Thomas Varghese

@Ale Vallecchi I have to exit as car is having some electrical issues. Had to take it back in a recovery to the garage. Sorry for this.

@Ale Vallecchi I have also waitlisted for your drive

Mine is a dual use car. I carry all the basic tools required for offroading 24/7 in my car not because I am going to hit the sands in just mentioning a drive. All tools are properly secured in the boot tightly and I don't have to worry about them flying around or rattling. I carry them because you never know when you need a jack or a rope or a compressor even on road also. Plus I can always assist anyone who has a flat tire or a dead car.

The drive which I could not click a single picture. The initial stages were plagued by refusals, stucks, and pop out. As the center forward, me and the sweep @Ashok chaturvedi was tested to the limits. It was fun though as the track was very challenging. That was the 1st half of the drive. Probably made less than 15 or 20 km in 2 hours. After the professor @Ale Vallecchi took a coaching class everybody got into action. 2nd half was more challenges but very fast paced. Very few refusals and good to see the cars zipping past all challenges. One thing which caught the attention of the Marshal was even though everybody is fewbie plus class very few have the required recovery gear. Its the essential life saving tools of an offroader. A recovery rope and shackle is an essential part of the gear just like a compressor, shovel, flag etc instead of hoping someone else will have it. Please make sure you carry these in your car and well secured so that it doesn't jump around in the boot. Talking about shovels please carry a proper one which is long enough to atleast reach the center of the car from the side and not the fancy spoons which are useless in a recovery. A wooden board and a proper hydraulic jack should be also in your tool box. Atleast with the next promotion you all will be Intermediate and then it will not look good if you are lacking in any essential gear. The club is not asking everybody to lift their cars or fix a winch. Apart from small hiccups in the beginning it was a super duper drive. Me and @Ashok chaturvedi thoroughly enjoyed it. The track was superb. Another thing I noticed in todays drive was the short wheel based Jeeps were getting crested which is very rare and Ale explained how its nearly impossible for those jeeps to get crested. Even after Ale's briefing the Jeeps got crested again. I noticed from behind how and why they are getting crested. You are suddenly trying to criss cross without riding the ridge for at least 2 or 3 meters and don't have the momentum for that maneuver. Don't worry it will come to you naturally if you practice it. I also started like this and learned from my mistakes from the briefing by the able Marshals of @Carnity. So don't feel I am pointing fingers at you all but only reminding you to remember what the Marshals teach you. See you all in the sands soon.

Dear @Ale Vallecchi, The phenomenon of crests was propagated by very hard sand under the very thin layer of the soft sand on the top. The recent rain and humid weather had compacted the sand so much its became hard. So when you ride the ridge a bit longer, the soft sand instead of getting scattered by the impact will start to accumulate under the skid plate to the point you lose momentum and the underbelly of the car rests on the sand which is not soft. When I shovelled your car to be out of the crest even after so much clearance of the sand from under the chassis, the tires won't touch the sand so that you can self recover. If the sand was soft the car should naturally come down with the weight and the tires would touch the sand and you can self recover. Also with my heavy weight stature I was not sinking much into the sand when I climbed up the dune with the shovel, infact it was just the opposite that i could climb up easily.

I'm in