Jeepie

@Wrangeld here. I am using @Jeepie log in at the moment as my computer is on vacation. This really was a drive of three halves. So much happened I think that most of you forgot about it by the time we finally reinflated rather later than planned close to last exit. Half one: Murquab to the Sand Way This was a great start to the drive. The fog made the sand deceptive. It looked hard packed, but was dangerously sift underneath which meant that quite a few got dragged in and refused or needed some assistance to get through the sand. I made the start of the drive a little more technical than usual. Firstly, because it was foggy and we could not have the convoy stretched. Secondly, I knew that gaining confidence in some technical dunes here would make the Qudra dunes less frightening. The great shame was that we lost an hour trying to fix the pop out on @Sanjay Malik car. It's not really completely preventable so don't worry, I was just disappointed that we took so much time to get it sorted which is why we agreed to extend the drive. Half Two: SandWay to Solar This is always the really fun part of this drive. Barreling through the dunes and avoiding some horrible technical dunes all the way to being able to enjoy some of the big wide and exciting dunes of Qudra. It's not often you can safely drive these speeds in the desert (unless you are on the Paris Dakar). And then arriving at the East side of Qudra and the big dunes and being able to cross dune after dune after dune. It's great and exciting stuff and a lot of fun. Everyone was fantastic and showed what we learned was being put very quickly into practice. It was a shame to say good bye to @Ben84 and @Nitin Mohan at this point. Half Three: Solar to oblivion ...and beyond There are some days things go great, others, with tired drivers we have more challenges. I was pushing the convoy to new heights - because I was confident you could handle it. I was not wrong, but the sand is fickle and the softness of the sand and the complexity of the dunes made things more difficult. Everyone was doing so, so well until the dreaded bowl of death. It's unusual to have to clear 6 stucks in one single bowl especially when they are a little complicated. We were all of 50 meters from safety when the stucks increased which was a disappointing because we really were so close to getting ourselves all the way to Last exit. But, hey! that's not always possible. Everyone was fantastic and helped and contributed and was patient and I cannot say how appreciative I am for the attitude and team work that EVERYONE showed. We really were in it together. Update is that we managed to exit @Dodi Syahdar car after the recovery guys failed. Some specifics: @imranaasghar81 - excellent 2nd lead. Great communicator. Excellent enthusiasm for everything. Great job. @Sanjay Malik - the popout was unfortunate, but apart from this you did well the whole drive. I am glad that you are happy to use the power. Hope your wife does not think that every drive will be as much fun as this. @Jen - I promise there are drives without epic recoveries. You did a fantastic job and showed incredible patience with your wheels up in the air for too long. Only your second drive - no way. @Mike Kraher - Impressed by your knowledge and enthusiasm for some real good Austrian shoveling. I think you under estimate the capabilities of the Pajero some times (but maybe I am biased and would say that) @Ben84 - your monster machine does give you some inherent advantages in the drive. The stucks were almost all due to not having enough power or momentum. Use the tool you have. Once you do, your drives will be transformed. @Nitin Mohan - while not as incredible as the Rubicon, a Prado has an incredible capability,. There are times when being a bit shy with the gas is stopping you getting through all the dunes. I am not suggesting power up everywhere, but a little more gas every now and again ... @Dodi Syahdar - It was a long day buddy, and I am delighted we managed to get you home. Not sure what went wrong with the 4x4, but it made it too challenging to have you exit with everyone else. Before that, a great drive. You understand how to handle the car to the full, but small errors in a car that big can mean that it's difficult to rectify them. @Mario Cornejo - the man with the car I want in my garage! Love the way you are getting to grips with what it offers the offroader. Your calmness really helps and your teamwork was fantastic when we had problems. @Lee Wilson - as a second drive I can see that you started understanding how much fun having that beast in your hands will be from now on. The popout was really easily sorted which was helpful considering the problems we had! I am looking forward to the next drive and my open promise remains. @Ashok chaturvedi - respect to you sir. Your first drive after your promotion to Intermediate and you bring your new motor to our drive. In the end, you have been able to play with all the toys and did a great job in understanding how it differs from your old drive... but please don't completely desert your Pajero roots @Mehmet Volga - we have been together on my two 'epic drives'. I cannot begin to thank you enough, buddy, for what you did for everyone and in supporting the drive impeccably. We are all in your debt. Welcome to being an advance rank at Carnity Truthfully, this was a newbie plus drive and you should all be extremely proud of yourselves and the drive you made. We travelled 50+km and had a top speed of 80kph. OK we also had almost three hours of dealing with stucks, but in the end, I really enjoyed the drive and have each and everyone of you to thank for that. Apologies for any afternoon plans destroyed by the late finish. See you soon in the sand.

@Szymon Stankiewicz @Arda Yagcioglu @RaYan E @Aravind Padmaraju @Tamas Hoffmann @Andrei @Luca Bregni @Tariq Carrimjee @Christian Andras Hi guys, Thank you all for turning up even though the fog made it quite hard to get there on time! After allowing a bit of extra time for the fog to clear we were on our way and I think the whole convoy was doing well. The whole drive was quite smooth with only a few refusals and stucks. After practicing some ridge riding on the lower dunes near 2nd of december cafe, we went to the slightly bigger ones around Pink Rock and as everybody was coping very well, we moved on to Big Red and the other tall dunes next to it. @Szymon Stankiewicz so nice to see you after a very long time, and you did a great job as second lead. @Arda Yagcioglu and @RaYan E you both seemed to be doing great without any issues. @Tamas Hoffmannyou handled the few recoveries very well, with the right amount of pull in a safe way. @Andrei and @Luca Bregni great job, even though you had to hold in difficult spots sometimes because the convoy stopped moving, you managed really well. @Tariq Carrimjee I hardly noticed you were on my drive, so I guess you didn't have any issues either. @Christian Andras thank you for keeping everyone together and choosing positions where I could see you most of the time whenever we were waiting for a refusal or a stuck. That makes life a lot easier for the lead. @Aravind Padmaraju where were you? To the whole convoy, what I really liked is : you were holding your position whenever there was a refusal rather than moving forward as far as you could, which meant the person behind you was still able to follow the track. You were all patient and very much a team. @Szymon Stankiewicz I am sorry you damaged your skid plate and I hope you will get it fixed soon, but it was nice of you to do it right at the end of the drive. Hope to see you again soon

Pos # Pos # Attendees Level Car 1 Lead Jeepie Expert Jeep Wrangler 2 2nd lead szymon stankiewicz Fewbie Mitsubishi Montero Sport 3 Arda Yagcioglu Fewbie Black Xterra 4 RayanE Fewbie Mitsubishi Pajero LWB 5 Aravind Padmaraju Fewbie Nissan Xterra, 2014 - White 6 CF Tamas Hoffmann Intermediate Mitsubishi Pajero LWB 7 Andrei Fewbie Jeep Wrangler SWB 8 Luca Bregni Fewbie Jeep Wrangler 9 Tariq Carrimjee Intermediate Jeep Wrangler SWB 10 SW Christian Andres Intermediate Toyota FJ Cruiser Radio Channel 1 @Szymon Stankiewicz @Arda Yagcioglu @RaYan E @Aravind Padmaraju @Tamas Hoffmann @Andrei @Luca Bregni @Tariq Carrimjee @Christian Andras