Sunil Mathew

26 minutes ago, Frederic said:

Well spotted @Sunil Mathew, the further you are in the convoy, the more churned up the sand will be, so it’s a good decision to slightly go next to the used track (one or tyre widths), and to exit early if you see that the side slops is too churned up. 

Thanks Fred @Frederic for the guidance. Just to clarify further, when you say "go next to the used track" on a slope , i can see 2 choices

1.  offset my track towards the down side of the slope - here i run the risk of going over the "mound of sand" created by the cars in front, and bounce couple of times, as my tyres clear this "mini dune". Ultimately this is what i did, but i exited instead of continuing the side slope.

OR

2. Offset my track towards upside of slope - here i run the risk of fighting gravity, but is it wise to do fine corrections in steering and still move uphill ?

Could you offer your thoughts on these, if its not asking for too much  ?

Thank you @Yousef Alimadadi, @Frederic and @Janarthan for the wonderful lead, support and choice of terrain

Got a chance to understand first hand that driving at #12 in a 13 car convoy comes with its challenges

1. Churned up sand 

2. Bumpy tracks - i believe due to some car/cars in the convoy having intermittent wheel locks due to sharp steering + differential action? I kept seeing these closely spaced bumps on one wheel track, normally the outer wheel - i think

3. The mound of sand on the lower side of a dune slope, created by cars in front, on long sideys - which i struggled to navigate and choose my lines correctly.

probably @Janarthan can comment, as i could not sustain a couple of sideys for the full distance, and exited early.

It was a new learning experience and a strong upward nudge to my off-road learning curve.

My Nav app says, we covered 62 Km in almost 4 hrs..good going to all fellow drivers.

Couldnt witness much of the action  - stucks/recoveries/pop out etc - all were happening somewhere "far" at the front  

For my fewbie debut ride, i had my fill, so Looking forward and coming back for more!!

Relive links

https://www.relive.cc/view/vevYXYQgWyq/explore

https://www.relive.cc/view/vevYXYQgWyq

Thank you @Yousef Alimadadi, looking forward to my fewbie debut drive 🤞🤞👍👍

Congrats @WaYan...hope our paths cross again on fewbie drives, 

Congrats @Hisham Masaad...i had the good fortune of driving with you on couple of occasions. .. a well deserved promotion and position..keep up the good work and your community/service attitude

good luck on the new position and off course not to forget the responsibility that comes with it..looking forward to seeing you donning the advisor robe!! 👍

Hi Anoop,

hope you have read this thread which has some info

I bought my JKU with 285/70R17 (Kumho Roadventure AT) tyres installed by the previous owner , which rub against the sway bars upon full right/left turns..so since its a side rub, a lift may not be  a solution for me. When driving on desert and when there is more movement/articulation on the shocks the tyres rub even earlier than a full turn. I am thinking of spacers now.

Just my 2 cents..you can wait to hear from the stalwarts we are fortunately surrounded with

Great drive we had yesterday, the longest i had in my off-road life with Carnity!! - 74 Km , if i have my stats right

Thanks to @Ale Vallecchiand all the other senior drivers and support team @Thomas Varghese, @Shaaz Sha, @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ and @Jeepie.

We had a short but strong convoy with minimum refusals and stucks, which meant we were continuously driving and learning. This is also by far the ride with maximum ridge riding for me, and the key take aways from the drive were techniques to get on the ridge safely, broad ridge riding and safe exit from the ridge, speed control on the ridge etc. Not  that i have mastered it, but feeling confident of the foundation laid, on which i can build on.

Got an opportunity to help Charlie @Zixuan Huang with his radiator hose issue, although most of the job was done by @Shaaz Sha, and hope Charlie has sorted it out and looking forward to seeing you on the weekend drives. And congrats Charlie for your fewbie promotion.

Got a chance at "sweep" duty , as @Jeepie had to exit early . I was driving in front of you Marjan, and not sure if i was doing OK, or i was churning up the sand for you

Good to drive with @Marky B as well, and hope we get opportunities to have a chat and get to know each other soon.

Looking forward and coming back for more!!

Thank you @Foxtrot Oscar for the nice and relaxed drive and @Goutam for the supporting role.

Great opportunity to practice skills learned in previous drives.

Had a close range view of  fixing a pop out, with Angela explaining the procedure over radio - which was a first for me.

