Two Day Fewbie Plus Overlanding Expedition - Tracing The Tropic Of Cancer - Abu Dhabi - 18 to 19 Feb 2023

[GauravSoni]

@Jorge Stepniak Felippe tag! You’re up… I am still not confirmed for the drive with some changes in plan lurking around… 

[salah2u]

@Frederic hi Fred,  it shows 9 going, what’s the max number I am under the impression it’s 10, if I remove myself from waitlist will I be able to see going green tab? 

[MUSTAFA hussain]

8 hours ago, Frederic said:

Fantastic post @JeromeFJ ! You are right, and i must admit that the prep-work i did for this dates more than 1.5 year back, and took the coordinates from a site somewhere. 

No doubt we will have plenty of challenges on that straight line to deal with  See you soon !

Sorry to hear that @Beide Worku ! We still have a few months of pleasant weather so i do still hope the best for you to have your fill in the overnight stuff.

@Mus_hus78 this means you are the next one in line, are you in for this ?

Sorry for the delay Fred …… you can count me in if there are any drop outs …… 

[Frederic]

4 minutes ago, Mus_hus78 said:

Sorry for the delay Fred …… you can count me in if there are any drop outs …… 

You are in 

2 hours ago, salah2u said:

@Frederic hi Fred,  it shows 9 going, what’s the max number I am under the impression it’s 10, if I remove myself from waitlist will I be able to see going green tab? 

Maximum 10 in going. Have now added Jorge as he was next in WL

[Frederic]

CONVOY CLOSED - IMPORTANT UPDATES

 

@Gaurav@KAMALIO@Ashutosh Garg@AlexM@Naveen Raj@Amr Aydin@Srikumar@Foxtrot Oscar@Ranjan Das@salah2u@munkybizness@Jorge Stepniak Felippe@Mus_hus78@JeromeFJ

You are all confirmed and i hope to see you tomorrow morning !

PLEASE SEE UPDATED STARTING TIME AND MEETING POINT BELOW:

* STARTING TIME HAS BEEN UPDATED TO 7.00AM. PLEASE BE ON TIME AND FULLY FUELED UP WHEN YOU ARRIVE AT THE MEETING POINT.

* THERE IS NO NEED TO DEFLATE IMMEDIATELY (WE WILL DO THIS LATER ONCE WE ENTER THE SAND).

* MEETING POINT:  https://goo.gl/maps/9k8wQu8WrkNmwbNk8 

* PLEASE READ CAREFULLY THE DRIVE PRECAUTIONS IN THE ORIGINAL POST (MAX 1 PASSENGER, JERRY CAN REQUIREMENTS, ETC...

See you all tomorrow !

[Amr A]

33 minutes ago, Frederic said:

CONVOY CLOSED - IMPORTANT UPDATES

 

@Gaurav@KAMALIO@Ashutosh Garg@AlexM@Naveen Raj@Amr Aydin@Srikumar@Foxtrot Oscar@Ranjan Das@salah2u@munkybizness@Jorge Stepniak Felippe@Mus_hus78@JeromeFJ

You are all confirmed and i hope to see you tomorrow morning !

PLEASE SEE UPDATED STARTING TIME AND MEETING POINT BELOW:

* STARTING TIME HAS BEEN UPDATED TO 7.00AM. PLEASE BE ON TIME AND FULLY FUELED UP WHEN YOU ARRIVE AT THE MEETING POINT.

* THERE IS NO NEED TO DEFLATE IMMEDIATELY (WE WILL DO THIS LATER ONCE WE ENTER THE SAND).

* MEETING POINT:  https://goo.gl/maps/9k8wQu8WrkNmwbNk8 

* PLEASE READ CAREFULLY THE DRIVE PRECAUTIONS IN THE ORIGINAL POST (MAX 1 PASSENGER, JERRY CAN REQUIREMENTS, ETC...

See you all tomorrow !

