Rahimdad

Congratulations @kolinrrj. Its so much fun watching you with your LC200 gliding through the desert. Hope you will continue to enjoy learning and polishing your skills at this new level.

Congratulations @Antony Calvin. Hope you enjoy learning and polishing your skills at this new level.

Congratulations  @Watteau. Really happy to have been part of your growth, but honestly you seem to have a great idea of driving in the sands. It's a joy having you and your partner on my early morning drives.

Welcome to you extended family @Lakshmi Narasimhan. We are all anxious to see you on you maiden voyage as an Absolute Newbie. Once the sand bug bites you, you'll be addicted. So do take your first step with a lot of caution.

Trip Report

Shorter convoy means faster pace. I couldn't have been more wrong. Arriving at the deflation point was amazing to see most of the convoy ahead of me deflating with Coid19 precautions. Once everyone was deflated we had our briefing over the radio and took off for a day which was going to surprise us in a good way. A good way because it gave us more time in the desert together. It showed us we can work together with the Covid19 restrictions in place. It made us a much stronger team. Last but not the least it taught us a lot of lessons and more about ourselves and our driving style.

We entered some nice dunes and it was good till ot lasted. However a dead end in some small dunes left a traffic jam. Thankfully I wS able to get out of the dead end along with @Niki Patel to leave some space for others to get moving. It took hard work digging and did take some time but it was worth the time taken as we all cleared on to the track. Quickly we found ourselves in some small technical area and like the day had planned for us some refusals and stucks were bound to trouble us. Hard work and determination to move as a team had us going again.

Once we tackled the technical area we were treated to some large rolling dunes with zero tire marks. Virgin dunes till eyes could see. This is where the frustrations were supposed to be left to rest. We played around at high speeds and covered up to lost time in the technical area. The icing on the cake was a long dune where we did an endless side slope. Nope that was not the happy ending. As we were enjoying ourselves, we were thrown back into some technical dunes, but this time they were medium sized ones. Although it was just a 600 meter ordeal, but at one time it seemed the desert just didn't want to part ways with us.

As we handled one really technical area which had us thinking of writing our wills, we just broke free from the shackles. We quickly travelled through quickly and trying to keep on top of every little dunes as long as we could and crossing over to the next. I was pleasantly surprised to see the whole convoy tightly following my line. In no time we were on a much forgiving area which led us to a nice sakhalin. It was time to play rally and saw everyone racing their engines towards the inflation point.

Pleasant surprise was to catch up with @Gaurav bhai, @Kailas and their convoy deflating. We started our inflation, but the smile and sense of achievement is wat I cherish the most. @Niki Patel as I already complimented him was an excellent second lead. This was something selfish for me. He has always complimented me for my smooth drive. I wanted him to drive behind me and copy me so I could see me through his eyes. Thank you @Niki Patel for doing so well, I was really impressed to see my reflection following me at all times.

@Hossam Anwar was at number 3. He had plenty to deal with throughout the drive, but I really loved his enthusiasm and never say die attitude. @Trekado was at number 4 and with our second Pajero for the day. He managed a little better but I hope he learned more from @Hossam Anwar and knew exactly what not to do. @Baskaran P.R with our third Pajero for the day and was at number 5 in our convoy. He managed well with the accepting of following our tracks on a couple of occasions. I am sorry regarding hour front bumper, but our powerful @Paul Zeitoun took care of that with his bear hands.

 @Ashy was my Center Forward at number 6 with @Brette to help him out as passenger. The duo really had a hard day in the office and managed to help everyone out with a huge smile. Kudos to the dynamic duo. Sorry @Ashy for your bent rim, and thanks to @Paul Zeitoun idea for removing the tire to inflate when we saw the rim bent from the inside where air kept escaping. @Ahmad Shaker was at number 7 with his FJ and managed well throughout the drive with a couple of refusals, but we'll done buddy.

 @Mario Cornejo was in the eight spot, and Danny had a Kit Kat bar waiting for me early in the morning. I'm never going to tease hi. About chocolates any more. Whatever Danny whispered in @Mario Cornejo ears as a Junior Marshal and his co-driver kept him afloat throughout the drive. I have driven with him a couple of times and had faith in him at the back. Well done Mario, really great driving specially on today's drive. My confidence Iin you is even higher.

