TT_Dubai

It was a super drive @Mehmet Volga and thanks once again for leading us. Back in town in good time before the heavens opened up! Nice to see everyone again after the festive break!

Thank you @Rizwanm2 and @Mehmet Volga and I am in for tomorrow if there is a second convoy. 😀

Hi Hisham my apologies I am unable to make this drive and have removed myself. Love badayer and trust you will all have a fun drive😀

It was a great drive across the Lisali dunes this morning. Thank you to @Islam Soliman for the route and incorporating the varied terrain. Most importantly it was a great opportunity to refresh the fundamentals. 
 

We had some stucks but nothing too dramatic. Everything was sorted with either shovelling or a tug. 
 

Thanks once again to the great support from @Felix Obst as second lead @Brette as our CF @ and @Karthik Raptor sweeping us when tracks were lost. 
 

Great job everyone and big smiles all round! 

Well done to you @Jonny90 and looking forward to see the SS in the dunes again! 😀

Gentlemen, I thank each of you very much! It has been an absolute pleasure to drive in the sands and mountains with you in Sharjah and Dubai. Thank you for the camaraderie, help and support on the journey 😀 As we approach the winter season I look forward to meeting you all again! Stay safe and drive well! 

@Murad Hamed it was nice to meet you today and you displayed great spirits despite what happened. You remained calm and composed. You are safe and sound which is the main thing. As all drivers mentioned we hope and wish everything gets resolved soon and that all is well. 
 

@Brette as Mike mentioned the immediate mobilisation to recover the Pajero and exit was all executed with precision. Thank you. I love Badayer and I have been in various drives but I have never seen the sand conditions like what we had this morning. Everyone coped really well. 
 

@Fabien Monleau great proactive support from the back. I love sweeping as you can normally have a chilled ride and explore different lines but that was certainly not the case for you today! Thank you for all your help! 

Super news Hisham! Many congratulations indeed! 😀

It’s not often we get a chance to have a masterclass on technical terrain so thank you @GauravSoni for arranging this. Like Davie mentioned this was a great drive, well planned and a superb learning experience with everyone contributing. 

We started by witnessing stunning fiery red sunrise and soon after we negotiated some tight bowls. The really tricky stuff came in the second half which witnessed a few refusals and stucks but hey, we now have pics for our #stuckcollection 😀 

It is great to see familiar faces at the crack of dawn on a weekend and thank you to @Looper and @Davie Chase for the great support. You guys did most of the work helping guide the refusals. I was just crusin’ behind Gaurav…!
 

A couple of pics in the gallery. Sorry I could not get everyone ! Have a fab rest of weekend to all. 

Hi @Hisham Masaad that also works and thanks! 

Thanks @Rizwanm2 it was a really super drive and the last time I was in Faya, I had to be towed out by @Tbone and recovered on a flatbed as my clutch in my manual Wrangler exploded! 😅

What a morning!

So the object of the drive was to learn how the car behaved when executing side slopes and following a prompt start we found a playground of high dunes. Various attempts were made and the most interesting was climbing the dunes using limited throttle and blipping when gravity pulled and a fishtail was about to arise. Finding that "tipping point" to correct it was very interesting for me. 

We had our fair share of pop outs and stucks (some of them pretty tricky requiring shovelling and front and back tugs) but as they say, it is all a learning experience. So thanks again to @GauravSoni for the putting the drive together, the comprehensive theory briefing and for @Ashok chaturvedi and @Brette for their usual impeccable support.

We were a tight and small convoy so it meant that everyone got up close and personal to observe the recoveries, get their steps in for the day, get shovelling and fix the pop outs. 

Great to drive with everyone on the convoy and a couple of pics in the Gallery 😀

Prompt start shortly after 530am and immediately had chances to practice side sloping and ridge riding (lots!). We had a nice mix of really fun trails mixed up with technical sections. And there were lots of patches of really soft sand requiring good use of momentum and concentration. 

As mentioned by Thomas, we had some tricky recoveries which resorted to the employment of a winch after shovelling having minimum impact. The stuck cars from the leads meant we could all observe a methodical attempts of self recovery with no drama, no panic and good use of blip blip on the throttle to try and free the respective cars. 

