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@PETELCZYC PAJERO - luke @Vijay Cowlagi @Mahmoud Taha @Felix Obst @Arravind @Zed @Naveen Raj @Aser @AnasArif @Ishak @rohit kumar @Vanessa8580 @Asif Hussain Morning Sweihan Boys & Girls It was great to see the number of sign-ins increase during the week, resulting in a near Full House. We are fortunate to have a very good mix of New and Experienced Drivers amongst us. So to all the Newbies, don't be afraid to get stuck. I am sure the Experienced Guys will be more than happy to shovel and pull you out if needed. We have planned an early start to maximize the time we spend during the cooler period of the day. Everyone should ensure that they have a working radio programmed to Carnity Channel 3 as well as ensure that you have a proper safety flag and a shovel. The plan is start the drive at the break of daylight where we would be hitting the long range dunes. The drive level would be a Newbie level but I can assure you that we will have lots of fun and playtime. Convoy Numbering 1. Srikumar - XJ 2. Vanessa - Xterra 3. Luke - Pajero 4. Anas - Fortuner 5. Aser - Wrangler 6. Asif Hussain - Xterra 7. Vijay - Land Cruiser 8. Ishak - Pajero 9. Aravind - Patrol 10. Felix - Wrangler 11. Rohit - Raptor 12. Taha - Xterra 13. Zed - LC 1000 14. Salim - Pajero 15. Naveen - Wrangler See you guys at the meeting point at 5:30 AM Sharp. As Sweihan gets hot pretty fast, we will not have any room to delay the start timing.

Dear desert warriors thank you all for joining my drive today I had an absolute blast meeting new friends and seeing old ones and catching up with you all. Our drive today had a moving time of approx. 2 and a half hours and a stopped time of 1 and a half, we had a beautiful sunrise, fresh virgin sand, camels and a couple of pop outs along with a few refusals and stucks, so we had pretty much everything Our S/L played a blinder, smoothing and polishing my tracks keeping the convoy safe and sound as well as smooth, great job @Gary F @Haneef Thayyil you drove amazingly well for your first Fb drive, I hope the drive lived up to your expectations and you learnt heaps Remember to get your tire checked soonest. @Cristian you drove brilliantly as always with just a few minor adjustments from Ben following you all good learning. Remember to get your tire checked soonest. Our C/F @Benjamin was stunning in support and advises throughout the drive well done mate, you are still not getting my pop out champion title (@Frederic a new category for your hall of fame ) just yet although you came close today, great support, keeping calm and sharing your knowledge with the team, thanks again. @Alphin Aloor @Joji varghese you both drove fantastically, and it was a pleasure to meet up with you both again, I hope you enjoyed the drive as much as we did. and our brilliant sweep @Islam Soliman having you in the convoy allowed me to focus on leading and not worry about what was happening at the back, as i go through the learning curve of leading that makes the task a whole lot easier. Thank you and appreciate you joining us today and sharing your vast knowledge with us all. What a great start to the weekend, i hope you all enjoyed the drive and I wish you a fantastic rest of your weekend and look forward to seeing you in the sand again real soon when I return from vacation

It was a wonderful morning and I personally enjoyed every bit of the drive despite of the scorching heat towards the last hour of the drive with temperatures climbing very fast beyond 48 degrees. @Davie Chase you already blew up the curve mate 😂 a natural lead with fantastic lines and balanced level for everyone to enjoy, learn, and grow some muscles too 💪 The whole convoy did very well overall and I liked the teaming spirit.. everyone rolling up their sleeves to support when needed Congratulations @Haneef Thayyil for completing your first Fewbie drive. You had the biggest share of stucks and refusals plus a pop out today so thanks for giving us the chance to practice all techniques 😂😂.. Jokes aside, you did very well and I could notice after each one how more confident you become, better in following instructions, and getting the art of taming the mighty power of your beast to work for you..always remember STEERING is your best friend. @Alphin Aloor very well done overall.. I was jumping from joy watching you self recover at that soft spot.. a role model .. BRAVO. everyone else drove very well and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did. @Benjamin great support throughout the drive.. your presence and coolness in every situation assessing, guiding, and executing different recovery techniques is highly commendable.. keep it up my friend. can’t wait to have the pleasure of driving with all of you again!

Hahah they are a UAE desert heritage legend!

@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 🙏

Thanks everyone for the great ride today. Adrenaline was high most of the time! And we made it on time with no many issues. My highlights @Haneef Thayyil, very solid drive considering this was your first fewbie! I was surprised watching you from behind. @Benjamin thanks for your constant tips during the drive. I had a bad moment which cost me my first popout and a bent rim.... but problem solved now. We never stop learning. Thanks to the rest of the staff @Davie Chase @Islam Soliman @Gary F, we feel so safe with your guidance. The rest of the convoy just did great, clearly very experienced. See you next time! p/s: @Looper I saw you on the highway on the way back!

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 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

Fantastic drive (smooth operator) @Davie Chase I really like this area. It’s close to home and surprisingly has some of the best range of different offroad techniques and options with the heat increasing the number of soft patches. Your leading skills are top notch mate hope to see you soon. @Islam Soliman thank you for all the advice and great support as usual. Always keeping a cool head and giving me a hand when I need it during decision making. Thank you @Davie Chase and @Islam Soliman for taking this drive to allow me to learn and improve on some new skills I really appreciate it (I’m definitely after that popout champion title) @Haneef Thayyil you did well today mate. After each refusal I saw you improved and became more confident each time well done. @Cristian you have very good control over your jeep keep up with the good work mate really enjoyed watching your driving style @Gary F great second lead anyone I missed out on just know that means you did very well!

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

Thank You @Looper for the Superb report and no less the same for your leadership to the split short second convoy. I liked the alphabetical references on the map. felt living the experiance while reading. Salute to all who joined the second convoy.

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.