Morning Fewbie Desert Drive - The Blind Drive: no maps, around Lisaili and Murqab - Dubai - 28 Jan 2023

[Ishak]

12 minutes ago, Frans M said:

Thanks  @Ale Vallecchi and everyone for a great drive today. And @Vanessa8580 hopefully you and the X-terra can recover soon and back on the sand dunes. Wish you all the best. The last 5 cars drive was amazing. See you all again next time.

Yup agree with you @Frans M. Thank you @Ale Vallecchi.

@Vanessa8580, happy to see you was up and walking around.

[Sunil Mathew]

@Ishak @Dodi Syahdar

[Ale Vallecchi]

Blind Date: No Maps Drive - Drive Report

"Today, let us swim wildly, joyously in gratitude" - Rumi

Let's start the report by being joyously grateful that @Vanessa8580 escaped a roll-over healthy and in one piece, with no bruises other than on her X-Terra's body. The accident, clearly shown by the Second Lead's on-board camera, was a freak one, that could have happened to anybody. Its dynamic was the same as that of a tire bursting on tarmac, with the X-Terra having a pop-out upon reaching the flat top of a tall dune, and pivoting on the damaged wheel, spinning once, twisting 180 degrees, and landing on its right side, facing backward. The pop-out must have been caused by an irregularity on the hard, almost cement like, and corrugated surface at the top of the dune, resulting from the 4 days of rainfall that preceded the drive. The guys in Convoy #2 can refine this reconstruction, having seen the accident in person. 

When Convoy #1 arrived at the scene, having seen it from the opposite ridge, we found Vanessa recovering her composure, with @Islam Soliman and @Lawrence_Chehimi, well assisted by the rest of the drivers, intent in studying and preparing the recovery. As the car was resting on its right side, leaning away from the wide ridge, toward a bowl on what would have been the slip-face, it was suggested and agreed that to bring back the car on its 4 wheels the tug should be given from the tall dune's hard face, and from its bottom (tugging away from the rim of the ridge would have risked the pulling car to slip down the slope, and getting stuck without any more traction to either get back up, or to complete the job). Another concerted decision was to use towing ropes, in place of the kinetic ones, linked together in a number sufficient to reach the towing car almost at the bottom of the hard face: the intent was to make sure the tension would be continuous, and avoid that the ropes give some slack while the X-Terra was being pulled to the ground. Finally, a third decision was also to anchor the X-Terra from its back side, which was leaning heavily toward the slip-face's bowl below, to make sure the pull would be even, and no slipping down toward gravity would take place. 

With all this orderly arranged and put into place by the whole convoy, Islam proceeded to tug, while @Dodi Syahdar provided the anchor, resulting in an almost effortless recovery of Vanessa's X-Terra to its 4-wheel position.

A second tug ensued, to bring the dead weight of the car from its slightly inclined resting place  (leaning toward the slip-face's bowl) back onto the flat surface available at the top of the ridge, with the goal of fixing the pop-out that caused the incident in the first place. This took place from the front, courtesy of Dodi's, with Islam's anchoring the car from behind.

With the pop out rapidly fixed, all that was left to do, while Vanessa finished to recover her poise, was to scout a track, unobstructed by dunes, that would allow Islam to tow the car out to the location of our starting point, next to Murqab's mosque. Towing the car's dead weight became unavoidable, as after waiting sufficient time to make sure it was possible to try and turn on the engine again, this stalled and did not give signs of being able to function at all. Luckily, the whole thing had taken place with an easily accessible sabkha in sight, and it was not difficult to find a local's sand track leading out to Murqab's mosque.

@Islam Soliman, @Lawrence_Chehimi, @Ahmad Nerat, @Yaseen87, @Krishna R, @Murtaza Bhuria, @Sebb, @Andrei S, @Shahid Mehmood and @Naim Aoun from Convoy #2 (especially those driving closer to Vanessa) are welcome to add to this reconstruction with any observation they find would be useful to understand the incident's dynamic, and to work as educational material for any future reference, in similar cases.

