Thomas Varghese

Yes. Now old wine. The moment I saw my wife's face when I announced I'm going to LIWA made me press the leave button in a sec. She was happy and said don't forget my age.

This is the 3rd time I'm witnessing such difficult recoveries. 1. @Wrangeld of @jodha singh shekhawat's Y62, 2. @Shaaz Sha & @Gaurav recovering a FJ Cruiser at LIWA, 3. @Srikumar recovering @Michel Van Woudenberg's LC 300 and there are some procedures you have to adhere to in these situations. I have seen the seniors executing this and atleast I believe I know what not to do rather than knowing what to do and how to. 1 of them is not tying the anchor rope to the roof except to the chassis or the towpoints available unless and otherwise its absolutely necessary for the safety of the humans inside the car if they can't get out by any other means and destruction of the car is inevitable. As you said warren you may have done it in these extreme conditions not when no human life is endangered and the car can be recovered safely without any damage as @Srikumar has demonstrated in front of our own eyes. No more comments and I apologize for voicing my concerns.

@Lawrence_Chehimi I have left the drive and you can join as its not possible for me at my age to drive almost 400km one way and take part in the drive and then again drive all the way back same day.

The only opinion I voiced was when @Warren Flay gave the idea of tying the rope to the A pillar to anchor the car of @Michel Van Woudenberg and to which @sertac agreed which as per me was not a good idea and to call the help of senior @Frederic who was somewhere nearby with Absolute Newbies in a private conversation with @sertac and to everybody to stay clear of the tilted car and not to shovel anywhere until Frederic arrives. Before @Frederic arrived, @Srikumarhad arrived and took charge and safely got back the car recovered with precise instructions. If that was my voiced comments I apologize to @sertac who was the trip lead even though I feel it was the right thing as Michel & his passengers disembarked from the car immediately after the car came to a stop and shut of the engine. I agree @Warren Flay is a trained firefighter and have done numerous extreme recoveries like this in the past but this was not an extreme recovery of his standards and when senior members who can do this in a safe way are around why damage a 300000 AED brand new LC300 which has run only 75km. I didn't have the heart to see @Michel Van Woudenberg going back home in a damaged car with the roof tilted to the right side. I agree I was wrong and should have shut my mouth and sat inside my car turned to the other side and enjoy my music system. I sincerely apologize to @sertac for my advice and to @Warren Flay for my concern about his extreme recovery procedures not letting happen. Thankful to @Srikumar for rising upto the situation and immediately upon arriving at the location for instructions to untie the extra long array of ropes (how many were they?) tied to Warren's car and the A pillar of Michel's car. If you would have noticed I just went back to my car and watched Srikumar recover the LC 300 without a scratch. I apologize to @Michel Van Woudenberg also for letting him drive the new car without a scratch. I promise I won't be joining any of @sertac's drive as communicated to me from the club office. I was silent on this subject till now but as @Warren Flay has mentioned me in his post I had to apologize to every member of that convoy.

@Gaurav I got a slot in @sertac's drive. You can cancel my WL

Don't know if its too late to ask your permission to join this drive. If you allow me it will be my 2nd drive

Congrats @Xavier Treasurer. See u soon in IM level drives

I wanted to come for this drive @Ale Vallecchi but my car has to go for a timing chain tensioner and guide replacement tomorrow morning

Same here but I see to get us in the drive the possibilities r very less

Please WL me 2nd drive

I totally agree with what you stated here @JeromeFJ.

Dear @Gaurav, I have to agree with you. From the beginning of the 1st recovery @Shaaz Sha was worried about not having a 2nd winch. But as there was none available he used resources best available to him which was anchoring Paolo's car with a rope to his own car to prevent further slide of the stuck car or flip. After that he descended to the stuck car many times to persuade Paolo to get out of the car. As Paolo said it was his 1st IM drive and he wanted to gain experience by driving with you he should have said so when the convoy was split. There is no point afterwards saying junior lead, senior lead etc after an incident occurred.

I checked with my mechanic and he concurred your recommendation of removing the spark plugs and draining out the leaked oil from inside the cylinders before any serious damage to the connecting rod or crankshaft is done. I believe we didn't have a spark plug wrench with us and will add it to my essential tool kit soon. Removing the spark plugs in an XTERRA is no easy task from the Bank 2 side as its under the inlet manifold and the whole manifold should be removed to access the plugs. Don't know about FJ cruisers. I think this can be done only by an experienced mechanic and as our Marshals always remind us they or us are not mechanics and can only help with basic things. Regarding anchoring the car with a rope on to the roof rack I agree with @Gaurav not to cause more damage to the body. This was an unfortunate incident and it demanded an expert like @Gaurav to recover the car. None of us at the site could have executed it with the precision Gaurav displayed. @Shaaz Sha & @Ranjan Das's cars moved forward when the FJ was pulled down with @Rawad's Y62. This caused a slack in the anchoring ropes and caused the slow flip. Unfortunately @PaoloMaraziti couldn't witness the finesses with which @Gaurav recovered the car from an almost impossible situation as he was inside and later in a confused state. But to me the hero is @JeromeFJ who bravely sat in that precarious car putting all his trust on Gaurav and others and by doing his part in helping to recover that car. He deserves a recognition from the club for his bravery. Then the physical stamina of @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil, @Mario Cornejo, @Arman, @varunmehndiratta, @Ranjan Das & @Shaaz Sha is worth mentioning. @Gaurav also climbed up and down that slope multiple times. I wish I had that physical stamina. With a physical stature of a heavy truck like the YELLOW TRUCK there was no way I could have done that and would have got stuck in that slope for ever.

