Rahimdad

Congratulations @SureshVNair. Enjoy learning and perfecting your skill at this new level.

@Mohamed Seidam. Each situation means we need to adapt to it. The technique if you have difflock does not require breaks as all wheels get locked with same power. However I really like your question because it brings in the other aspect when you don't have difflock. In case your car is not equipped with difflock, you can apply the hand brake if your rear tire is free to give more power to front tires. Or apply brakes if your front tires are free. In this scenario try to have short tries and do not over cook your brakes. Shovel is still the best tool to free a tire which is hurried in sand.

I was one in my LR Discovery 1 the 1998 model @Lorenzo Candelpergher and leading a drive from Lisali to Margham. Closer to Margham I got trapped in very soft sand patch where my car jyst sank so badly that I could not even open my doors on a flat piece of land. The one thing I have learned and applied is not to panic and listen to instruction and follow them from a senior off-roader. To my luck I had @desertdude who had a similar vehicle and knew all the ins and outs of this machine. So the first thing was to go into neutral, 4 low and apply the central difflock. Next I had to go into first gear without pressing gas. Just try hard and turn the steering full left and full right as quickly as I could. Gradually I had to give race between 1200-1500 rpm and keep it around that. As I kept doing it I started moving to my surprise, slowly but surely as my Discovery swam in the deep soft sand patch. Out of excitement I tried applying more gas which resulted ins and flying. @desertdude stopped me and told me not to increase the gas till I felt some solid ground with some good traction. So started all over again and surely my Discovery started sailing again. This was a tiring exercise which continued for little over 15 minutes, but finally I felt the firm ground as I increased the throttle and got myself out of the patch. So yes for self recoveries the best chance you can give yourself is by sand crawling, but at times you can do with a tug.

yheart.you are absolutely spot on @Lorenzo Candelpergher. But we do not encourage sand crawling, only as part of recovery. As prolonged use of 4 low takes a toll on your engine and transmission. I have first hand experienced @Asif Hussain recovering @Shamil Xterra when it lost all its power. @Asif Hussain to our surprise was able to crawl up and out of a few dunes with the limited power the Xterra had to offer. What a wonderful sight it was in area 53.

Firstly I would like to thank Dr @Chaitanya D for letting me support his drive. Secondly the honeymoon thing was started by Dr @Chaitanya D and should be his copyright. I just used it because it was so catchy. The jokes and engagement is what keeps a drive lively. I'm so thankful for a wonderful bunch that takes a joke as a joke. I was so excited for the drive that I woke up before 2 am, got all groomed and ready to go before realizing it was only 2 am. So went back to sleep to wake up at the first beep of the alarm. Having changed and ready at 2 am I just left with the intention of reaching early. It was such a relaxing drive to the meeting point as I was way early and nothing was going to delay me. As I reached the meeting point around the dark end I had to be very careful as there were people and camels all around. As I reached nearer to the camel track the flood lights were on and a lot of UAE nationals nicely dressed in their kanduras. They were all preparing for the camel race which is very popular here during the cooler months. I continued to deflate and set the flag up before I saw the the cars rolling in for the drive. So much excitement that everybody deflated and ready to hard in to what was going to be an amazing morning. After the short brief we were headed on the track to our first challenge in the technical dunes. We saw a couple of hot air balloons rise along with the morning sun to our left. As expected there were a few refusals during the first 15 minutes of entering the small technical dunes, but luckily nothing we could not manage. After a short time in the small technical dunes, we were quickly treated to our first honeymoon area. If anyone has not attended this drive the definition of a honeymoon area are the wide open dunes where we can enjoy doing sideys, criss crossing and everything in between. I am really happy to see Dr @Chaitanya D being very focused on what to do and what to leave out. When in such an area with so many doable options it tends to confuse the lead as to which one to take. But from what I saw Dr @Chaitanya D had done his homework and was never in 2 minds about which ones he was going to do. We had the shortest 90 minutes as we just enjoyed the amazing area and pace as time just melted away. But like nothing lasts forever honeymoon time was over and life took us through another set of small technical dunes. With just a couple of refusals and stucks we kept moving at a nice pace. We also had a pop-out, and thanks to some quick Hans we had the tire popped back in and ready to continue on another honeymoon area. Although this area was not as smooth as our first honeymoon, these were big dunes which we had an additional 30 minutes play time. The exit was not far and we managed to exit, inflate as I saw huge smiles from all to have enjoyed their start to a wonderful weekend. My sincere thanks to Dr @Chaitanya D for allowing me to be a part of his funtastic convoy. @Nivin who was very precise with his second lead. Although not required to reroute so much, but always ready when the need arose. @Nizam Deen for handling his Prado in a very confident style and I see a huge improvement since I last saw him. @jodha singh shekhawat did wonderfully well and did not need much guidance, surely heading towards the Intermediate level. Really sorry for @Gregory Perkin. Hope you ride gets well soon. @marks who is taking up the centre forward position as his own. First to assist and always cool, calm, collected and with a smile. Your attitude shines bright on us even before the sun comes up. @Mehmet Volga surprised me with his Pajero as it screamed its way up on the toughest and softest sand patches. Lovely to see you brimming with confidence in your Pajero and lovely to hear it roar to life. Sorry for confusing you with @Yousef Alimadadi. @Jorge Stepniak Felippe also did a fantastic job as he quietly continued to impress me with his skills. Wonderful to watch him apply the right throttle and steering control to keep the Jeep moving. My thought the tires need to be deflated further, but you still have time to experiment with lower pressure to have lesser stress on your drive terrain and Axles. @Craig Finlayson had the biggest smile as he made his way without giving us a single chance to recover him. Definitely knocking on the doors of intermediate level. Lovely to see you take a stretched limo through this terrain. @Nabil Bishara capable, but shy. Love to see how well you handled the terrain with the exception of some finesse. The timing of leaving and applying the throttle at the right time in small technical dunes saw a hit which took the rear bumper out. Also suggest a leveling kit as the rear of your Jeep looks a bit low. It was nice to catch up with you after the drive, hope to see the more vocal side of you soon. @Salarios we missed you too buddy, hope to catch up with you in the coming weeks. @Foxtrot Oscar was the perfect sweep with loads of enthusiasm and willingness to assist. Also she was the rose among the thorns. She is one tough lady and love to watch her conquer each and every terrain with ease, carrying everybody with her and not leaving a single soul behind. She is also a subtle comedian and keeps the drive alive with her on and off crack of a joke. After over 12 years of being a gypsy lost in the deserts of UAE, I enjoy the company as I did on this very day. I no longer yearn to conquest the sand in which I will be buried one day. I look forward to passing on this art of off-roading and finding new friends who will say a prayer for me when I take my final bow from this worldly life. Thank you all for your friendship and love, the warmth of each prayer touches my heart.

