Morning Fewbie Plus Desert Drive - Big Red "Catch me if you can" - Sharjah - 26 Aug 2023

[Gaurav]

5 hours ago, Mohamad Anwer said:

Even 20 minutes , we can have breakfast then start the chase and the hunt for rhe fugitives. 

Don't forget boys n gals, Seidam is holding the Desert Champion badge from last Desert Champion Trophy.

[Senthil Kumar]

Sorry guys, I am not feeling well, need some rest, hope you all can enjoy the ride, 👍

[Bravoecho]

5 hours ago, Gaurav said:

Don't forget boys n gals, Seidam is holding the Desert Champion badge from last Desert Champion Trophy.

That’s true @Gauravbut @Looper holds the Dukes of Hazard award 😁

[Stumpy]

@Looper thank you very much for a great drive today, covered a lot of ground. A lot of new areas for me, I think we ticked every main landmark in the area 😂

Many moments of calm followed by absolute chaos 👌

after the unfortunate mechanical issue the short wheel base group run to the exit point was awesome and topped off a great morning out.

cheers

 

Edited August 26, 2023 by Stumpy Paj

[Bravoecho]

1 minute ago, Stumpy Paj said:

@Looper thank you very much for a great drive today, covered a lot of ground. A lot of new areas for me, I think we ticked every main landmark in the area 😂

after the unfortunate mechanical issue the short wheel base group run to the exit point was awesome and topped off a great morning out.

cheers

 

Couldn’t agree more. I was so busy at the end with gear changes there was no opportunity to make the famous @Hisham Masaad”yalla push” call on the radio 

[Looper]

Drive Report 

I was actually planning to take a break this week. But when @M.Seidam said it is going to be a fast-paced drive and that I should join, I signed up as soon as the drive was posted. I was supposed to be the second lead, but it turned out to be a different type of second lead (i.e. to lead a second convoy).

Obviously, it was going to be an exciting drive as shown in the long waiting list. PS: A long waiting list is always a good sign you know - it means the convoy most likely than not was going to be split.

As I am blind in the dark, I wasn't going to be chasing Night Hawk @M.Seidam at that time. I was planning to catch up to him later in the drive. After the departure of the first convoy toward Big Red (F) we started to move immediately at 5:30 am in a slightly different direction (A).

Gaia GPS decided to play trick on me today. It had a completely different layout, and I was at odds to understand it at that moment. I have been here many times and have led and supported many a drives, so I was comfortable driving even without the map as well. 

When we started, I told the convoy that I would like to go to the far end and check out those tricky dunes (C) but as we started to move, I saw the large dune (A) just north of Big Red (F) and started to climb it. We gathered pace on the top of the dune, and I felt that I was stuck there. @Mohamad Anwer correctly identified that we are stuck in a dune vortex, and it is impossible to move out - it was so much fun and addictive. We spent way too much time here, somehow loosing focus on the objective.

After about 50 min of nonstop drive, we took a break (B) and gathered our energies and this time we moved towards the far end (C). Those dunes at the far end were soft, and untouched by mankind. The convoy performed excellently in those challenging dunes. After playing a bit there we went towards Pink Rock. It was time to catch up with the other convoy. 

But, suddenly @Arda Yagcioglu's Xterra developed a snag (D) about 7:25 am and it would not start. The car stopped just one small dune off the exit track to 2nd December Cafe. After trying to figure out a bit of what happened we decided to tug him out. You know Murphy's Law - "if anything can go wrong it will".  in one of the corollaries, it also says that "Logic is a systematic method of coming to the wrong conclusion with confidence." When I started to pull the Xterra I could have easily looked up my Saved Exit track, but I applied the logic that the most used track there must take me to the exit, and after a few minutes I found myself at an unlikely place instead of exit track - at the foot of a large dune (E). I took a quick U Turn and switched on the Gaia for exit track and exited @Arda Yagcioglu at about 8:30 am.

I thought it could be the end of the drive and started preparing to inflate the car. @Hugo did the same as well but @Stumpy Paj, @Bravoecho and @Mohamad Anwer had other ideas. They wanted to go to Big Red. I said why not. It was a convoy of SWB cars - A 2 door Jeep Wrangler JL , A 2 door Pajero, and a couple of 2 door Patrols. We set out to drive for another 20 km at a very fast pace and checked out all the dunes we could find in that area including Big Red and exited at about 9:10 am.

It was an unstoppable drive and had boatloads of fun. Thank you @M.Seidam for this opportunity. @Stumpy Paj for second lead, @Arda Yagcioglu for sweep and @Hugo & @Mohamad Anwer for joining the drive. 

[Mohamad Anwer]

@Looperthank you for the great drive, it was exactly what I needed after a long holiday and being rusty!

We covered all aspects of the offroading challanges, which the team overcome smoothly. As you said mostly SWB cars which took on all the challenges. 

Unfortunately,  we had one unexpected brakedown and the car would not respond to any attempts to get it to start. Luckily, we were near to the exit and managed to get the Xtera to the road for the recovery rescue .

We said goodbye to 2 cars 😢 before going back for an amazing intense drive with a an amazing SWB patrol, a very capable SWB Pajero, and the famous Yellow SWB wrangler of Looper with the nice customised Logo on the side🤩.

Such a great adrenaline rush !!!

Thank you all for a great drive 🙏

 

 

[Mohamad Anwer]

11 minutes ago, Mohamad Anwer said:

@Looperthank you for the great drive, it was exactly what I needed after a long holiday and being rusty!

We covered all aspects of the offroading challanges, which the team overcome smoothly. As you said mostly SWB cars which took on all the challenges. 

Unfortunately,  we had one unexpected brakedown and the car would not respond to any attempts to get it to start. Luckily, we were near to the exit and managed to get the Xtera to the road for the recovery rescue .

We said goodbye to 2 cars 😢 before going back for an amazing intense drive with a an amazing SWB patrol, a very capable SWB Pajero, and the famous Yellow SWB wrangler of Looper with the nice customised Logo on the side🤩.

Such a great adrenaline rush !!!

Thank you all for a great drive 🙏

 

 

 

[Bravoecho]

7 minutes ago, Mohamad Anwer said:

 

Two beautiful ladies

[Mohamad Anwer]

4 minutes ago, Bravoecho said:

Two beautiful ladies

Hahah they are a UAE desert heritage legend!