Thomas Varghese

The UNEVENTFUL DRIVE Drive started by 5.15am as when the lead arrived all the convoy was ready to move deflated and flags up. After a very short briefing @Shaaz Sha went on to lead as usual. It was straight adrenalin drive from the start. No warm ups and immediately into serious offroading. As an experienced driver I was thinking when will be the 1st refusal and thought within 10 min of start up as Shaaz went into his overdrive mode from the time he switched on his 4X4 dial. Surprisingly the convoy was made up of drivers with nerves of steel combined with careful and responsible driving techniques. Didn't hear anyone asking help for atleast 30 min into the drive. When the need arised Shaaz decided to hand over the responsibility to @Sudhanva Sonawane the freshly promoted CF for a tug which he executed like a ballet dancer. Precise instructions to the driver of the car being pulled and a gentle tug. Kudos @Sudhanva Sonawane. I appreciate the handing over of responsibility to him. There is a point where everybody has to learn and get experience. The convoy moved smoothly through all the challenges Shaaz had put forth sans some minor refusals here and there. @Imteeaz the sweep rose up to the occasion and handled the recoveries like a pro. Please bear in mind he is relatively new as a sweep. But he held up the responsibility Shaaz gave him and handled situations at the back like he knows it by heart. Nobody could be left behind under his watchful eyes at the very back. Congratulations @Imteeaz. I'm impressed. This made the task of the lead at the front much easier as he didn't have to go back to recover refusals himself 99% of the time. The instructions given were crystal clear and precise. The only time Shaaz and me had to reverse was when there was the pop outs. Pop outs 🤣. We had our share of pop outs in the drive. Just 2. Considering the challenges and the track I was thinking there would be minimum half a dozen. It all started with @Shaaz Sha's front left tire protested about the punishments he had been giving them since they were installed and decided enough is enough. There was a ply separation in the tire and it became flat. But Shaaz had his spare tire intact and spared no time installing it and was gone wroom. After that came the 2 pop outs. With a hefty 3 ton jack in our convoy and some able bodied men to do all the work the pop outs were fixed in less time than a professional tire shop would do. The drive extended upto 10.30am to reach the exit as the title of this drive mentioned, it was an uneventful drive. Pop outs, refusals, stucks were all dealt with how a professional desert convoy would do. None of this adversities can dampen the spirits of passionate offroaders. Even the blaring sun couldn't dampen our spirits. Thank you @Shahid Mehmood, @george charbel, @Ignacio Quindos, @TT_Dubai @Alfred Alinazar for joining the drive and giving me an opportunity to drive with you. See you soon in the desert.

Happy Birthday @M.Seidam

Thank you @Sunil Mathew & @Tom B for your kind words. I joined this drive to support my friend @Rizwanm2 on his 1st drive as a lead. I was not disappointed and neither do I feel anybody else who joined would be. It is always a pleasure meeting new friends in the drive. @Sam K who drove behind me did exceptionally well. @Jonny90 behind him did too. The surprise was @Gurcharan Mehta who I am meeting for the 1st time and his LC. Drove exceptionally well. It was a beauty to watch him climb all the dunes with ease. The sunrise was beautiful but more beautiful was the grin on @Rizwanm2's face from ear to ear right from the beginning of the drive till the end. Well done buddy. Wish you all the best. You will also have much fanfare as a lead in coming days. Nothing to comment on @Hisham Masaad as he is always at his best behind the wheels. I don't wish to comment on a maestro and make him look ordinary.