Phewwww, made it last minute 😅

[Frederic]

4 minutes ago, Amr Aydin said:

Phewwww, made it last minute 😅

I never leave Abu Dhabi people behind in their own town 😁

[Gaurav]

Thanks Fredy for 7 AM start instead of 5 AM, that will definitely allow everyone to catch good sleep prior to the most demanding, grueling and enduring 2 day EPIC drive.

Request to everyone: Please get good sleep as in such a long drive if you are tired, your concentration will fade out very quickly and you will make many silly mistakes. We have noticed this in the past very much in a 6-8 hour drive and this might run longer than that. So buckle up tight.

[Jorge Stepniak Felippe]

On 2/16/2023 at 5:55 PM, Frederic said:

@Jorge Stepniak Felippe a spot has opened up, if you’re available to join please confirm so I can add you.

Really sorry but saw this now. My mistake of not looking yesterday I will miss this great adventure … can’t join tomorrow 

[Frederic]

DRIVE REPORT

Still a little bit dazed and tired from this adventure, i wanted to write-up some of our experiences in order to save them and to optimize our TOC challenge for next year (yes this should become a yearly event i think).

DAY 1

We started in the early morning at the Ghayati prayer hall with a briefing, and after devouring some tiramisu cake Gaurav served us for breakfast. We needed some sugar boost and it did the trick ! One local fellow passed by to welcome us in his city. Soon he asked what we were doing there and when we told him about our plan to drive to the Oman border he started laughing and waved goodbye to that bunch of crazy convoy 😁

Soon we headed out towards Beda Al Matawa, one of the last towns before reaching the military zone that border Saudi Arabia. From there we deflated and headed into the dunes. We decided to steer clear from the actual Saudi border in order not to wake them up with a 15 car convoy and to avoid being in shooting range  

None of us really knew what to expect in those first hours of crossing that first part of the desert, but what we found was hard to describe, from flat areas to tight technical dunes, and everything in between. At one portion we had spent approx 1.5-2hrs driving on super soft treacherous sand that felt like i was not deflated at all (i was at 9psi). The entire convoy pushed its way through it but we were burning up fuel like crazy from constant revving and keeping the momentum.

By the time we reached the first highway crossing at the E15, some were already on their min level of fuel. We had jerrycans but we knew we could not enter the Yellow truck area anymore with such little fuel, so we inflated and quickly made our way to the nearest ADNOC. @Mus_hus78and @salah2u decided to call it a day and headed back home. You guys have missed so much and it's a bit disappointing so see people leaving early.

From that ADNOC, going back to the TOC line proved a bit tricky. I was able to find a gatch track further on the highway that brought us back into the desert and ran parallel with the E15 so we could keep heading south and connect back to the TOC line. There we found AMAZING dunes, both big and technical, and with the sun setting it was a sight to behold !

Once it got dark, we set up camp a little bit north of Waypoint 22 and had a great evening by the fire. @KAMALIOwas perhaps new into this camping thing, but was found to be a master chef and shared fantastic food from the BBQ. 

DAY 2

The next morning, we set out again and headed south to get back on the TOC line. A couple of dunes away we spotted a beautiful play area so we all had some good fun and it gave a good morning boost and adrenaline to keep us going.

Around Waypoint 23 we had to cross several pipes from the oil fields. None of us were 100% comfortable in this area so close to the oil rigging stations so we quickly dashed through the area. We used the available gatch tracks a much as possible.

The part from Waypoint 24 to 31 is where we usually drive on our yearly visit to the Yellow Truck. As this area is spacious with nice open dunes we really picked up the pace and flew through it in a matter of 90mins. We reached the Yellow Truck entry point by noon time and make a quick run to the ADNOC Maraba Al Dhafra which was only 15-20mins up north.

After refueling, and stocking up our coolers with fresh drinks and snacks, we now needed to cross the E45. The initial point i marked seemed blocked due to the Etihad rail, so we had to make a quick detour and enter a bit further down. 

