's decision to stay in the car until the senior member came to rescue. God Almighty saved us from further mishaps by protecting @PaoloMaraziti

I need to say thanks to Paolo for giving me a chance to witness this ultimate recovery. No wonder @Gaurav
 is considered a desert expert. Each step of the recovery was a lesson I wouldn't forget in my life. Even the last advice to up Paolo's tire pressure to 20psi to lower the rolling resistance when being pulled. Treat to watch how @Gaurav anchors his car by digging into the sand to hold it steady while winching the other car out. I just saw how Gaurav did it and explanation you have to switch back to 2WD to dig in. I hope one day he will teach me this. Thanks to all who waited patiently till the end to see Paolo getting tugged out with @Rawad's car. Special mention about @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil & @Ranjan Das who spent a whole day under the glaring sun climbing up and down a steep slope. They have surely burnt lot of calories and have got a tan. I'm amazed with the physical stamina of @varunmehndiratta, @Arman, @Mario Cornejo who climbed the slip face of the slope many times when asked and the bravery of @JeromeFJ who volunteered to sit in a precarious car trusting the Marshals so that it could be steered down. My hero of this incident is @JeromeFJ and I'm willing to drive with him to the end of the world if he wishes to take me. 

No worries we didn't make it up to Yellow truck. I saw the yellow truck with the Desert Champ @Wrangeld the next day. Most important we overcame this ridiculous situation and came out to tell others about the most incredible experience we faced in our life. 

Edited by Thomas Varghese
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@PaoloMaraziti as a club member who have been driving in the desert with the @Carnity club I can assure you that no club members are left out to fend for themselves inside the desert. The Marshals will give their 100% to take the drivers and their 4X4's out to the tarmac. You gave us tense moments when you refused to come out of your car with the white smoke emanating from your silencer but in the end all turned out well except you spending almost an uncomfortable hour with the window down, engines off and too close to the sand. Don't even want to ask how you spent that hour as its terrifying me too to spend 1 minute like that in that precarious position. All we could do was pray to God for your safety until more help arrived and give you strength to hold on. God sure answered our prayers and here we are reminiscing those terrifying moments. 

Don't feel sorry for not being able to see the yellow truck. That was not important. We came inside as a team and went outside as a team. That's what is important. 

Regarding my analysis I just wrote it so that other drivers will learn from it and won't repeat it. Not to blame you for anything. Infact this proved to me that what I learned in my Absolute Newbie class from @Frederic holds good for whatever level of drive we are in. A split second distraction is all what is enough for dangerous situations like this. I also got distracted for a minute when my glove box flew open and spilled its contents inside the car during an earlier drive with @Ale Vallecchi and lost the line and track completely. Never seen Ale so furious like that before and after. Now I understood why he was angry. 

Hope your car doesn't have much damage to the engine and we will see you soon in the sands with the most amazing story. You sure have an amazing story to tell your grand kids when they ask if grandpa had a thrilling life. 

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I am really enjoying the narration of the incident. Everyone engaged in the recovery were at their best yet a lot of good time got consumed. Were only 40 minutes of the drive possible. 

My take away learning..

1.There is one thing to add in everyone's kit is a sheer (scissor) to cut the seat belt strap and it should anchored at a hand reach of the driver. Paola simply could cut himself loose early and was badly wedged at the angle. He was also in a shock when the recovery manoeuvre placed him in the position. It was a slow motion gentle roll later. I did tried several times to convince Shaaz sir to place a rope on Paola roof carrier to stop the roll. In our last visit to Liwa.. @Ahab Shamaa landed up in a similar situation when he went in for the rescue of another car and Rahimdad sir used on car to simply tie a rope on the roof carrier with the risk that it may ripe it apart but it worked to give the slight gravity stability. 

2. Without any phone connection it was difficult to locate and rely the GPS coordinates to Gaurav. I struggled but finally we were able to communicate the same to him. I think having a Garmin would been useful. 

3. Finally, another hour late afternoon was lost trying to pull Paola car 20 meters uphill. Once they could start his engine there was loud and ugly knocking sound coming from Engine, cause not known, maybe the garage will report. Yet my personal opinion would have been to let Paulo drive the 20  meters with some risk but worth it to save time. 

I have all my appreciation for Gaurav sir as he worked tirelessly with great patience high precision recovery maneuver from uprighting the car on the slop and then bringing it down in a very very control way. 

 

 

 

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57 minutes ago, Ashok chaturvedi said:

I am really enjoying the narration of the incident. Everyone engaged in the recovery were at their best yet a lot of good time got consumed. Were only 40 minutes of the drive possible. 

My take away learning..

