Morning Fewbie Desert Drive - Super Soft Super Technical - Qudra - Dubai - 10 Sep 2023

[Gaurav]

@LooperLisaili sand was wet today and it seems cloud-seeding rain is going to be more frequent, so you may not need so many ropes.

[Stumpy]

11 hours ago, Gaurav said:

@LooperLisaili sand was wet today and it seems cloud-seeding rain is going to be more frequent, so you may not need so many ropes.

@Looper, the oracle @Gauravhas commanded that we are to leave all ropes  behind. 😅. I believe this is a brilliant idea, especially if it means @Bravoechohas to self recover 🤣 with a spoon 😜

[Haneef Thayyil]

20 hours ago, Abhilash Kottakkal said:

I will bring a shovel and also a spoon which I bought for my first drive just incase....😂. 

One more spoon here 🙋‍♂️ bought it before my first drive 😛

Edit:
Bought a real shovel once I got a suggestion right after my first drive. 

Edited September 8, 2023 by Haneef Thayyil

[Bravoecho]

4 hours ago, Stumpy Paj said:

@Looper, the oracle @Gauravhas commanded that we are to leave all ropes  behind. 😅. I believe this is a brilliant idea, especially if it means @Bravoechohas to self recover 🤣 with a spoon 😜

@Stumpy Paj Patrols don't get stuck. They just have have long rest periods 😜

[Looper]

52 minutes ago, Haneef Thayyil said:

One more spoon here 🙋‍♂️ bought it before my first drive 😛

Time to buy a shovel. Suggest buy one with long handle…

[Haneef Thayyil]

1 hour ago, Looper said:

Time to buy a shovel. Suggest buy one with long handle…

Already bought a big one after my first drive, sorry forgot to mention that on my previous post.  

[Looper]

@Emanuel, @Srilakshman Karthikeyan, @Deepak Eswar, @Mahmoud Taha, @Zulfikhar Naiyar, @Johannes Roux, @Rk ram, @Arda Yagcioglu, @Haneef Thayyil, @Stumpy Paj, @Bravoecho, @Abhilash Kottakkal,

We will be posting the convoy order later in the day today. In case you find yourself unavailable for tomorrow morning's drive please exit so that you do not become a no-show.

Thanks!

[Looper]

Here we go! Thanks to @Kailas for helping with the waitlisted members so that we could accommodate all who could come.

Convoy 1 : Channel 4

@Bravoecho, @Srilakshman Karthikeyan, @Abhilash Kottakkal, @Emanuel, @Stumpy Paj, @Mahmoud Taha, @Benjamin

Convoy 2: Channel 2

@Zulfikhar Naiyar, @Johannes Roux, @Haneef Thayyil, @Arda Yagcioglu, @Deepak Eswar, @Rk ram, @DP1011

[Looper]

As we reached our meeting point, some of us found ourselves engaging in a mini self-recovery due to the soft terrain. Prior to our combined convoy briefing, I was reminded that Convoy One comprised all the Mitsubishi Pajeros on the expedition. It was then that I playfully brought up the selection process for the convoys, which involved grouping vehicles based on the number of drives and assigning them to Convoy 1 and 2 sequentially.

The remarkable history of Mitsubishi Pajero, now known as the Montero, was not lost to me. These vehicles boast an illustrious rally sport heritage and are considered among the finest machines ever crafted. Although they may not be as forgiving in desert conditions as some other vehicles, when guided by a skilled driver, they can match any car stride for stride.

While Convoy Two appeared to have a relatively smoother journey, Convoy One encountered the full wrath of the challenging terrain. Initially, I worried that I might have exaggerated the ruggedness of the area, but it soon became clear that the terrain lived up to its formidable reputation. It wasn't exceptionally soft, but it was undeniably technical. We experienced a couple of tire popouts and had nasty refusals in soft sand, necessitating the use of ropes to help pull the vehicles even before we had crossed the 4 km mark. However, as the journey continued, the convoy's performance improved significantly.

I took the opportunity to explain the best approaches for handling this demanding terrain, and I noticed a significant difference in our drive once we resumed after overcoming the initial obstacles. Although I refrained from vocalizing it at the time (as I believe in avoiding jinxing things by speaking too soon), I found myself driving at a higher speed through even more challenging terrain than we encountered at the beginning of the drive. To my delight, the convoy exceeded my expectations, and we encountered no further issues in this area. I have highlighted the area in the screenshot above which is a must do area in my opinion. I looped back in the highlighted area one more time before we left. I plan to do it again in the near future.

As we left this area, we encountered one of the densest and bushiest deserts imaginable. Hardly should it be called a desert even. I was practically scraping the dunes' base to locate enough sand to continue driving. At this point, my focus was to complete the drive as our scheduled time had arrived.

Towards the end I discovered some nice spots where we could do side-sloping on long ridges. We took advantage of this, but just a few hundred feet from the exit, we faced another pop out. Convoy Two also exited at the same end location where Convoy One had completed the drive.

@Bravoecho you were excellent second lead to me and perhaps had the most amount of driving done in the convoy apart from me, keeping up with me in all the areas without any issues.

@Srilakshman Karthikeyan you too had a good drive. I will recommend that you start to notice what the desert sands are telling you on how to drive on them. The soft sands require that you either drive with very gentle gas or full force of acceleration. You should now focus on the same and understand how to respond to soft sands of the deserts.

@Abhilash Kottakkal couple of advises for you. One - do not fret over anything that happened today. All the refusals and popouts are part of the driving experience. You need to focus on how to reduce them - in doing so try to get some reliable pressure measuring device because you told me that you were at 10-12 psi when I checked you were actually at 8 psi.  Next try to be gentler with steering. Desert does not like anything abrupt and it will cause issues. You will not only lose control over your car, but you can find yourself in some nasty situations. My second piece of advice is that whenever you change something in your vehicle, start low and gradually go up the levels - without over doing it.

@Emanuel you were remarkable with your driving today. 

@Stumpy Paj thanks for all the help with the popouts and refusals. It was great to have you on the drive as usual.

@Mahmoud Taha you definitely had the most driving done today and had some nice skill presentation when the rest of us had our break. That refusal on the crest and self-recovery was quite an impressive showcase of your driving prowess. BTW we would have left you there on the top of the dune to fend for yourself, should you not self-recover yourself.

@Benjamin thank you very much for the assistance with managing the convoy and the effort you always put into every drive you join.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank @Kailas & @DP1011 for joining and taking up the second convoy. 

[Looper]

PS: the black line in the prior post was my over ambitious drive plan. Except for the first part, the rest was a colossal waste of planning resources. I fondly remember when every second drive i used to do was in this area, but it changed drastically since 3 years back when i started to drive here. There is no more desert left in qudra except for the first part where we drove today.