The next part proved to be a nice open area with vegetation, farms, and the views here were really scenic. I could have put my chair and sat there for the rest of the day, but we needed to keep moving and soon we were driving parallel to a fence for about 1.5hrs. The going became tough when on this track we had probably more than a hundred straight crests to conquer. This part was probably for many among us the part where we started to feel the intensity of the drive.

We made it to the E65 crossing (Himeem Road) around 4pm and now had to make a choice. Until now everyone was performing absolutely brilliantly and the whole convoy was perfectly in tune with each other. We knew due to the needed detours to ADNOC it would now be impossible to reach the Oman border before dark but our spirits were high and we all decided to give one last final sprint that took us through technical areas where the flow of the drive was virtually un-interrupted. We had fuel, and were hungry to see how far we could get. I communicated that the next exit was at Razeen road where we have the well-known Al Quoa milkyway spot. Our focus was on that and it was the only way out. TARGET SET...GO !

We gave it our last push and had to navigate through steep technical bowls in the dark. It was here that Ashutosh had a near miss when he flew over a crest, nosedived, but by the grace of God, ended up sideways without rolling. After getting our bearings, we anchored the car from the other side as he had one wheel up in the air. With some shoveling we got him down and dealt with the popout and one tyre that kept leaking (sand between the rim but no pop-out). The techniques that @Gauravand @Srikumar applied cannot be found in a rulebook or library, you need to see it to be able to grasp it 🤣

As Ashutosh his front drive axle was getting louder and louder, we had to cross the last 7km very slowly and with minimal challenges. We finally made it to the dirt track where we found a lonely soul in a small sedan stuck in the sand. We quickly pulled him out and sent him on his way. 

Seeing all this above, and considering we took a 15 car convoy through some of the most challenging areas i have experienced, i had my own doubts prior to the drive. But as sometimes seen in famous sport games, sometimes the entire team rises above all expectations and the group becomes like one. For the very first time i felt this was the case and all of you drove so extremely well, kept your patience, resilience, and worked together in unison to make this challenge worthwhile !

I THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH FOR THAT !

@KAMALIO your initial impression was that we would leave the traction control on for two days and drive only on sabkhas. I saw your face lighting up when i told we were going to drive in the dunes the entire weekend and you drove superb and always kept a smile !

@Ashutosh Garg you drove fantastic the entire weekend. The mishap was a miscalculation from your side and we are all human and it could have happened to anyone. Keep driving and learning to find the perfect throttle until you are one with your car ! Well done buddy !

@AlexM you are a coolheaded guy who looked like he could exit in Al Quoa and then deflate and go back to the Saudi border where we started ! Amazing driver ! Hope you had a good weekend out !

@Ranjan Dasi so love your spirit and smile ! You came next my car at 4pm as we were discussing the plan and you were adament to keep going. Fantastic !!

@munkybizness your creative brain must have been working overtime and i hope the scenic views gave you lots of stuff to ponder on. Thanks for the superb playlist, i played it on the way home on Razeen road and it kept me awake

@Amr Aydin and Sophie, you both are true desert troopers ! Always great to be around you guys !

@Naveen Raj absolutely TOP NOTCH driving and attitude !!!

@Foxtrot Oscar I hope you had a blast. Whatever doubt you had in your skill level was quickly thrown out the door and your rocked the black X fantastically !!

@JeromeFJ i could never wish for a better sweep / support / inflator / spray-washer supplier / caterpillar / hardcore camper ! Thank you so much for joining.

Finally, my two fellow seniors who taught me so much over the years, @Gauravand @Srikumar ALWAYS tirelessly managing situations, guiding and helping, rerouting, and giving me the chance to post a drive like this and allowing me to plan such a mad plan 😆 THANK YOU

 

Day 1 we covered 256kms.

Day 2 we covered 297kms.

553kms of pure fun, even if that included two ADNOC trips !

 

For next edition there are definitely things we can learn, and we will optimize it so perhaps we can get that group photo at the TOC signpost next time !