5 minutes ago, Mohamed Seidam said:

We missed you today brother . Happy to hear that. God bless 🙏

Thanks sir... 😊

@Foxtrot Oscar does this mean I am nearing the top of WL..all is well and under control at home. 

17 minutes ago, Foxtrot Oscar said:

Drive Report

 

Tuesdays are all about breaking the hump of the working week by getting out into the sand and letting off some steam. We covered just under 69km in 4.5 hours

We had a very experienced convoy for a Fewbie Level drive and all that expertise didn’t go to waste. I had decided it was time to pass the baton of responsibility to our Fewbie driver who is very keen to learn the ropes. Under the instruction of @Craig Finlayson and my watchful eye @Shehab Alawadhi was ready to get his gear out. Thankfully as we were negotiating the technical patch the opportunity presented itself as @Thomas Varghese got stuck. @Shehab Alawadhihandled the recovery very well.

We headed out of the technical patch and into the wide-open long-range dunes we had lots of opportunity to side slope and cross some ridges. This didn’t present anyone with any issues and the fewbies at the front of the convoy were all handling their vehicles very well.

I think we were about 1 hour into the drive when @Thomas Varghese had some severe overheating issues. We brought the temperature of the car down by spraying cold water on the transmission cooler and turning the heating on full blast to take the heat out of the engine. When the digital reader was at 92o it was safe to start moving the car again however for Thomas that was the end of the desert drive. The car had shot up to 110o by the time we reached the track. I do hope the repair is economical Thomas, , its such a shame you had overheating issues as you were having a good drive

No sooner had we started motoring again when @GauravSoni car started to have some issues, well an unfamiliar sound, It was better to exit the car then and there as opposed to risking damage so off we headed back to the track.

We headed back into the long range dunes, as we did so we were lucky enough to see the local training their falcons, I couldn’t hide my excitement when I saw the drone with ‘prey’ attached and the young bird swoop in to grab it with its mighty talons. What a treat that was!

Once more to the fore we headed back in again and had a good time continuing with or side sloping and getting atop some ridges. I was keeping a watchful eye on our two remaining Fewbies and both were coping admirably. Then a call came for me to add some spice. I checked with the convoy and it was agreed everyone wanted to get into it more. Huzzah! I’m always up for that! I upped the pace as we headed nearer to Solar Park and we had some great dunes to tackle en route to the Sabka

With light fading and being nowhere near our proposed end point I asked the convoy what they wanted to do and if they were up for a little night driving, My question was met with a resounding yes, @Ashok chaturvedi wanted to flash his new lights and @Ahab Shamaa lit up the skies with his trillion luminer set up. We slowed the pace but still tackled some good dunes. Night drives are thrilling without the need for speed !

As I made my way into another dune I caught sight of a cluster of rocks, it was unfortunate that I had just asked everyone to stay close as in the very same breath I asked for no one to follow, it was too late for @Veedooshee and @Lawrence_Chehimi. and it led to @Veedooshee being stuck on the side. I tried digging but the sand was so soft and deep that it became a thankless task. Given the angle and the precarious positioning of the rocks I asked Shehab  to step aside and allow @Craig Finlayson to recover @Veedoosheewith the rope, three gentle tugs and she was out . That was the signal to end our night adventure.

@Lawrence_Chehimi you handle your car very well,  I don’t recall you having any refusals, you had great control for the ridge riding and crossover. You coped extremely well when I raised the level on what was only your 2^nd fewbie drive Likewise @Shehab Alawadhi, you too had a great drive and I was pleased to see you learning how to recover, , I was delighted to be able to give you the learning opportunity and to see you develop as a driver since our first drive together back in Faqa. I know some of the tight dunes can be difficult, but you handle them well for the most part and you are adding self-recovery to your repertoire.

