Looper

@Emanuel, @Abhilash Kottakkal, @Sreenath G, @Imteeaz, @Mohammad Sayawoush Azad, @Nadeem Ansari, @Ranjan Das, @Ben Lee, @Issam Atra, @Mahmoud Taha, @Ignacio Quindós. Let's arrive early and be ready to head out sharp at sunrise. ADNOC Service Station | Al Qala-2 (565) will be the fuel station you want to visit to fill up the car. ENOC | 1602 | Al Awir is also nearby. We will be on Channel 2. The following is the convoy order: @Krishna R I have not put you in the convoy as I don't see you as signed up. If you plan to join - do so, we will find a place in the convoy for you.

Looks like an opening has open up Sorry to hear it. See you next.

Please see below the convoy order: we will be on channel 2 tomorrow.

one more find from r/dubaipetrolheads

Any time buddy, @Imteeaz i will do anything to keep my jack in the seal wrapped box.

I’ll add you in the manage tab, you will be responding to the pop outs😂

@Mohit Gurnani, @Sreenath G, @Emanuel, @Issam Atra, @Ben Lee, @Mahmoud Taha, @Nadeem Ansari, @DanielN, @Ignacio Quindós, @Arun Menon Waitlisted: @Mohammad Sayawoush Azad & @Abhilash Kottakkal This is the mid-week reminder to all attending. Request you all not to be a No-Show and instead rest well and arrive on time. In case you think there are going to be any issues withdraw from the drive as there is a waiting list. I will be publishing the convoy order on Saturday evening. Please note the meeting point is changed from the time I published the drive post. A little history: This will be my 10th drive in this general area and in the past, I have driven with 7 different leads, the last one being in June 2022. This area has become less driven these days due to all the shrubs that have come up here as well as because the Fossil Rock has been barricaded. I did my first Newbie Drive at this place. In this drive 61% of the time was spent not moving and attending refusals. I was still a newbie so all that i did was just sit in the car and take photos. It was also the shortest drive i have even done with just 11.9 kms driven. Those days Fossil Rock was open and obviously we did not go there and moved to exit after reaching the bottom of the hill.

Reminiscing on the Drive The objective of the drive was to take the convoy to some large dunes at the south of the Faqa'a which were going to be fun place to play. The intention was to start at dawn, approx. 6.15-ish and reach there quickly so that we can play in those dunes more than I did last time there. I started to record track at 6:25 and did not move till 6:33. 10 min into the drive when we tried to ride the first dune, @Mohammad Sayawoush Azad slipped off it and entered into a pocket and had his front passenger side tire had a pop-out. It was in a pocket so instead of trying to get it out we fixed the popout at the pocket itself so that he could move out of it. When we fixed the popout we also realized that the tire wasn't holding any pressure and leaking air. After it came out of the bowl, we replaced the tire and without any spare unfortunately it was the end of the drive for the mighty Patrol. At 7:50 the drive started again. You could see so many tall dunes but when you go near them, they are covered with vegetation. Anyways our aim was to reach the big bowls as soon as we could and, in the process, we navigate though some nice large dunes. On the way at about 8:30 we took a quick break and when we started again, we had another pop-out of the remaining Patrol at the same place. Well, we have already become a team expert in fixing popouts already, so it was dealt with in no time. The Sun was rising, temperatures were getting high, and we were nowhere near the dunes that we wanted to be. The tire pressure was increasing and without checking it led to a couple of refusals. When we started to move @Haneef Thayyil found the only pocket he could and promptly entered it. There was no place to do any self-recovery, so we winched him out of there. At this time, we learnt some sad news, but we could not delve into it there, so we kept moving. Finally at 10;10 am we reached where we wanted to come all along. A quick stuck by @Ishak led us to the bowl. But it was getting late, so we restricted the play time in this place and kept moving towards the exit. Finally, we finished the drive at 11 at Solar Park, but not without finding the misplaced convoy once again. Remarks There were a couple of teachable moments during the drive. We do start with a briefing at every drive with these points, but it became evident why those seemingly unimportant items could become critical. One of those points is to keep an adequate distance between one's car and the car in front. If it is too far away, then one could lose track completely. Another aspect is radio communication, where we need to hear and respond adequately. I also want to touch up an important aspect of driving in the desert. One cannot zone out in the desert; it requires uninterrupted and complete focus. It is a conscious decision-making process where you must look at the car in front and try to replicate what it has done which requires you to make A LOT of decisions on how to tackle that patch till you go to the next. It is like solving a puzzle with your vehicle. That's the game if you ask me. End Credits @Cha I must thank you for all the effort you put into this drive. Fixing the popouts, helping with stucks and refusals, you had quite an engaging day. @Ishak Thank you once again for a brilliant second lead and thanks for helping with the pop-outs and tire change. Final Thoughts Some days are more difficult than others and it is a part of life. For anyone who joined the next day, it was one of those better days.

It is back btw..

I have the craft of photography all dialed in - learning the art is what is more important and difficult job. I am currently compensating it with quantity and a bit of post-production. Of course, there is a lot that can be done that I am not doing. My objective is to feed into the Carnity Instagram page mostly. It's always a learning process. Recently I observed that when I take pictures sitting inside the car and through the front window - the phots seem to focus nicely while shooting but when I pixel peep on my monitor I see that they are awfully out of focus. Take away from it is that - Do not put another medium, even though it is transparent, between your lens and the subject. I know a thing or two about the cameras as well as setting up the camera, maybe @DP1011 as well as many with their DSLRs would want to join a drive where we stop and talk about the essentials of photography as suggested in the near future.