@Paul Zeitoun was my sweep as he too has driven with me before and I'm very confident he would come through. Except for a pop-out which was challenging to fix, he did brilliantly in the sweep position, specially through some nasty small dunes.

so @Wrangeld we were not able to break any of your records, yet we walked in your shoes today and salute you for every time you have showed us some tough love. Above all was the jokes kept flowing and adding positive energy to the group to take each challenge with a smile and march on. The thing I enjoyed the most today was the team spirit and the never say die attitude from all the members. Thank you all for a wonderful day together. Hope to catch you all soon.

Welcome @luis mantecon. Hope you enjoy to learn and polish your skills as you progress through our structure.

Noyed @paolo dassi, @andy_macdxb and @Mohamed Abo ElKomsan. Shorter convoy means faster pace, convoy numbering to be announced shortly, stay tuned.

@Junaid120120 since you are already confirmed on @Lorenzo Candelpergher drive I have removed you from my waitlist.

@Mohamed Abo ElKomsan since you're the only one on waitlist I've added you to my drive, please confirm you'll be able to make it.

@andy_macdxb please also confirm if you'll be able to make it, I've already added you to my convoy.

Thank you @syed salman raza for keeping me informed. @Junaid120120 I think you were already accepted on another drive this week, please confirm. @Mohamed Abo ElKomsan please let me know if you're confirmed on any drive this week?

@Ahab Shamaa I miss you too my brother. The positive energy you have is more contagious than any virus. I have settled in to a role of guiding new joiners and showing them the ways with and occasional Fewbie drive to guide them further. If I get the urge to do an intermediate drive, I know I will have plenty of my brothers and sister wanting to join me. Until then I humbly invite you to revisit the newbie or fewbie drive where newer members will truly appreciate any support you can offer.

Really sorry to hear that @Arun Mathew, hopefully next time. Thank you for keeping me informed.

@andy_macdxb this means you're in, please confirm you'll be able to make it.

Latest waitlist news:

12 waitlisted. Better start charging for your drive @Frederic bhai.🤣

@Abdul Rahman Abdul Kader and @Islam Solimanlove to see this community spirit where people volunteer to step down and opt for alternate drives if they can or consider errors made and give chance to the deserving ones. That is a mighty statement and love the care within this community for one another.

Latest waitlist news:

Welcome @Paul Zeitoun and @Mario Cornejo, i am sure we will have a spicy drive this Friday, so happy both of you could join.

I am pleased to waitlist the below for their first drives, will keep monitoring and add you in if anybody decides to leave this drive.

1. @andy_macdxb

2. @Junaid120120

3. @Mohamed Abo ElKomsan

Congratulations @Hossam Anwar. Hope you continue to enjoy learning and polishing your skill at this new level.

Congratulations @David Ortells on a well deserved promotion. Looking forward to some drives with you soon.

Wow @Ilya Golubinsky, I didn't know you have the 360 degree camera as well. Brilliant footage and now I can imagine exactly what everybody is talking about. Really happy to see amazing understanding and throttle and steering control to manage in a huge but churned up dune area. Well done all, Sorry to hear about the brothers @Yasas Dharmadasa and @Athula Dharmadada, hope everything works out well.

Congratulations @Ashy, well deserved. The only person after @Brette I have seen comfortable enough with his JGC to support a drive. Your assistance in our last drive together is highly appreciated and I enjoyed watching you handle your JGC with much more ease than when I had seen you earlier. You have the right attitude and enthusiasm to march on from here to higher levels. Looking forward to many more drives with you.

Congratulations @Dodi Syahdar. Hope you continue to enjoy learning and polishing your skills at this new level.

Congratulations @stavros papachristos. Hope you continue to enjoy learning and polishing your skills at this new level.

Congratulations @Bhaskar. Hope you continue to enjoy learning and polishing your skills at this new level.

On 2/17/2021 at 4:43 PM, Wrangeld said:

Looking forward to seeing this in action. If it's a big one and can be used with a truck, then I can see the benefit as I am sometimes concerned that my hydraulic jack might not easily have the height needed

@Wrangeld should not be too big or else it could end up flipping the car.