1.There is one thing to add in everyone's kit is a sheer (scissor) to cut the seat belt strap and it should anchored at a hand reach of the driver. Paola simply could cut himself loose early and was badly wedged at the angle. He was also in a shock when the recovery manoeuvre placed him in the position. It was a slow motion gentle roll later. I did tried several times to convince Shaaz sir to place a rope on Paola roof carrier to stop the roll. In our last visit to Liwa.. @Ahab Shamaa landed up in a similar situation when he went in for the rescue of another car and Rahimdad sir used on car to simply tie a rope on the roof carrier with the risk that it may ripe it apart but it worked to give the slight gravity stability. 

2. Without any phone connection it was difficult to locate and rely the GPS coordinates to Gaurav. I struggled but finally we were able to communicate the same to him. I think having a Garmin would been useful. 

3. Finally, another hour late afternoon was lost trying to pull Paola car 20 meters uphill. Once they could start his engine there was loud and ugly knocking sound coming from Engine, cause not known, maybe the garage will report. Yet my personal opinion would have been to let Paulo drive the 20  meters with some risk but worth it to save time. 

I have all my appreciation for Gaurav sir as he worked tirelessly with great patience high precision recovery maneuver from uprighting the car on the slop and then bringing it down in a very very control way. 

 

 

 

I checked with my mechanic and he concurred your recommendation of removing the spark plugs and draining out the leaked oil from inside the cylinders before any serious damage to the connecting rod or crankshaft is done. I believe we didn't have a spark plug wrench with us and will add it to my essential tool kit soon. Removing the spark plugs in an XTERRA is no easy task from the Bank 2 side as its under the inlet manifold and the whole manifold should be removed to access the plugs. Don't know about FJ cruisers. I think this can be done only by an experienced mechanic and as our Marshals always remind us they or us are not mechanics and can only help with basic things. 

Regarding anchoring the car with a rope on to the roof rack I agree with @Gaurav not to cause more damage to the body. 

This was an unfortunate incident and it demanded an expert like @Gaurav to recover the car. None of us at the site could have executed it with the precision Gaurav displayed. @Shaaz Sha & @Ranjan Das's cars moved forward when the FJ was pulled down with @Rawad's Y62. This caused a slack in the anchoring ropes and caused the slow flip. Unfortunately @PaoloMaraziti couldn't witness the finesses with which @Gaurav recovered the car from an almost impossible situation as he was inside and later in a confused state. But to me the hero is @JeromeFJ who bravely sat in that precarious car putting all his trust on Gaurav and others and by doing his part in helping to recover that car. He deserves a recognition from the club for his bravery. Then the physical stamina of @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil, @Mario Cornejo, @Arman, @varunmehndiratta, @Ranjan Das & @Shaaz Sha is worth mentioning. @Gaurav also climbed up and down that slope multiple times. I wish I had that physical stamina. With a physical stature of a heavy truck like the YELLOW TRUCK there was no way I could have done that and would have got stuck in that slope for ever. 

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23 minutes ago, PaoloMaraziti said:

3. The first recovery was done as best possible, bad luck it didn't go well. It is also a bad luck not judging well enough the momentum in a passage. If we had the convoy as a whole, the experience of Gaurav who directed a master recovery and the 2 winches, my car would not have flipped 

This seems like a most common perception of everyone who witnessed two style of recoveries that day.

In reality if your car wasn't secured by Ranjan winch and Shaaz car it would have flipped anyways due to 50+ degree tilt.

While doing extreme recoveries, sometime we win and sometime we fail irrespective of experience, gadgets, number of people around.

I saved 3 cars from catching fire and failed two times.

Shaaz experience made me aware of lot of things what didn't work so that I could plan more intense and cautious approach due to tricky nature involved.

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Let's root for each other & watch each other grow.

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Dear @Gaurav, I have to agree with you. From the beginning of the 1st recovery @Shaaz Sha was worried about not having a 2nd winch. But as there was none available he used resources best available to him which was anchoring Paolo's car with a rope to his own car to prevent further slide of the stuck car or flip. After that he descended to the stuck car many times to persuade Paolo to get out of the car.

As Paolo said it was his 1st IM drive and he wanted to gain experience by driving with you he should have said so when the convoy was split. There is no point afterwards saying junior lead, senior lead etc after an incident occurred. 

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31 minutes ago, PaoloMaraziti said:

Thanks @Gauravet al. 

I would like to bring some additional context that I omitted so far, as I felt it was out of place and I was just immensely grateful to all. But given some statements in past posts that are still building up, I feel obliged to share. I also want to say, that I sign off from Carnity. While the attitude of those all who helped are commendable. I feel that the responsibility of this accident has been depicted incorrectly and with a biased view. I caused problems, and I will pay for it.   

1. The lift of my car is the same (2.5 inches) that came factory as precisely requested to the garage (official distributor of Kings). My car came lifted from al Futtaim as popular in the Adventure/Extreme trims. I drove the car for 30+ drive with this setup with Carnity. By the way, upon installing the new suspension the stance/width was also increase by 20mm per wheel on each side for a total of 4 cm, so I also widened the stance. I drove successfully with this new setup in several drives before Liwa. 