Nice to have had the time and opportunity for some chit chat with @Charbel Yazbeck who was driving in front of me and @WaYan 's partner Yanni, when we had the breaks. (Off course with masks on and social distancing - no violation of Covid protocols  here !!! )

Here is my first try with Relive, taking cue from some others in the forum

Animation  - https://www.relive.cc/view/vwq1wQ3yJBO

Interactive Route  - https://www.relive.cc/view/vwq1wQ3yJBO/explore

Not sure if these work  ..Enjoy if working, else ignore

@Ale Vallecchi...my next  guess

Meeting Point: Next to Murqaab's Mosque 

The one we used for the drive titled "Highway to the Sun "

 🤞🤞

Thank you @Chaitanya D and @Niki

My guess is also Red..just going by gut feeling 🤞🤞

22 hours ago, Zed said:

No worries @Sunil Mathew, it's a team-sports so we're glad to help whenever we can & have the tools. I offered to tug back with rope, but the Dr. prescribes that you should learn self-recovery 😅, so hope you learned something yesterday ☺️  I know we're in the same rank, but here I'm just sharing my tips I learned over the months to avoid that cresty-sticky situation:

1. When I was driving the Y62 Patrol, for some reason sometimes there's hesitation at the feet when going over dune. Maybe it's the scaryness of flying, or maybe afraid to wreck the car. To overcome this, just visualize you're driving an old car (don't be afraid to wreck it), and flying's a bit better than getting stuck. This will push your feet to the pedal and not let go during that crucial moment.
          
2. Be one with your car. This sounds like a Yoda trick, but after hours of driving the same car, you can "feel" what your car is going through: from the right-foot, to the right-leg, to the brain, "feel" and process these inputs. It helps to put the driver-window down when practicing: when the car is losing power, there's that specific sound the engine's making and you can feel the "loss of power" through your foot, then in split-seconds decide whether to put more gas pedal or if pedal's already maxxed out, accept the fact that you didn't have enough momentum and stop to reverse and try again. Forcing the car when it's already crying "i don't have enough power" usually is when I get stuck 😁

20 hours ago, Chaitanya D said:

@Zed, I would say getting stuck is way safer than flying.

I/We want you to get that fine balance by repeated practice crossing a dune straight up/down and while criss crossing as you progress- first on a small dune, then a medium, then a bigger and a sharp crest.

By flying you risk breaking something ( a bumper/fog lamps) to be the least, or a flip if it was worse - both of which is totally avoidable. If you fly while criss crossing you risk a roll over as most of the times you are entering the slip side of a dune.

While you practice to get that balance, you can get stuck 100 times and I/we will recover you 100 times (Here comes the importance of having strong rated recovery points at front and back.), but all do it fairly quickly. None other than @Karthikeyan Govindarajan would agree. Good to see how he is finding that balance in quick time

Point taken @Zed, along with comments from our marshal and lead @Chaitanya D

WRT the rank, i am an "absolute" fewbie  feeling like an absolute newbie   , and yet to get a taste of fewbie rides, which i am cautious myself, and may attempt only after some more NB rides. I applied for FB  to widen the options i have for ride sign up, and not based on conviction that i am a fewbie. I still feel that i have a long way to go for being a proper fewbie, So your points and feedback are always welcome, as a more experienced driver.. i see you have quite a bit of experience with your Y62, from other posts in the forum, so keep it flowing !!

Thank you @Chaitanya D, @Darren Brooke, @Hisham Masaad, @Craig Finlayson, @M.Seidam and @Tbone for the lead and support on this weekday drive.

It was fun , and honestly a bit more faster paced than i expected. As a first night drive, it had pushed my limits in terms of driving pace, terrain judgement at night, and handling my car in soft sand, slip faces etc.  Its all about conquering your fears, anyway!!

A moment of hesitation resulted in a "royal stuck" a word coined by someone in Carnity  , and held up the convoy for some time. I think i gave a real test of patience to @Chaitanya D, as he was guiding me with instructions - steering full left and right, blip blip gas, 1200 rpm etc, which i struggled to get the right mix at the right time. I promise to do better , next time 🙏

Thanks for all the shovelling and shoving by @Zed and others, who i could neither meet personally post drive nor know  by name, apologies for not tagging you guys!! I am definitely indebted , and shall make it a point to payback to the community, once and if i get opportunities.

Looking forward and coming back for more!!

thank you @Emmanuel and @Hisham Masaad

4 minutes ago, M.Seidam said:

Your royal crest today afternoon was awesome 😄

I take it as a compliment..😉😉and thanks for your support on the drive today.

Thanks for the wishes @Brette , @Lakshmi Narasimhan,   @M.Seidam, @Abdul Rahman AK, @Anish S

...as a coincidence, upon being promoted to fewbie today,  i had my first stuck in my offroad life during the night newbie drive with @Chaitanya D  .😀😀.took me 10 newbie rides and a fewbie promotion for a royal stuck , holding the convoy for a good 20 min or more 

Pls waitlist me as well for second drive

Signed up now , @Chaitanya D, couple of questions

1. I don’t have any kind of off-road or extra lights. Just the headlight and fog lights

2. no previous night drive experience

Hope I can still join?
 

any other pre requisites or preparations to consider?