The radio guidance was informative and educational. It was a great drive and ticked all the boxes for fewbie level! We even saw some local wildlife being in the conservation area!

Thank you @Rizwanm2, @Ashok chaturvedi @Pacific @Gaurav Soni and @Thomas Varghese for the great support and the rest of the convoy for a great drive!

Hi @Rizwanm2 with apologies I have to withdraw and have removed my name from the list. Looking forward to drive soon and wish you and your convoy fun in the sands tomorrow!

Hi everyone!  Very pleased to join the drive yesterday! It was amazing to enjoy a breezy fresh start with windows down. @JeromeFJ you led the convoy like a seasoned pro. I appreciated the detailed and comprehensive briefing before we started and after each climb, bowl or track you always had encouraging comments and advice for all of us 😀 thank you!

Great support from @Rob S always there with the shovel! Special thanks to @Waqas Parvez for great guidance when I slipped into a deep pocket on a climb. The Prado boys are a great team!

The dunes during the early morning were like a postcard, clear and defined. Save for a few sand buggies we had the playground all to ourselves.

Great driving by all and nice to meet everyone. Super to see so many great shots in the gallery! Drive safe and have a great week!

Great work @Gerrit Bus! From the launches 🚀  (*ahem good momentum) I observed when following you, you’ll definitely enjoy the new level😃

Bingo @Joseph Sebastian! A 12 year old Canon DSLR with a decent zoom 😀. Safe driving and see you soon 👍

Great summaries of the weekend drive. As usual, plenty of valuable guidance by @Ale Vallecchi on a challenging route which had a fair share of criss crossing, technical sections and long range sabkhas. Thanks for a great drive!

@Sunil Mathew great to see you and the yellow Wrangler after many months! And even more pleasing to see you move up the ranks to Intermediate. Well done! Your instructions for recoveries is crystal clear. I also (kind of!) miss my manual Wrangler but do not miss the headaches that came with it. For the sake of my marriage 😅 I could not take the family LC on more "motivated" drives so happy to cruise around in Newbie and Fewbie. But hope that will change in the future with the FJC 😀

Great driving by all, made the role of sweep very easy. I uploaded some pics of the drive on Saturday in the Gallery. 

Thank you @Shaaz Sha for leading the pack with a morning drive full of side sloping and other chances to practice our skills. The sand was very soft and there were a lot of switchbacks when coming down a dune to catch out the unwary. Hope your front left tyre is repairable. 

Great proactive support from @Sudhanva Sonawane as a solid CF and @Thomas Varghese for good instructional tips during pop outs and stucks. And our sweep @Imteeaz for keeping the convoy in check and to ensure no one got left behind. 

Some pics in the gallery. Enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Sorry one more thing @Shaaz Sha I will be in a FJ Cruiser instead of LC. Thx 

Thank you @Shaaz Sha. I am in for Sunday. 😀

@JeromeFJ Bonjour and with apologies I have removed myself from the drive for personal reasons (my wife wants me to attend to something and we can only do it on Saturday morning)...I know I know easier to change wife😁 ... sorry and hope to join your next drive. Thanks!

Wow Gregory ! Well done! 😀 Keep pushing the Pajero! 

Thank you for a great drive and detailed report @M.Seidam. Your energy and willingness to swap the convoy around taking into account everyone's prior experience was really helpful. It showed as we only had one crest requiring shovels and the rest of the morning was very smooth with everyone following the tracks closely. It made the sweeping role in the second half very straightforward!

I had a break from the drives but happy to restart again in the FJC and today was my first drive in the car. It handles very differently compared to the Land Cruiser but at least I feel more secure in tackling the dunes without having difficult discussions with the wife about what bits of trim I left in the desert!

So it was great to see familiar faces after the break @Alfred Alinazar @Zixuan Huang - Charlie @topgear and of course to meet the rest of the drivers today. 

There is always new things to learn on each drive and looking forward to many more.

Pics are uploaded in the gallery 😀