Hi @Jihad Hachem. Plant of places to buy your tires. Some are available online as well. If you purchase online some dealers will also include free installation and balancing at your location. They send their truck and change the tires for you at your location.

@Ajiesh George Kannankara the dust on any drive does not settle without your brilliant talent in photography and your video. Amazing shots and love the angles and terrains. Seems like we were out of this world. Thank you for sharing these wonderful memories. To date at times when I have nothing to do, I go through the album of old drives and videos on @Carnity YouTube channel to revive every drive. These memories are priceless and help me to recall the wonderful times, and something for me to show my grand children in a few years time. Thank you.

Heartfelt congratulations on your well deserved promotiin Dr @Chaitanya D. In our community a doctor is highly respected, but you have earned respect in our off-road community with your hard work and dedication. As a doctor you're already well aware of hard work, but your efforts towards learning and passing the off-road knowledge is brilliant. Besides being a good human you are a true gentleman and my respect for you today is much higher than when I first met you. Looking forward with anticipation to supporting you on one of your coming drives. I really want to taste the flavour of Dr @Chaitanya D drive.

Congratulations @Probir Mukherjee. This means you have learned your basics well and foundation is set for becoming a good off-roader. At the Fewbie level you'll have some time to perfect your basics and learn a few mire tricks to Take me you to the next level. Hope you enjoy learning as much at Fewbie level as much as you have enjoyed setting your foot in the sands.

I don't know what this shovelling thing between you and @Foxtrot Oscar, but congratulations on your promotion to the advanced level.

Congratulations @Ilya Golubinsky. Enjoy learning and perfecting the skills at your new level.

Congratulations @Nabil Bishara. Hope you find your voice.

Come to think about it, put me on waitlist too. Now all we need is a time machine.

Love your attitude bro. Congratulations @marks. Well deserved promotion.

Great to know you see all the hard work put in to make the weekly drives successful on a regular basis. Congratulations on being a step closer to add your flavour to our community.

Congratulations @Yasas Dharmadasa. Take good care of your Jeep bro. Enjoy learning at the new level.

Congratulations @Syed Raza Hussain. Well done, enjoy learning at this new level.

Well done @Gok Krish. Love your enthusiasm. Congratulations.