Once the situation was back under control, Convoy #1 continued the blind drive, using all visual landmarks in sight, to eventually reach its final destination. From Murqab's sabkha we moved in a north-easterly direction, crossing a technical area, toward the sabkhas between Margham and Lisaili, and from there first toward the pylons to the west, and eventually to the south-west, keeping the Solar Tower (a.k.a The Chimney) to the south of the convoy, a group of trees located amidst a well know technical area just to the left of the convoy, and aiming at a gap between the pylons and the Innovation Center's "pyramid" often visible from the higher positions. It was a phenomenally fun drive, with all drivers behaving greatly, and enjoying the compact sand, that allowed to ride on ridges for extended periods, as well as lots of criss-crossing.

Having reached the "Three Trees" exit, at the roundabout between Solar Park and Qudra, the convoy was partially extended, with @Ishak, @Gary F, @Sunil Mathew and @Frans M continuing with me toward the Qudra's exit, still "blind", while @Jaro Tuzinsky, @Stan, @Bravoecho, @Abdul Basit Khan, @Adam James, @Stumpy Paj and @Dodi Syahdar ending the drive as scheduled.

Altogether, including the Qudra extension, the drive covered 74.3 Km (more likely 70, as a few Kms were driven by me to scout Islam's exit route), completed in 2:25 hours of driving time (with 4:28 hours in total), at an average moving speed of 31 Km/h (and 17 Km/h total average).

Thanks to @Jaro Tuzinsky for the Second Lead, to @Sunil Mathew for anchoring, and to @Dodi Syahdar for sweeping, as well as thanks to the whole Convoy #2 for coming to the rescue of Vanessa's, ensuring that she was unharmed, and making the X-Terra's recovery a safe and successful one. @Vanessa8580's generosity, enthusiasm and competence will be missed while the X-Terra is brought back to its original condition, while I am sure that she will be looking forward to getting back in the saddle as soon as possible, unshaken by the knowledge that this unfortunate incident could have happened to anybody, and it was certainly not due to any "mistake" on her part, but rather to an invisible glitch in sand caused by the unusual 4 days of rainfall. 

[Abdul Basit Khan]

[Gary F]

A reminder to all of us that there is risk and consequences to what we do in the desert. Any of us could have been in the same situation. Thankfully we have a team of experienced people to help recover safely…

I really enjoyed this drive and looking forward to seeing some of the videos. The extended ridge riding was fun. And I appreciated the opportunity to take on second lead for the reduced convoy section, on the “Blind Qudra Run”. This second was a real test of mixed terrain, unusually hard sand and fast ridges, followed by a muddy exit next to the Qudra petrol station. 

[Ishak]

Not the view of intermediate drive. It is just another view of crescent stuck 😅

[Bjoern]

12 hours ago, Ale Vallecchi said:

Blind Date: No Maps Drive - Drive Report

"Today, let us swim wildly, joyously in gratitude" - Rumi

Let's start the report by being joyously grateful that @Vanessa8580 escaped a roll-over healthy and in one piece, with no bruises other than on her X-Terra's body. The accident, clearly shown by the Second Lead's on-board camera, was a freak one, that could have happened to anybody. Its dynamic was the same as that of a tire bursting on tarmac, with the X-Terra having a pop-out upon reaching the flat top of a tall dune, and pivoting on the damaged wheel, spinning once, twisting 180 degrees, and landing on its right side, facing backward. The pop-out must have been caused by an irregularity on the hard, almost cement like, and corrugated surface at the top of the dune, resulting from the 4 days of rainfall that preceded the drive. The guys in Convoy #2 can refine this reconstruction, having seen the accident in person. 

When Convoy #1 arrived at the scene, having seen it from the opposite ridge, we found Vanessa recovering her composure, with @Islam Soliman and @Lawrence_Chehimi, well assisted by the rest of the drivers, intent in studying and preparing the recovery. As the car was resting on its right side, leaning away from the wide ridge, toward a bowl on what would have been the slip-face, it was suggested and agreed that to bring back the car on its 4 wheels the tug should be given from the tall dune's hard face, and from its bottom (tugging away from the rim of the ridge would have risked the pulling car to slip down the slope, and getting stuck without any more traction to either get back up, or to complete the job). Another concerted decision was to use towing ropes, in place of the kinetic ones, linked together in a number sufficient to reach the towing car almost at the bottom of the hard face: the intent was to make sure the tension would be continuous, and avoid that the ropes give some slack while the X-Terra was being pulled to the ground. Finally, a third decision was also to anchor the X-Terra from its back side, which was leaning heavily toward the slip-face's bowl below, to make sure the pull would be even, and no slipping down toward gravity would take place. 