Thank you @Gaurav and @Mukundan Nair for leading and supporting the drive..although we had to cut short, due to the coolant hose burst on @Ishraque Ahammed'Ahammed's ford explorer, i think all drivers had some takeaways from todays drive.

For me it was my first experience as second lead , and i was a bit nervous when i saw the convoy positioning yesterday..was doubtful whether i should take this as a concession as i could follow Gaurav's clean tracks or as a responsibility being the front runner for the convoy and quickly  adjusting to change of routes by Garuav....turned out to be both,in hindsight 😀

 Anyway, i was the one to have the first refusal of the day, the result of not maintaining adequate distance with @Gaurav, while negotiating a hill descent and had to slow down on a soft patch, which in turn affected @Alfred Alinazar as he commented above...sorry buddy if i left some sand churned up for you at couple of places 

Later i kind of got the hang of it and began anticipating Gaurav's intentions looking at the terrain ahead, which i have never done before, as i was so accustomed to following the car in front, while driving further down the convoy. 

Hope Ishraque gets his issue sorted out and we see him back soon, and kudos to @Gaurav, @Mukundan Nair and @Gaurav Soni for their efforts to recover and patch up the explorer and if i recall correctly, it was @Gaurav Soni who identified the trail of fluid leak and announced it on the radio..which resulted in timely identification of the issue...great eye power!!!

Looking forward and coming back for more!!

Looking forward to the drive...see you all tomorrow

Thanks @Frederic for the great choice of track with the right mix of dunes and technical challenges thrown in, along a very bushy terrain.

I need to thank @Hisham Masaad , @Pacific, @Mukundan Nair for their help and assistance during the drive in the form of guidance over radio and showing me the route when i lost track.

Great supporting roles by @Niki, @Nivin and @Nabil Bishara too.

Looking forward and coming back for more!!

7 hours ago, Frederic said:

DRIVE RSVP IS NOW CLOSED

Convoy Setup

1) Frederic - Pajero SWB - Crew @Frederic

2) Niki - FJ Cruiser Black - Fewbie @Niki

3) Anoop Raj - FJ Cruiser - Newbie @Anoop Raj

4) Anoop Nair - Jeep Wrangler - Newbie @Anoop Nair

5) Tareck - Nissan Patrol Y62 - Newbie @Tareck

6) Hisham Masaad - FJ Cruiser Black - Intermediate @Hisham Masaad

7) Sunil Mathew - Jeep Wrangler Yellow - Newbie - @Sunil Mathew

8 ) Pacific - Jeep Wrangler SWB - Fewbie - @Pacific

9) Mukundan Nair - Nissan Xterra - Intermediate - @Mukundan Nair 

10) Lakshmi Narasimhan - Pajero LWB Gold - Fewbie - @Lakshmi Narasimhan

11) Darren Brooke - Chevy Tahoe - Fewbie - @Darren Brooke

12) Richard Franks - Jeep Wrangler Red - Fewbie - @Richard Franks

13) Lawrence Chehimi - Nissan Patrol Y62 - Intermediate - @Lawrence_Chehimi

14) Goutam - Jeep Wranger Yellow - Intermediate - @Goutam

15) Nivin - Nissan Xterra - Advance - @Nivin

 

We will be using Channel 2: 446.03125 Mhz.

Please make sure you have your off-road gears as per your level. 

See you guys tomorrow at 05:30AM !

 

 

Looking forward to the drive tomorrow!!

Just scrolled up to confirm that this is still a newbie drive , 

😁

Only 4 of us newbies surrounded by an army of fewbies and intermediates!!

This is going to be interesting !!!

I think an anticipatory bail would be worthwhile, sorry if we NBs pull down the level of tomorrow's drive a bit 🙏🙏😁😁

Thank you @Vanessa8580, @jodha singh shekhawat, @Brette and @varunmehndiratta, the seniors in the drive for your lead and support.

Lovely morning drive with quite a blend of side slopes, climbs, drops, and some technical patches thrown in as topping, which resulted in some stucks, refusals and couple of re-routes.

 One more step forward as a learning experience for me and getting closer to being in sync with my car.

Kudos to a fellow riders

Looking forward to the next drive!!

Thank you @Vanessa8580, looking forward to the drive tomorrow..

Just to inform you that my family (wife +2 kids) will be joining me ..hope thats fine 

Done and dusted ..my 4th NB drive and 5th overall drive with @Carnity..first time in the nazwa area and big red...enjoyed thorughly

Thank you @Emmanuel, @Veedooshee, @Nivin, @Jeepie the seniors in drive for leading and offering exemplary support for this rightly paced drive, giving us  more confidence in hill climbs

Looking forward and coming back for more!!!