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RADIO CHANNELS: @Wissamcan update tomorrow.

Great drive today, thanks @Davie Chase for leading us through the sands. @Emanuel and @Rafey Hashmi for Second lead duties and @Mike M. as sweep! The day started with a few spots of rain along the E44 and I was bit worried about what the weather may do! turned out to be an amazing morning, but as most of the convoy found out, driving on wet sand is little different! Most of us deflated to slightly higher PSI than usual (I went for 15 vs my normal 12!), briefing completed and we were off into the dunes. I had anticipated a pop out or two given the conditions, but seems the higher pressures plus great driving of the convoy, avoiding any fighting against gravity meant I was wrong (I think everyone understood the risk from the briefing ) Convoy progressed well, once Davie picked up the pace, we had a couple of breaks in the convoy, as i mentioned on the radio, as you get more experienced you will be able to evaluate the correct distance to the car in front, being far enough behind to stop safely incase of refusal, but close enough so you can watch the car in front navigate the obstacles. (you learn a lot from watching others). One or two refusals were quickly deal with and the drive proceeded well till our Second Lead @Emanuel's bash plate decided to loose a bolt or two and part detach from the car. After removal and safely secured in the back of the pajero, we made decision to exit Emanuel to avoid causing issues to the car, with the front now having zero protection and various mechanical bits exposed. For last hour @Rafey Hashmi did a great job to replace @Emanuel in second lead and we once again hit the dunes for the final hour. One or two more refusals dealt with, inflated and made it home in time for lunch. Thanks again all, see you again soon.

Hey everyone 👋 A brand new terrain skill unlocked! Wet sand is definitely challenging yet equally fun. @Rob S thanks for the guidance buddy! I’ll remember the cresting notes 📝 @Mike M. Your quick thinking helped Emmanuel get his case sorted fast and safe 👌🏼 @EmanuelI tried my best to follow your tracks as close as possible. Hopefully you have fixed your plate and ready to get back in!🦾 @Davie Chase Thank you for trusting me with the 2nd S/L role - always a pleasure to drive behind you 🤟🏼 Learnings: Wet sand is a playground, Rob is not afraid to get his hands and shirt dirty (literally), Davie has a post apocalyptic armory in his vehicles trunk 🤫 See you all in 2 weeks! ✈️

Dear Desert Drivers, thank you for joining the drive today. Wet conditions always offer a lot of surprises, as the behaviour of our cars in the wet sand can be very different from normal conditions. We saw that from the very beginning when leaving the track my car was like sucked into a pocket of heavy sand. We made our way quietly in the initial medium size dunes, taking our chance from time to time to a higher ridge or crossing, and we realised rapidly that the conditions were challenging, and once a few cars have churned the track, it was becoming very slippery for the next cars. I was focused on choosing lines avoiding tight changes of direction, and you were concentrated keeping these lines leaving a suitable track for the next car. After some minor refusals, and a close encounter of @Rk ram with a bush behind a ridge, we reached an area of higher dunes and a large bowl. Our 2nd Lead @Zulfikhar Naiyarhad hesitated on a high crossing, and got crested, giving us a first opportunity of intense shovelling. The first loop around the bowl was superbly executed by each of you, with excellent control of your cars. The second loop to cross to the opposite side was more challenging, and @Zulfikhar Naiyar had the second difficult moment of the day ending up at a weird angle close to a bush half way in the slope. The situation was solved with a combination of careful shovelling and self recovery. We exited the bowl from the opposite side, and continued with a nice set of clean dunes and nice ridges, very well handled by every one, until @FERNANDO SYRIO became a bit too enthusiastic on a ridge and lost the control of his car to end up crested. This was the last shovelling effort of the day. Thanks again @Zulfikhar Naiyar for the 2nd Lead very well managed, with the required anticipation. @Deepak Eswar, @Rk ram @FERNANDO SYRIO @Frans M @Alphin Aloor, very well handled the challenges in the difficult conditions today, keeping control of your car in most situations. @Hugo @Bjoern, you face any difficulty with calm and smiles, you are a precious support in a convoy. Thank you all for the teamwork during recoveries. Enjoy the rest of the weekend !

Dear Desert Wanderers @Emanuel @Rafey Hashmi @Mahesh_ @DanielN @essam ibrahim @Rob S @frederic demolder and @Mike M. as @Rob S has eloquently stated above fantastic mornings drive with even better company. I hope you all had as much fun as I did as we navigated the harder than usual sands of Lisalli. We had some nice free flowing dunes a little taste of some tighter technical dunes and quite a few Camel encounters The weather held up nicely for us as we encountered a few refusals and a couple of stucks. as you found out shoveling the harder wet sand is a tad more challenging, but equally satisfying when we see the heavy piece of metal slither from its tethers and resume its way down the dune. Excellent Second lead as always from @Emanuel until a couple of bolts holding his bash plate on decided to not play nice any longer and disappear into the sand leaving only the front two to hold it on. With the help of the ever-trusty air jack to hold the weight we were able to remove the two remaining securing points and slide the plate out safely and fairly effortlessly. We then had some fun trying to drop the rear seats but got there in the end and managed to tie down the plate in the rear and exit @Emanuel safely. Hope it is a quick and painless repair buddy and look forward to seeing you in my mirrors on the sand very soon. 2nd S/L was equally as good when we promoted @Rafey Hashmi as Emanuel exited. you drove very well my friend and followed my instructions implicitly. Well done and look forward to having you behind me in the very near future. Our Sweep of the day @Mike M. did a fantastic job keeping the back of the convoy in check and keeping me informed every step of the way. great job and thank you. @Rob S what can I say mate, great support in the CF role, you handled all of the issues we had with a calm nature and a professional attitude, could not have asked for better support today, thank you and see you in the sand again on one of my drives very soon. As i said earlier the rest of the convoy drove exceptionally well, thank you and enjoy the rest of your weekend, see you all again very soon

Thanks @Looper! Wow that was a drive! @Sunil Mathew, @Pacific great to share the drive with you all. Still managed to get a few picktures. Clearly the hands were on the steering and not the snapper for this trip. All the best with the DCT2023!