Every drive is a learning opportunity and it doesn’t matter if you are a newbie, fewbie , IM , advanced or expert. Every time we head into the sand we learn.
@Melenanyand @Hisham Masaad- I could heat Islam providing help when you had some refusals. I know its tough at the back of a convoy as the sand gets churned. Use stucks and refusals as learning opportunities to develop your self-recovery skills. You will get a better understanding of your car and how it handles in various situations we find yourself in with the sand if you try to get out on your own.
‘Tell me and I forget; Teach me and I may remember; Involve me and I learn.’ Benjamin Franklin. 
@Ahab Shamaa, it was great to drive with you again, Thanks for keeping an eye on the cars in front and highlighting fishtailing. We all know the dangers of that. I appreciated that. Another flawless drive from you too. @Ashok chaturvedi – a great drive from you, well done.

Many thanks to @Veedoosheefor being my 2^nd lead, to @Craig Finlayson for anchoring the convoy and helping guide @Shehab Alawadhi, and of course to @Islam Soliman for sweeping up everything at the back.
Until our next adventure. 

 

@Foxtrot Oscar some rumours are there there were two mysterious outsiders who came to watch Vidooshi retrieval.. one was caught on my camera in red jeep... anyone else noticed.

12 hours ago, Shehab Alawadhi said:

"The move" as we are calling it now is always fun to do, its difficult in a bigger car but can be done just as good as a small car, next time ill blast the Tokyo Drift song 🤣

@Foxtrot Oscar many thanks for the last Tuesday drive it was planned to be short afternoon drive but turned out to afternoon to night time drive as everyone consented to the idea of extending the drive time. We have two early exits @Thomas Varghese had an engine heat up and @Gaurav Soni detected some vibration sound from the power steering and both for precautionary reason decided to exit the drive. I hope they did not have much of damage and can resume the drives ASAP. The desert becomes very scenic with the sunset and pleasant cool winds we saw very few Gazelles but no other animal life. This area to me is a perfect picnic spot and must be visited for it there some chatter between us on having a BBQ one night there (surely post Covid). Near the end we had one bad stuck and equally tough retrieval. Thanks @Ahab Shamaa mighty lights and with other we illuminated the area. @Islam Solimanas our consistent sweep and the rest drivers contributed as usual to the success of the drive under lead of our own superwoman.

16 hours after the first jab, I was on a IM convoy..... depends.... as prescribed by @Mohamed Seidam.  I have completed my 2nd Jab a couple of weeks back with no symptoms... thankfully. 

Please waitlist me for 2nd Drive ashok Chaturvedi 

@AlexPol congrats buddy.. 

Once again I wish to thank @Ale Vallecchi take us yet through another picturesque drive yesterday from Qudra to Ghantoot and return. We once again saw herds of Oryx and saw the alpha male always standing still and majesticalll watching our convoy pass through. I was in 2nd last position (11th) and the  irony of this position is that any trip lead terrain alerts good or bad took a few minutes drive to reach me  such was the length of the convoy. Also some sharp crest or bumps get iron out before reaching it @Ilya Golubinsky a very good driver otherwise  had a mishap and the recovery took over an hour to get us back into drive, coming  out of this  there was plenty of learning for us all. Also a treat to watch how Ale directed the recovery operations and made it a superb team efforts overall. Naming few contributors @Foxtrot Oscar @Islam Soliman @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ @Mohamed Seidam and not to miss out @Ahab Shamaa not only succeeded in uprighting the car but fixed its pop put as well.  What was the highlight as well was the self recovery of Dr Seidam and Islam (who came in to tug out the Dr's car stuck on the very soft tricky patch. 

4 hours ago, Sreejith Sreenivasan said:

Triple rope recovery by @Wrangeld.. From Al Faqaa drive today. Clear cut instructions  and perfect execution by Richard! Very well done 👍. The whole patch was super soft and I had to deflate further to cross that. Thanks to @imranaasghar81 for reminding me to check my tire pressure.

While this recovery was happening, you can see another recovery in the background by another convoy. They had to recover the same car twice back to back from the same spot 🤣

 

 

Amazing @Wrangeld just loved your voice commands. 

@Thomas Varghese @Melenany please can you email or whataspp my pics in the Yellow FJ. My email is [email protected] and mobile 0506442921. 