@PaoloMaraziti as a club member who have been driving in the desert with the @Carnity club I can assure you that no club members are left out to fend for themselves inside the desert. The Marshals will give their 100% to take the drivers and their 4X4's out to the tarmac. You gave us tense moments when you refused to come out of your car with the white smoke emanating from your silencer but in the end all turned out well except you spending almost an uncomfortable hour with the window down, engines off and too close to the sand. Don't even want to ask how you spent that hour as its terrifying me too to spend 1 minute like that in that precarious position. All we could do was pray to God for your safety until more help arrived and give you strength to hold on. God sure answered our prayers and here we are reminiscing those terrifying moments. Don't feel sorry for not being able to see the yellow truck. That was not important. We came inside as a team and went outside as a team. That's what is important. Regarding my analysis I just wrote it so that other drivers will learn from it and won't repeat it. Not to blame you for anything. Infact this proved to me that what I learned in my Absolute Newbie class from @Frederic holds good for whatever level of drive we are in. A split second distraction is all what is enough for dangerous situations like this. I also got distracted for a minute when my glove box flew open and spilled its contents inside the car during an earlier drive with @Ale Vallecchi and lost the line and track completely. Never seen Ale so furious like that before and after. Now I understood why he was angry. Hope your car doesn't have much damage to the engine and we will see you soon in the sands with the most amazing story. You sure have an amazing story to tell your grand kids when they ask if grandpa had a thrilling life.

No worries @Shaaz Sha for the mishap. End of the day what matters is nobody got hurt. The stuck on the slope was already on an awkward angle. Thanks to @Rawad who stopped immediately following @PaoloMaraziti and to @Ashok chaturvedi for halting the convoy to avoid further complications following Paolo. The moment I saw Ashok stopped I came down the 1st stage of the slope to avoid a stuck. I was surprised when you called out my name when I went down the slope to enquire what went wrong with me as I was further down the convoy. Great concentration from your part about the convoy and its drivers even though you were so high up the slope with your car and almost out of sight. No point in doing a post mortem of the incident at this point though I need to stress 2 points at this level of drive. From the beginning I joined the club the Marshals have stressed not to deviate from the path they have already set. An IM driver is supposed to follow this rule throughout the drive. 2nd point is once you have lost your momentum there is no point in fighting gravity to make up for the loss of momentum. How many times our Marshals have stressed this during the initial briefing of a drive. I can't understand why someone cannot follow these 2 basic instructions. I'm sorry to say this @PaoloMaraziti you broke both these rules. Don't think I am harsh on you but this is the truth. Once anybody accepts a Marshal to lead them through these unforgiving places then they should be trusting him to get him out alive. A marshal has already put his life on the line to lead us through a place where there is no path so that we can follow him to learn and to enjoy. I was flabbergasted when @PaoloMaraziti refused to come out of the car when the car was securely anchored not to slip down with @Ranjan Das's winch and a rope tied to @Shaaz Sha's car. This created some tense moments for his safety as white smoke started to come out from under the engine hood. Anyways it was Paolo's decision to stay in the car until the senior member came to rescue. God Almighty saved us from further mishaps by protecting @PaoloMaraziti. I need to say thanks to Paolo for giving me a chance to witness this ultimate recovery. No wonder @Gaurav is considered a desert expert. Each step of the recovery was a lesson I wouldn't forget in my life. Even the last advice to up Paolo's tire pressure to 20psi to lower the rolling resistance when being pulled. Treat to watch how @Gaurav anchors his car by digging into the sand to hold it steady while winching the other car out. I just saw how Gaurav did it and explanation you have to switch back to 2WD to dig in. I hope one day he will teach me this. Thanks to all who waited patiently till the end to see Paolo getting tugged out with @Rawad's car. Special mention about @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil & @Ranjan Das who spent a whole day under the glaring sun climbing up and down a steep slope. They have surely burnt lot of calories and have got a tan. I'm amazed with the physical stamina of @varunmehndiratta, @Arman, @Mario Cornejo who climbed the slip face of the slope many times when asked and the bravery of @JeromeFJ who volunteered to sit in a precarious car trusting the Marshals so that it could be steered down. My hero of this incident is @JeromeFJ and I'm willing to drive with him to the end of the world if he wishes to take me. No worries we didn't make it up to Yellow truck. I saw the yellow truck with the Desert Champ @Wrangeld the next day. Most important we overcame this ridiculous situation and came out to tell others about the most incredible experience we faced in our life.

Thank you Richard @Wrangeld for your kind words of appreciation. Under your lead we achieved what we came for to LIWA all the way from Dubai. Kudos to all the drivers in the convoy. Most of them were new faces to me but they all drove well. Everyone stuck to the instructions of the Marshal and everyone made it to Yellow Truck & back. As Richard explained to us at the end of the drive we have come here to see the Yellow Truck and we did that without a single mishap. Great lead and great planning from the Desert Champ @Wrangeld. It would have been a disaster getting a malfunction in a car so far inside the desert and Richard made sure we stuck to our goal even though the temptations were plenty. Not even one passenger complained of motion sickness or any discomfort. The credit goes to only Richard for the careful selection of tracks. The beauty of the landscape was stunning and I have shared some pictures in the gallery. The best picture I liked is of the Marshal itself.

Congrats @M.Seidam. You deserve it. Never forgotten your words "WELL DONE THOMAS" when I was sideslopping on a drive under @Chaitanya D's lead. Till that time I was not sure of my abilities in off roading and was apprehensive after so many refusals and stucks. Your kind words kept me going on and here I'm at IM level with 85 drives under my belt. I have made it a practice on every drive when I see someone doing good to say well done. Who knows he or she may get inspired by those words and become a better off roader. See you soon in the sands under one of the drives under your lead.