Morning Intermediate Desert Drive - Nahil to Old Lady Dune (Fred's Track) - Abu Dhabi - 16 Mar 2024

[Looper]

DRIVE PLAN

Remember this drive we did few days ago (9th Sep), posted by @Frederic, where I took a bunch of Jeeps and went to Sweihan. I took a different track than that of Fred where I went to Ghafteen Bowl and from there to Nagra Hill and Sweihan. I redid that on 4th November 2023, where we instead of going to Sweihan went to Old Lady dune. Now I want to take the original track as Fred intended. 

Ensure the car is fully topped up with gas.

Request every member that joins this drive to go through the information below and strictly follow these guidelines, etiquette, and responsibilities.

MUST READ AND COMPLY

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

DRIVE DETAILS

• Level:  Intermediate and above
• When: 16 Mar 2023, Saturday
• Meeting time:  7:00 AM
• Meeting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/FVLixGinNMWgbiKy5
• Approximate finish time: 11 AM
• 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, enthusiasm, and willingness to learn.

MANDATORY OFF-ROAD GEAR:

• Tire deflator & Tire pressure gauge
• Compressor
• Walkie-talkie radio
• Off-road flag
• Shovel, Tow Rope & 2 Shackles
• First-aid kit
• Fire extinguisher

LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE

• This drive is limited to 10 cars only. RSVP will close on Friday
• 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 - Without any exceptions.
• Members without RSVP will be returned - 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 BELOW CALENDAR

 

[Looper]

On the last two days there has been a fog warning for the coastal areas. Let’s hope it doesn’t hinder the drive tomorrow. Let’s try to move by 7 if fog situation permits and try to end the drive by ~ 10:00 to 10:30 max.

I will post the convoy order later in the day.

[Jona]

My apologies, I have to remove myself from the drive because of an unexpected family commitment

[Looper]

@Anoop Nair, @Cha and @Stumpy

It is a short convoy, so we will figure out the order later. There is a Newbie drive at the same place - please don't get lost in that crowd!

[Stumpy]

Thanks for another great drive @Looper short convoy so the pace was nice and fast and great group to drive with 👍 bonus nice fresh sand all to our selves 👌

will have to look into my overheating on the big dune, the joys of learning about a new car

[Looper]

They say practice makes perfect, and as we keep driving more or less same tracks, we keep doing it better and better.

The morning was an indication of coming of early summer this year. It was about 22 degrees. @JeromeFJ had his convoy near the track and I moved a bit ahead. @JeromeFJ came to greet me and we exchanged best wishes. It was his drive that I had ever come here for the first time. I even have a video of that drive on my YouTube channel.

By 7:07 in the morning we started to move. Short convoy so there we kind of ordered the cars based on their length and every one of them had a role to play. Within 15 min we were at Ghafteen Bowl. This was the most satisfactory entry and exit out of the bowl. Last two times we had come from the west into the bowl this time we came down the north / north-east side. and instead of exiting from the west as we did last two times, we exited to south climbing steep dunes directly. After traversing through the tall dunes overlooking the vast sabkha we went north once again to visit what was marked as one of the first two play areas in my map. We continued this zig-zag pattern of track till we reached the Old Lady Dune. There were some technical patches, some tall dunes and some mid-sized dunes. We cross them all and we did cross them fast. I was keeping up with the track as much as possible (the black line) but towards the end when I saw Old Lady dune, i moved there directly instead of going a bit south to catch up with the desert track that crosses from Nagra Hill to Old Lady Dune (i did that last time - see the pink track).

We had fresh clean desert all to ourselves to make our own tracks. and the drive was almost without any stoppages, and it was possible only because we had a superb team. @Cha, @Anoop Nair and @Stumpy are all excellent drivers and above par, so they made it look easy, a bit too easy if you ask me.

Thank you all once again for your participation, till we meet again very soon.