Also thanks @Ale Vallecchi for choosing the new route safari.. for a change from seeing Gazelles and Camels we saw mostly Goats as free range wanderer. Also some sort of yellow squash/lemon fruits from shrubs wonder what they were. Surpringly we hardly had any stucks very few refusals in the early part of drive but later there were few mostly on ridges. @Gaurav There seem to some sort of phenomena (my view) in most drives that stucks and refusals happen mainly when driver reach the end of drive.. is it possible complacent or driver gets tired or in hurry to exit. 

Final comment Lower level drives I mean below IM have the same fun and thrills and are very good practice oppertunity to be 2nd lead, CF and sweep and must be given to all IM who participate in such drives. 

On 3/13/2021 at 8:53 AM, Mohamed Seidam said:

From NB drive on 12/3/2021 please watch and listen to the radio , it’s more redirecting the vehicle for better recovery as the stuck vehicle was on super soft sand and my self on soft sand . 
 

 

@Carnity my question is what is better to use flat fixed rope  between three cars rather then any soft. So no tugs but pulling recovery as one may cascade (hit)  into each other. Also what is best technique for a car in a ditch/hole to recover where the rope may have a hilly bend to come out if pulled and the towing car is on a downhill and cannot come to the edge. 

Thanks @Luca Palanca Falsini it was a great drive "Luca Safari" I prefer to call it.. what a treat to see heards of Gazelles so closely..There were some usual incidences to test our skills and few today haopened nothing serious at all. The morning did start with a minor  channel issue as the channel 5 on 442 frequency is a reserve for Carnity and rarely used and my type of Motorola does not have it. My solution now is to buy a set of Baofeng UV5R for aed 70 as recommend by Frederic dear and keep it as my reserve. Again many thanks for resolving the channel issue. 

@Gaurav Soni @Junaid120120  @Jack Thomas @Tero Vallas @Anand Nataraj appreciate guys for a superb team work. Hope Anand dear has fixed his leaky tyre. 

See you soon.. 

Haha... car has a gender 'Old Lady'

@Gaurav Soni thanks for the pic and for being a good drive buddy.  @Foxtrot Oscar Angela you continue to amaze me with your leadership great stamina and knowledge of the desert. Except for the 2 popouts which were fixed in no time and one tug the drive was perfect combination of power and experience by all drivers. My yellow FJ colour was standing out amongst near all black cars. @Islam Soliman you always do well in your sweep position. 

The desert became so beautiful at the  sun down....landscape looked well as... ocean waves frozen in time. The occasional gazelle sprinting around and camels herd  added to the value for being in the desert. 

I quite agree that we should never venture out alone. I can narrate my personal experience yesterday opposite to Global Villege towards Emirates Road I took my dogs in my Pajero which had nothing on board as everything has been shifted to my FJ. The sandy and shrub area looked appealing and I ventured put only to be stuck in a sandy trail. Tried to deflate tyres with car key and used my hand amd a piece of wood to spade out nothing happened. Had to later call my wife from work to bring my loaded FJ to tug out the pajero. So learned my lesson not to venture out alone and never without gear and tools on board. These desert area look innocent and appealing but can become difficult and embarrassing to call for help.

Thanks @Ale Vallecchi would be interested to visit this place... 😀

What is name Ghost Road?

Starting the drive amd recording it.

Dear sir/s

I am looking for advice on using the GAIA app... I am ok using Android version but stuck how to launch a drive on my IPAD (Apple) can you help me by sharing some  training clips... thanks 

Thanks @Ashok chaturvedi 

Since being Wednesday there are spaces available do we RSVP or the waitlisted will be added by trip lead thanks @Ashok chaturvedi

Congrats Luca Palanca.. 

Please wait list me as my 2nd drive @Ashok chaturvedi

Dear @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ

Please give me address of the 4x4 accessories retailer you mentioned to me yesterday on the drive. My mobile is 0506442921  Ashok Chaturvedi 

@Vanessa8580

Dear Vanessa, I am so sorry to recall my name from this drive as I just got through into the IM drive.  God Bless and be all safe. 

Ashok

2 hours ago, Frederic said:

@Ashok chaturvedi @David Ortells I have added you both. Please confirm 

Thanks @Frederic  I am  pleased to confirm.