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Morning Intermediate Desert Drive - From Red to Yellow: Margham Bowls to Faqa - Dubai - 8 Jan 2022


Ale Vallecchi

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Thank you @Ale Vallecchifor one of my best drive so far. Loved all the tracks and it was very well planned!  was indeed a great experience to drive with all the fellow drivers and those interactive chats on Camel 🐫.  See you all soon in next drive.

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What a drive!...simply marvelous. 

Thank you @Ale Vallecchi for leading us through yet another super shovel/rope free drive. We came out of our cars only to take a break or a photo. You were masterful, yet again, with the route selection - had my heart's content of the ridge riding bonanza which was on offer today.

Thank you @Looper, @Xavier Treasurer, @siddharth maheshwari, @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil, @Sunil Mathew, @Ashok chaturvedi, @Thomas Varghese & @Jorge Stepniak Felippe for the excellent company and great driving. 

Today's was my first drive of 2022 and if it were to be any yardstick, looking forward to a wonderful driving in 2022!

Hope to see you all soon.

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5 hours ago, Looper said:

99.99% perfect drive.

With me in the convoy, I will not let you reach the 100% 😈😈😜😜!!!

 

Wow!! What a drive @Ale Vallecchi..with the margham bowls to warm up, followed by some long range and then to finish off with some back breaking, steering work out type , super technical area , reaching the "infamous" chimney as you put it :-) ..thanks for clearing up the mystery behind the "infamy".

It was simply awesome, and to borrow @Looper's words - 10/10 intense!!

Good to meet @Jorge Stepniak Felippe@Xavier Treasurer and @siddharth maheshwari

   Pleasure to join the stalwarts @Ranjan Das,  @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil,  @Ashok chaturvedi, @Thomas Varghese 

Looking forward to the next one..

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Just now, Sunil Mathew said:

With me in the convoy, I will not let you reach the 100% 😈😈😜😜!!!

I thought it would be me 🤣. Why do you think I christened myself Looper. 

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don't drive like its your last one.

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1 minute ago, Looper said:

I thought it would be me 🤣. Why do you think I christened myself Looper. 

Time to change your name back from Looper to Goutam as now a days you don't practice the art of looping much. 

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Talking about logo @Niki see this link

Edited by Looper
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don't drive like its your last one.

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AWESOME DRIVE. 

It was my 1st drive of 2022 and man what a drive @Ale Vallecchi gave us today. But as usual Ale's characteristic of drives never changed if anybody knows what I meant. Its always from Point A to B whether its intermediate, fewbie plus or fewbie or newbie. And we achieved just that. I have been to Ale's numerous drives whether its Long Range patrol or exploration drive or even a drive I had with him in Ganthoot during the national holidays where we just drove on and on and had our tea in the most picturesque terrain. The only boring part was nobody had even a minor refusal and the radio was free from cries - I have a refusal, I believe I'm stuck. Ale had to forcefully grant us breaks in between as everyone was driving perfectly in one of the most challenging technical dune section of the desert. When I started driving with Carnity everybody avoided going near the furnace citing it was extremely challenging with lots of technical dunes. Today the convoy proved that this is perfectly navigable and conquerable terrain. Thanks to @Ashok chaturvedi we had more insights into the life and daily routine of a camel. 

It was nice meeting @Wrangeld and his team on the way and I got to meet him after he took me to the yellow truck in Liwa. Nice meeting some old friends @Niki & @Alex Raptor with him. 

The lightest moment of the drive was when @Looper commented that the IM convoy of the camels met with our IM convoy. I was watching the camel trip lead. The moment he saw our convoy approaching he stopped to give us way to cross his convoy. He only moved when we stopped respectfully for his convoy to cross our path. The last 2 camels reminded me of myself and @Jorge Stepniak Felippe who was casually trekking around as all the drivers in the convoy was driving perfect. 

In short the 2022 drive started with a bang. 
  

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Great morning drive @Ale Vallecchi the weather was indeed a perfect occasion to practice on technical dunes and you led us though a beautiful, long, challenging and rewarding path !

Thank you and good to see friends and new friends in the sand :)

 

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From Red to Yellow - Margham Bowls to Faqa - Drive Report

"As you start to walk, the way appears" - Rumi

In an episode of the Netflix series "The Crown", King George VI, father of Elizabeth II, waking up a groggy soon to be Prince Philip, cheerly open the curtains on a cold, rainy dawn, and proclaims: "Wonderful morning for ducks!!". Well, last Friday, it truly was a "wonderful morning for ducks", where ducks stands for "desert driving on packed wet sand, through a web of crazy technical dunes" 😁. Funny how someone's most uncomfortable conditions become others most cherished opportunities.

Indeed, it turned out to be a virtually perfect drive, with an exceptionally performing convoy, moving at unison from the red bowls of Margham village (those looking toward Tawi Nizwa, Big Red and Badayer), through Lisaili, all the way to Faqa. 

The drive consisted of three sets of long range dunes - the first, embedded within the low sand bowls of Margham, the second just after entering Lisaili, and the final set from the Chimney to Faqa's sabkha - , alternated with two sets of technical terrains - one leading to Lisaili and just past its pylon line, the second one from Lisaili to the Chimney. 

Especially the technical areas, and partially the red sand bowls of Margham's, were driven with a very loose driving plan, mostly based on visual orienteering, with the laissez-fair attitude of "let's see what comes next", well embodied by the above mentioned poem by Rumi. 

Concentration was utmost throughout the drive. In the technical area, expediency was possible thanks to the decision to ride all the ridges, even when it meant snaking around with a lot of steering, instead of going straight through the dunes, with the advantage of the crests being duller, and wider, due to the late rains, thus more steadily ridable, with the only disadvantage being that some of the crests were quite broken due to sand erosion, thus requiring some early exits, or taking them at a slower pace. Thanks to this improvised strategy, we ended up finishing the drive with perfect timing, no stucks, and only one re-attempt throughout the whole itinerary.

@Ranjan Das was an impeccable Second Lead, followed by @Xavier Treasurer and  @siddharth maheshwari. @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil anchored the convoy, ahead of @Sunil Mathew, @Looper, @Ashok chaturvedi and @Thomas Varghese, with @Jorge Stepniak Felippe closing the convoy, with perhaps the cleanest sweep ever.

Together, we covered 90.1 Km, in 3:16 driving time (3:47 hours overall, including only refreshment breaks), at the very fast pace of 28 Km/h moving average speed (considering the amount of technical driving).

Great, exemplary driving by everyone. Hope to see you soon in the sand.

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