Looper

DRIVE PLAN This Saturday let's meet at Tawi Nazwa to have some fun. In this terrain we won't find any area that is barred of tracks. But we have a fantastic opportunity to revisit those tracks on a fast-paced drive through those dunes starting at Tawi Nazwa and ending at Big Red. The Drive will be quick in more ways than one. We request every member that joins this drive to go through the information below and strictly follow these guidelines, etiquette, and responsibilities. MUST READ AND COMPLY Environmental Policy Offroad Flag Guideline Two Way Radio Guideline Off road Driving Etiquettes Emergency details for all off roaders Off Road Driving - Roles & Responsibilities DRIVE DETAILS Level: Fewbie and above When: 23 December 2023, Saturday Meeting time: 7:00 AM - Sharp (Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/AqkCdd2BnLTEiVtC7 Approximate finish time: 10:30 AM Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance. What to bring along: Loads of water, snacks (for yourself), smiles, enthusiasm, and willingness to learn. RECOMENDED OFF-ROAD GEAR: Tire deflator & Tire pressure gauge Compressor (MANDATORY) Walkie-talkie radio (MANDATORY) Off-road flag (MANDATORY) Shovel, Tow Rope & 2 Shackles First-aid kit Fire extinguisher LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE This drive is limited to 10 cars only. RSVP will close on Friday - 12 PM. If the RSVP is full, you can add your name to the waitlist, once anyone drops, you will be moved to the RSVP list. RSVP will close a day prior to preparing a convoy list. Latecomers will be returned - Without any exceptions. Members without RSVP will be returned - Without any exceptions. Please withdraw your RSVP, if you aren't joining, so your spot can be taken by others. Repeated no-show members after RSVP will have their account suspended for a month. PLEASE RSVP ON THE CALENDAR

I want to touch upon something I learnt in recent times. Download Maps: if you have a plan track, then download the map for it. When Route is selected, click on “… More” and then click on “Download Maps for Route”. This way you will have good quality map even when there is no data. These days for every drive I am doing this irrespective where I drive. When the phone looses good data connection the app starts to hangs searching for stable connection. Switch off Data: do this for better recording of your track. I have seen many times the track will have straight lines for track because it didn’t record that portion of the track. This is because of poor data connection. Even if you don’t have a plan route and you are just driving in a convoy, switching off data while recording GPS track will give you better track recording.

I have added a poll to check who all are camping. Please do respond if possible

Just a very busy day for me, so a bit slow on posting updates. Got few mins break so giving a small update. Please note that one should carry a min of 80l of fuel from the nearest fuel station. We will do 100-120 km in the desert and we will need about 50-60l of fuel. The reason to carry a bit more is that the nearest fuel station will be a bit far on both direction, i.e. before reaching for the drive and after the drive is over. If anyone wants, one can camp at the meeting point. While I am planning to reach before the sunset, but also I am expecting some delay. We will be posting the convoy order a little later in the day. The convoys will be spilt into 2. One for FB/FB+ and another for the Intermediate level (8 cars each including the lead) What to expect in the drive: to begin with - consider it as not one drive, rather 2 drives back to back. The dunes will be tall and soft. So when you feel that the sand under you is moving but you are not immediately stop. If you bring any passenger, please expect a very roller coaster ride and unless they are used to driving in the desert be careful, there won’t be any easy exits. I will comeback with some more news later in the day.

I think touching all the Red Points in three to three and a half hours is a bit ambitious, but anything is possible when @Ale Vallecchi is at the helm. All the best. request @Frederic to audit the results 😁.

For a Fewbie level drive we will do approx. 100-110 km and having an extra 20l min is advisable. Essentially you would want to have 80l with you including the tank. I am not sure how much fuel your carry carries.

Please note that the participation limit is set at 20 & we will have at least 2 split convoys.

Congratulations @Mahmut SARILI on your promotion. Well done 👏

Congratulations @JohanE on your promotion. Well done 👏

Congratulations @Robk on your promotion. Well done 👏 …

Congratulations @Ahmed Farouk on your promotion. 👍 👏 well done

Congratulations @Sreenath G on your promotion

Congratulations @Maytham Mahroos on your promotion.

@Davie Chase / @Simon D have a few slots available

Thank you, All OK. Some work related matter came up.

@Zed, @Ashutosh Garg, @Tareq Al Turq, @Cha, @Bashar Beasha, @Jaro Tuzinsky, @Christian Andras, @Benjamin, @Arda Yagcioglu Due to some unavoidable circumstances, unfortunately I must cancel the drive tomorrow morning. I will be removing you all and cancelling the drive post. If interested @Frederic's FB+ still has few open slots, you may join. I apologize for the sudden cancelation. Hopefully we will see you all again sometime soon.

No worries. I was referring to my last drive with you, which was an Intermediate drive at Al Wathaba on 27th Nov 2021

I have done repairs to my Jeep twice. I think I will start following your method of topping up for some time next time if the issue comes up.

Good morning @Zed, @Ashutosh Garg, @Tareq Al Turq, @Cha, @Bashar Beasha, @Jaro Tuzinsky, @Christian Andras, @Benjamin. We will rock on Ch 2. We will meet at 0645 hrs. or earlier, to deflate and start at 0700 hrs. sharp. We will follow the below convoy order at start but please note that we will keep it fluid. Rest well for an intense drive tomorrow morning. PS: the model and level are pulled from my personal excel file so it could differ from what you bring to drive or call your ride or even the level you are at.

@Rafey Hashmi I have done Yellow Truck a couple of times. Once in FB (2020) convoy doing 101 km (GaiaGPS) and another time in a FB+ convoy (2021) (GaiaGPS) driving about 146 km. There was however a significant length of the drive done on a pilon track. Both times I carried 40l. For FB I didn’t fill till I reached the end point but for FB+ I did fill in 20l during lunch stop and remaining at the end. Note that in the desert I drive diligently conserving fuel, by keeping the auto stop-start on as well as switching off the car whenever we had any stoppages. This time around we will drive approximately 100-110 km through the desert without any pillion track. I would recommend that you carry a minimum of 20l of fuel. 40l fuel, however, is an ideal recommendation considering the inordinate delays that could happen in the desert and there won’t be any nearby fuel stations unlike here when we drive in Dubai. We will update the recommendation again when the track is done, and the convoys are near finalized. PS: the FB+ drive was longer since we had to recover a car from the drive, and it took about 40 km otherwise it would have been 100km drive as well.

I was actually hoping we’d do 30+ kmph moving avg speed, alas. The problem with Gaia GPS is if you stop for say 2-3 min or even a bit more and then start driving, it doesn’t count it as stopped time dragging down the overall moving average speed, as the time is not considered for as stopped. It starts to count as stopped but if you move it removes it from stopped.