Morning Fewbie Plus Desert Drive - Sweihan Hidden Gems - Abu-Dhabi - 28 Oct 2023

[Frederic]

DRIVE DESCRIPTION

Starting from the Tilal Sweihan Drag Race Track, the plan is to explore the entire area and travel South towards the famous Bedford Trucks. 

MUST READ AND COMPLY

• Environmental Policy
• Offroad Flag Guideline
• Two Way Radio Guideline
• Off road Driving Etiquette's
• Emergency details for all off-roaders
• Off Road Driving - Roles & Responsibilities

Drive Details

Level:  Fewbie Plus and above

Meeting time: 6:30 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions)

Meeting Point:  https://maps.app.goo.gl/SRQDrUrbrUrFctrs6

Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance.

What to bring along: Loads of water, snacks (for yourself), smiles, face mask, rubber gloves, enthusiasm and willingness to learn.

Approximate finish time: 10:30 AM

P.S. Only join if you have a compressor to inflate your tires after the drive.
 

LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE

• This drive is limited to 10 cars only. RSVP will close on Friday - 1 PM.
• If the RSVP is full, you can add your name to the waitlist, once anyone drops, you will be moved to the RSVP list.
• RSVP will close a day prior to preparing a convoy list.
• Latecomers will be returned back - Without any exceptions.
• Members without RSVP will be returned back - Without any exceptions.
• Please withdraw your RSVP, if you aren't joining, so your spot can be taken by others.
• Repeated no-show members after RSVP will have their account suspended for a month.
   

PLEASE RSVP ON THE CALENDAR

 

[Frederic]

Good morning all !

@Gary F@Cristian@Deepak Eswar@FERNANDO SYRIO@Mohit Gurnani@Juan R@Rk ram@Zulfikhar Naiyar@Cha

I've just closed the convoy. Please find your convoy positions posted here above. We will be using Channel 4: 446.081 Mhz.

Due to the unstable weather conditions, we might have to lower the drive level a bit, as wet sand can be very deceiving and dangerous. So let's take it easy and slowly build up the pace until we are comfortable with the terrain.

See you all at 6.30AM !

 

[Juan R]

@Frederic , I apologize but I need to remove myself from the drive as a family issue has come up.  Hope to join you on the next one

[JeromeFJ]

Thank you for the drive this morning @Frederic. It was great to be out in the sand since a long time. To be honest, I was expecting more time "over" the sand, smoothly scrolling through the dunes inside the car enjoying AC. It was one of these days where we were a bit more literally "in" the sand. 

Thanks everyone for the team spirit, a recovery session is always good to take !

[Frederic]

20 hours ago, JeromeFJ said:

Thank you for the drive this morning @Frederic. It was great to be out in the sand since a long time. To be honest, I was expecting more time "over" the sand, smoothly scrolling through the dunes inside the car enjoying AC. It was one of these days where we were a bit more literally "in" the sand. 

Thanks everyone for the team spirit, a recovery session is always good to take !

It was great seeing you again @JeromeFJ and it seemed indeed that the hidden gems we went looking for did not reveal themselves so easily to us.

@Rk ramwoke us up with a nice stuck inside a dip, where @JeromeFJ was able to redirect him a bit, but eventually he was able to drive himself out wonderfully. It gave us the first taste of what would follow..

About 20mins later into the drive, @JeromeFJ announced he had a popout from sliding off a dune, and while i circled back towards him, @FERNANDO SYRIOannounced he also had a popout. I went to check on Jerome, and after seeing he was ok, i went back to go and help out Fernando, and got myself into a pickle when i slid off a dune myself and encountered a popout myself (so 3 popouts in less than 5 minutes apart). 

@Chacame to my rescue and pulled me out of that ditch and we fixed my popout together. By the time we were finished, Jerome managed to help out Fernando so we were all "popped in" again and good to go. I decided to exit that area as it was giving off the wrong vibes, and decided to take a bit of sabkha and head in a bit further.

The next time we entered we found some nice rolling dunes, but as i started to pick up the pace, i came over what looked like an innocent dune and found a massive bush right in front of me. After some digging we managed to get the patrol redirected and able to drive out. My second lead @Gary Falso decided to take a break from the offroading game and parked his sandrunner on a nice looking crest  

Again we headed out and went back in a bit further and again i got myself in a pickle when i had a nasty nose dive in a hidden depression. A fantastic pull from Gary got it back out, and after some other small refusals and stucks, we exited again. 

By that time, we were running close to exit time and i felt that this morning somewhat was not in our favor and the best thing to do was get the hell out of there. I picked up the pace and we drove towards the exit in Baja style.

I thank you all for joining and for bearing with the refusals, stucks, and shoveling. My signature smooth style drives today turned into a challenging one, but alas we had some good fun and learnings and we got out unharmed.

Great support from @Cha, fantastic second lead @Gary Fand a very strong undeterred convoy consisting of @Deepak Eswar, @Mohit Gurnani, @Cristian, @FERNANDO SYRIO, @Zulfikhar Naiyar, @Rk ram, and @JeromeFJwho got back into the game and probably wished for something better  

 

Hope too see you all in the sand soon again and we can have a "smoother" drive next time !

[Gary F]

Thanks @Frederic for a great time in second lead.  Despite the many pop outs and recoveries , including my own it was a great fresh morning in the desert.

This drive reminded me of this Van Morrison song.

 

I was starting to feel a little left out with refusals so the crest was the best opportunity for another break.

Speaking of breaks this crest felt different than past crests with the Sandrunner much deeper in the sand, it felt like the ridge collapsed as we went over the top.

As winter comes and recent rains, it’s time to learn all over again. At times it felt solid as road others that was just a trick to tempt you until it sucked you right in.

Good to see you back @JeromeFJ

Looking forward to our next drive @Cha ( and knowing your radio supplier 😄) 

@Deepak Eswar got a great photo of your lovely SWB Wrangler will post to the gallery.

until next time 

@christian @Mohit Gurnani @FERNANDO SYRIO @Zulfikhar Naiyar

@Rk ram

[Looper]

7 hours ago, Frederic said:

About 20mins later into the drive, @JeromeFJ announced he had a popout from sliding off a dune, and while i circled back towards him, @FERNANDO SYRIOannounced he also had a popout. I went to check on Jerome, and after seeing he was ok, i went back to go and help out Fernando, and got myself into a pickle when i slid off a dune myself and encountered a popout myself (so 3 popouts in less than 5 minutes apart). 

you had our share of pop-outs. I can not even count how many times I thought I will have a pop-out in our drive due to wet muddy sand and sliding though them...