2. We should have not split the convoy, while I trust my leaders, we should admit that this was a mistake. Reduced support and reduced experience was a fact. Supported by the fact that the second attempt of recovery while prolonged it ended very successfully. 

3. The first recovery was done as best possible, bad luck it didn't go well. It is also a bad luck not judging well enough the momentum in a passage. If we had the convoy as a whole, the experience of Gaurav who directed a master recovery and the 2 winches, my car would not have flipped 

4. During the first recovery I was asked to switch on again the engine (?!?!) to help with car traction (e.g. engage Low Gear/Diff Lock). 

5. I was asked to take off seatbelt , and then subsequently asked to jump through the copilot seat. As per picture below, that would have caused a huge risk due to weight shift. The car flipped to the side because of bad anchoring of the objectively difficult situation. I still think it was not the right move. I was not suggested to exit from the booth, when Gaurav arrived he told that he also understood why I didn't want to go out that way, and when suggested to use the booth, the risk was very different. Note: the seatbelt was blocked and not be able to put it back in. I recognise the risks mentioned by Gaurav, so objectively this point could be debated as there was no risk-less situation. 

In a situation like LIWA, we should have Sat Com available. In a previous Carnity post from the past, this was organised and considered overkill because in that drive probably there was a good coverage throughout. I strongly suggest that the team will acquire some of those for next one. Saving few dirhams is not worth the risk. 

Finally. I should have not done my first IM in Liwa. I was pondering about this, but driving under Gaurav given his reputation, made me confident. Again, I made a mistake in judging momentum and gravity pull. What I am most sorry about is the enjoyment taken away from a dedicated team of fellow drivers, and the physical pain of the recovery inflicted to those who helped. Apologies once more.  

I am really sorry to leave some good friends , including those who have really helped in this difficult situation, and good leaders that I met. I hope we can stay in touch in other venues. I am taught that you need to stand by your ethics , accept your mistakes and the consequences of these.  

Drive forever, be safe and enjoy my friends. 

Yours Paolo. 

 

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As we all have seen and experienced liwa before, I think our first IM level drive turned out to hit Rock bottom with mix feelings . I don’t blame @PaoloMarazitifor his mistake alone as we all make mistakes during our driving experience off roading. I think @Shaz Shah as a lead had fair share of fault in the recovery from that difficult position. I don’t say @Shaz Shahdidnt do his best but if he had little doubt about recovering in that situation, he could have called @Gaurav earlier than later after the car flipped . 

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Dear all,

I can’t remain silent to this situation.

In my my humble opinion, I don’t believe the blame can be put so bluntly on Paolo, a responsible and attentive driver.

I will relate below my feelings towards the succession of events.

 

Many drivers attended this drive especially because Gaurav was leading it (I am one of them). Driving in Liwa was something I myself apprehended a lot - especially at IM level.

It was a long convoy, I admit it and honestly I didn’t understand the complaints coming from the back about the lines. The dunes are high enough and it’s part of the convoy discipline and order. We could have switched positions for those who wanted virgin lines.

To be honest I was surprised about the split.

And this is where I believe we all trusted the judgement of the leaders and moved forward.

Don’t get me wrong, I drove with Shaaz several times and I even drove with him this morning and I respect him a lot and trust him.

Paolo had some resistance in crossing one or two dunes before getting to the fateful one. That should have been taken into consideration.

 

On the fateful cross, I genuinely don’t think that Paolo didn’t follow the track or even that he fought gravity. As per his saying, his car jumped because of a bump and landed on 2 wheels and he tried steering down - and we saw the positions of his wheels.

 

And now, allow me to point out that at that moment, a cacophony started. I myself requested everyone to stop talking, Paolo to stop moving and Shaaz to come back.

When Shaaz came back, he requested me to join him and because of all the talking on the radio, I didn’t understand where he wanted me to go and I got stuck because of the different directions on the radio.

 

Shaaz did his absolute best to contain the situation, to secure the car and eventually allow Paolo to get out of the car. Ranjan and I were next to him and we never at any point criticized his decisions. But as you said Gaurav, an extreme recovery comes with risks.

 

About Paolo not wanting to come out, this is ridiculously indecent to say that he refused to obey Shaaz request ! Paolo was in a very insecure position, the car was not well lested and no one suggested to get him out from the boot. And in any case, me being there, would it have been safe for him to move out of the car. I am so sorry to read what is being said about Paolo when I was sitting next to him to reassure him while everyone was stressing him !!

 

The succession of event is known to all. When Gaurav arrived, the second winch and the experience allowed to safely exit Paolo from the car.

 

Again, this is my humble opinion and feelings on the situation as I am not here to discuss the physics of the recovery or criticize the expertise of any of the leaders.

 

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