Leaderboard

"Catch me if You Can" convoy 1 After coming from many night drives leading different levels in different places , last of which Big Red took the big share , it felt different today as the glimpse of light of the rising sun at top of big red inspired all of us. As I mentioned in the briefing the main aim of my drive theme today is to motivate every one to maintain the thin line of safety as we negotiate such areas over and over in high paced drives like Fb+ After wishing @Looper's convoy best of luck we headed straight to the southern face of the mountain to take our first chase . At top and before the sunrise @Hisham Masaad the impeccable second Lead and " Yalla push " master managed to catch me on my first crest 😂 we spent sometime testing ourselves up and down then we continued north toward pink rock passing by two elevations before nazwa mountain where we descended and further north climbing the loops before the camel rock ramp. we faced couple refusals which entailed checking our tire pressure and small adjustment in the convoy order. on the return flight back to big Red the pace was faster and the radio was almost silent indicating total focus with max enjoyment now . probably a true stuck and amazing self recovery worth mention today was @Mohit Gurnani who could mannage to get his might FJC following the precise instructions from @Hisham Masaad out of a nasty Pocket . very well done. The last catch was too mine on a sideway crest just before exit , one gentle tug from Hisham and we were all out inflating. I hope everyone lived ,at least partially , the expectation of the drive. i did my self more than any other drive as my eyes got used to the dark and mush needed to adjust to the day light for the coming season. @Jaro Tuzinsky, @Amir Amiri @Bashar Beasha @Joseph Raju @Zulfikhar Naiyar @Krishna Rexcellent drive all of you . many thanks to @Hisham Masaada true second lead and to our hawk eye sweep @Pacific thank you all again for sharing the experience. Seidam

Really a great drive @M.Seidam! Thanks @Hisham Masaadfor helping me unleash the FJs self recovery, newfound respect for the car!

Really nice drive today, everyone did really well! some great self recoveries and it’s always fun to get the rope out 😬 hope to see you all again soon

Thank you so much @Srikumar@Vanessa8580 @Salim Akhtar @Asif Hussainfor helping me out and guiding me. There was a lot of stuff that I got to know today with you guys, like making a loop, tricky descends, and driving on long dunes. But @Srikumar@Asif Hussain your guidance made things look easy 😊. It was the first time I got to know about the upshift issue in manual mode with my vehicle and due to that I was losing momentum in a lot of places where I needed power. Nevertheless, I had a great experience with the whole team and meeting everyone. Thanks to the whole team as well. 😊

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.

Few snaps from today

Thank You @Ale Vallecchi, @DP1011, @Mark B ✌️ As always, a wonderful drive & a great learning experience 💯. hoping to see you all again soon.

@christian I heard Ben say to check the rim but that incident actually bent the rim. Good that you got it sorted. Thanks for the 2nd lead opportunity @Davie Chase I’m used to being near the back. This was a nice change following your lines with some adjustments for the long wheel base. @Haneef Thayyil you did good , the patrol is a heavy beast, stucks and refusals are a great opportunity to learn how to recover. @Benjamin always great to hear your development as support , clear radio instructions and under @Islam Soliman guidance you got a lot of practice. Just as well we left when we did too with record temps recorded in the UAE. I’ll be watching for more Lisaili Drives it’s a fun area, and close to home 😀

Sorry I didn’t get redbull in this drive. So couldn’t get any wings to fly.

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.

@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 🙏

@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

Two beautiful ladies

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!