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Dear Desertnauts. A quick recap of the thinks we spoke about and learned during the Recce. NAVIGATIONAL TIPS 1) Always plan the route to be scouted by setting as many waypoints as possible, including possible entries and exits (these especially along different parts of the route, just in case). 2) Use the high ground as much as possible. First, it will give a better visual of the unknown surroundings (lay of the land, proximity to landmarks, nice looking dunes to check, etc.). Second, especially when driving along the ridges, it will give the opportunity to make sure there are no unseen dangers (hidden fences, debris, trees or shrubs). 3) Do not risk too much during the recce, in terms of "extreme" moves, but rather take the safe route, while at the same time marking places that may either pose a challenge/danger (no-go zones) or be points of interest to visit the next time. In case of a very small recce convoy, these challenging places may be reached and visited during the recce itself, but not this time with a 15 car convoy. In particular, during the recce mark and avoid tight technical areas (unless they are the purpose of the drive), which may only slow you down and make you waste time better used to thoroughly scout the rest of the area. 4) Become aware of any possible landmarks (pylon lines, farm tracks, sabkhas, rock formations, conspicuous buildings, farm grounds) that may guide you the next time. 5) Ideally, observe the sun light's angle and the color of the dunes. Often it may make a big difference in ease of leading and overall convoy's performance if you avoid the climbs and crossings when the refraction (especially on white sand, as in parts of this area) is too much, and the clear visibility of depths and ridges is limited or almost null. If too much refraction is experienced at a give time of day, may be better to invert the direction of the route. FINAL EVALUATION OF THE ROUTE This particular recce has given us back at least 2.levels of drives we may organize in the future: A) The first segment (Al Ajban north of the big farms, south of E20) can be either a FB or FB+, where FB+ can be taken more inside the long cordons where the bowls are tighter and softer, and the latter part of the drive (if heading back to the entry point) would have to be executed against the slip-faces. Keep FB convoys out of the cental part of the cordons, unless with a particularly experienced and/or short convoy. B ) The second segment (Al Ajban south of the big farms) can easily be both a FB and a FB+, regardless of the track to be taken, with only speed of driving and of executing maneuvers would be the discriminating factor. Intermediate convoys may, of course, also be taken here, with the possibility of increasing the speed of the drive, and extending it all the way to Nahil and Al Hayer areas (both north of E14). Thank you @Jessica Lambert @Abhishek Chikara @Misha Puskar @J-P L @Mark B @Giacomo @Deepak Eswar @Glenn W @Ashutosh Garg @Frans M @Hani crest king @Mike M. and @Luke K P for the opportunity to explore this area. Have a great week.

It will most likely be a wheel balancing weight has come off, or possibly alignment as you were hard steering in the sand when stuck, but both are small fixes. if it is balancing weights, what I do is when I have balancing done I Tape down the weights with aluminium tape, that way that don’t fall off, it happens a lot especially in summer as they are only stuck with double sided tape.

When I first saw Al Qudra in the forum, I expected it to be mostly covered in bushes, but the planned track was amazing @Davie Smooth_Operator. the track was a fresh and well-laid-out route, perfect for drivers at different skill levels, from fewbies to more experienced ones. There were plenty of opportunities for crisscrossing and ridge riding. I really enjoyed driving with such a large convoy. Given that we had 16 team members, I expected more stuck and refusals, but thanks to the excellent drive for complete convoy, the refusal and stuck were minimal considering the size of convoy, We also managed to exit at just the right time, making the experience even better. thanks to @Sandeep N and @Joji varghese

Hi Ale, That was an awesome recce! And It was a nice learning curve too.. Big thanks to @Ale Vallecchifor leading the way and to @Mark Band @Luke K P for the solid support—really appreciate it! Really enjoyed driving with everyone and see you all in the dunes soon!

Thank you @Ale Vallecchi for accommodating a large convoy and making us experience a proper exploration drive with the navigational techniques.

Exciting drive today. Thanks for the exploration guiding @Ale Vallecchi. We started heading east along a series of soft technical dunes, with a lot of broken ridges before turning westward and heading back one set of dunes to the south. We experienced a few moments of hesitation and rerouting as is expected in a recce with 14 cars. I marked lots of big dunes to the side that were clean of vegetation and worth exploring on a future trip.. we once again turns eastwards to explore the peripheries of this cordon before we stopped for a break. From here we had a quick adventure to the north before resuming course along side of the farm whilst looking for a suitable entrancein the dunes to get into from the sabhkas, and then threaded the needle between farms to the south. We headed eastwards into even softer sand, experiencing a free more refusals although most of these were quickly resolved. Some nice long ridge riding sections here before we decided to not exit, and take an extra 30 minutes of dune play heading towards the large solar installation. Definately lots of waypoints to investigate in the future in a area which was pretty clean overall. I sense a few more drives here in the future. @Mark B @Jessica Lambert thanks for finessing the lines and getting the refusals going again quickly. @Abhishek Chikara great work on your first FB+ drive! Hope to see you all in the sand again soon! Happy Saturday 💪

Thanks @Davie Smooth_Operator for a great lead, and very informative learning session! Also thanks to all the support crew, @Sandeep N @Joji varghese @Rajiv Sam. Was loads of fun! Cant wait for the next one!😬

Thanks very much @Ale Vallecchi for the drive and for going out of the way to accommodate everyone. That the ride was full within a minute shows how much everyone looks forward to driving with you Thank you @Mark B, @Luke K Pand @Hani crest king for supporting the drive and getting us out!! @Mark B thanks again for staying back post the drive and patiently clarifying ‘Jeep’ related questions

thank you @Mark B that actually makes sense, maybe has to do with alignment and wheels as I was really hard on the wheel.. I will see what it is tomorrow

@Misha Puskar you're first FB+ as well!! You picked an awesome introduction to this level. 💪💪 See you on the next one. Hope you get the shakes sorted soon!

Hi @Misha Puskar. Great to know you enjoyed. Not sure about the car. I am not a Jeep expert, but maybe something with the transmission. Hope you can solve the problem soon.

Great ride indeed. Was also my first FB+ so thank you all for being patient with me 😉 I drove the car this morning (first time after yesterdays desert drive) and its so shaky. Any idea what could that be? I will surely be taking it to the mechanic tomorrow but curious maybe you have an idea?

Hi Ale, That was an awesome recce! And It was a nice learning curve too.. Big thanks to @Ale Vallecchi for leading the way and to @Mark Band @Luke K Pfor the solid support—really appreciate it! Wrangler - 2 door - silver Designation: General Manager Expertise: Shipping line Posted just now Hi Ale, That was an awesome recce! And It was a nice learning curve too.. Big thanks to @Ale Vallecchifor leading the way and to @Mark Band @Luke K P for the solid support—really appreciate it! Really enjoyed driving with everyone and see you all in the dunes soon!

Thanks for the very nice drive!! @Davie Smooth_Operator@Sandeep N@Joji varghese@Rajiv Sam ,loved it !

Thanks for the great drive today Simon. Some pics below, including some of the well-handled/recovered tricky situations that came up.

Thank you ever so much to everyone for making my first experience such a positive one. What a group.

Gulf news drive on today. If coming from Abu Dhabi and need fuel take EXTRA time