With all this orderly arranged and put into place by the whole convoy, Islam proceeded to tug, while @Dodi Syahdar provided the anchor, resulting in an almost effortless recovery of Vanessa's X-Terra to its 4-wheel position.

A second tug ensued, to bring the dead weight of the car from its slightly inclined resting place  (leaning toward the slip-face's bowl) back onto the flat surface available at the top of the ridge, with the goal of fixing the pop-out that caused the incident in the first place. This took place from the front, courtesy of Dodi's, with Islam's anchoring the car from behind.

With the pop out rapidly fixed, all that was left to do, while Vanessa finished to recover her poise, was to scout a track, unobstructed by dunes, that would allow Islam to tow the car out to the location of our starting point, next to Murqab's mosque. Towing the car's dead weight became unavoidable, as after waiting sufficient time to make sure it was possible to try and turn on the engine again, this stalled and did not give signs of being able to function at all. Luckily, the whole thing had taken place with an easily accessible sabkha in sight, and it was not difficult to find a local's sand track leading out to Murqab's mosque.

@Islam Soliman, @Lawrence_Chehimi, @Ahmad Nerat, @Yaseen87, @Krishna R, @Murtaza Bhuria, @Sebb, @Andrei S, @Shahid Mehmood and @Naim Aoun from Convoy #2 (especially those driving closer to Vanessa) are welcome to add to this reconstruction with any observation they find would be useful to understand the incident's dynamic, and to work as educational material for any future reference, in similar cases.

Once the situation was back under control, Convoy #1 continued the blind drive, using all visual landmarks in sight, to eventually reach its final destination. From Murqab's sabkha we moved in a north-easterly direction, crossing a technical area, toward the sabkhas between Margham and Lisaili, and from there first toward the pylons to the west, and eventually to the south-west, keeping the Solar Tower (a.k.a The Chimney) to the south of the convoy, a group of trees located amidst a well know technical area just to the left of the convoy, and aiming at a gap between the pylons and the Innovation Center's "pyramid" often visible from the higher positions. It was a phenomenally fun drive, with all drivers behaving greatly, and enjoying the compact sand, that allowed to ride on ridges for extended periods, as well as lots of criss-crossing.

Having reached the "Three Trees" exit, at the roundabout between Solar Park and Qudra, the convoy was partially extended, with @Ishak, @Gary F, @Sunil Mathew and @Frans M continuing with me toward the Qudra's exit, still "blind", while @Jaro Tuzinsky, @Stan, @Bravoecho, @Abdul Basit Khan, @Adam James, @Stumpy Paj and @Dodi Syahdar ending the drive as scheduled.

Altogether, including the Qudra extension, the drive covered 74.3 Km (more likely 70, as a few Kms were driven by me to scout Islam's exit route), completed in 2:25 hours of driving time (with 4:28 hours in total), at an average moving speed of 31 Km/h (and 17 Km/h total average).

Thanks to @Jaro Tuzinsky for the Second Lead, to @Sunil Mathew for anchoring, and to @Dodi Syahdar for sweeping, as well as thanks to the whole Convoy #2 for coming to the rescue of Vanessa's, ensuring that she was unharmed, and making the X-Terra's recovery a safe and successful one. @Vanessa8580's generosity, enthusiasm and competence will be missed while the X-Terra is brought back to its original condition, while I am sure that she will be looking forward to getting back in the saddle as soon as possible, unshaken by the knowledge that this unfortunate incident could have happened to anybody, and it was certainly not due to any "mistake" on her part, but rather to an invisible glitch in sand caused by the unusual 4 days of rainfall. 

@Vanessa8580 Ariana and I are happy that you are OK. Looking forward to driving with you again!

[Frans M]

https://youtube.com/shorts/TPqwOw0Bk4U?feature=share