Fabien Monleau

The morning rain allowed me to expect a cool afternoon. But heat slowly came back, announcing the next summer and the end of the afternoon drives. Back to early wake up 😭 @Davie Chase made us a perfect and complete Newbie briefing. We had a beautiful Absolute Newbie and Newbie drive, led by @Davie Chase, taking nice lines, very comfortable in his teacher role. Everybody was driving extremely well. The support team, @Sunil Mathew and myself, was not very active and almost, useless. By chance, @ChrisW disconnected his transfer case shifter cable to give us some excitement. We had to tow him to the closest exit😉 I have been very pleased to drive with all of you. I hope to meet you again when I am back from Namibia. Enjoy the next night drive organised by @Davie Chase next week 😉

Hi Gaurav, unfortunately I have to fly back to Africa and I won’t be able to join you. I wish a good and safe drive 😉

@Srikumar, Sweihan and Newbie ? What an explosive cocktail… Short night, very short night to reach Sweihan at 0630 sharp… A beautiful sunrise, cool temperature, a long convoy to sweep… Large dunes, hard sand, beautiful lines smoothly lead by @Srikumar … The convoy is sailing on the sand, from dune to dune… A few refusals quickly managed by @Benjamin and the convoy hits the road again as a train we cannot stop… And suddenly, the first issue raised. @Imran Asghardecided to use his exhaust as a cup holder and @PETELCZYC PAJERO - lukethought it was time to get new rims. @Davie Chasebecame MacGyver, jumping from an emergency repair to another emergency one. His good results, permitted us to exit at 11 am. Finally, I had a very pleasant and lazy drive as sweep. I enjoyed the beautiful sceneries offered by Sweihan dunes. I hope to drive with you again. I wish you a nice week 😉

Hi Jerome, unfortunately I have just woke up as O did not set correctly my alarm clock last night. I am very sorry and won’t be able to attend the drive on time today. Have a nice and safe drive

What to add to @Ale Vallecchipost ? After a month of break, back in Al Faqa… Heat and soft sand we’re waiting for us under the watch of Sauron… Deflete, deflete and deflete again to get the right grip… But defletion did not avoid to get stucked… Every recovery consuming your energy left… Happy to be back home… A big thanks to @Ale Vallecchifor his great lead, in this very challenging terrain… Very nice to drive with @Bashar Beashaand @salah2u I wish you a nice week I hope to drive with you again next weekend 😉

Starting at 5 am, temperature is cool. We have a Newbie convoy. It is so nice to support all new Comers, to shift from a Junior to Senior positions and to realize all the acquired experiences, after so many refusals, stacked, pop out or other mechanical issues… Thanks to @GauravSoniand @Looperfor leading us this morning and sharing their expertises, taking nice lines without never putting our Newbies into danger… Just enough for them to learn… Thanks to a great @Hisham Masaadin his support role… All our Newbies drove smoothly. I really hope to drive with all of you again, in higher groups… I wish you a nice week

Second time in a row, driving in Sweihan… With @Ale Vallecchifor an afternoon far away from work and for this morning with @JeromeFJ… Always amazing to drive through these high and virgin dunes, feeling confident, following great Leaders as @Ale Vallecchiand @JeromeFJ… As written by @JeromeFJ, we drove this morning through a mixed terrain, long and high dunes then short, high and technical dunes with soft sand… Always obliged to manually shift gears from 4H to 4L, I thank @Chris Wingfor his patience, behind me, while shifting my gears… After 6 months carrying my jerrycan full of petrol for nothing, I was pleased to fuel @Bjoernand to feel useful, during the break at the pond. At the end, seeing @Zedflying and not feeling taking off at my turn, I took a little bit on my left and I got stacked on the crest. Thanks again to @Chris Wingfor his quick tug 😉 Even if departure was very early from Dubai to join Sweihan, I took a real pleasure to drive with all of you… I wish you a nice week-end

When night had come, it was time to triangle closed by the love lakes. @Frederic lead us smoothly in this night. We faced some refusals, quickly self recovered. At the end of the drive, when dîner time was coming, I used my winch twice for not wasting time to recover @Tareq Al Turq I took a lot of pleasure to drive with all of you. A big thanks to @Simon D as second lead and @DP1011as centre forward support. Week end is over 😭I hope to drive with you next weekend 😉 Have a nice week

Back at sunrise, summer is coming… Strange drive… The dunes of Al Bataeh are not higher than the dunes of Al Faqa, only color changes, green… It was a real intermediate drive, to slalom in between high bushes, in soft sand… To ride irregular ridges with humps at the bottom, sharp drops on the top, almost impossible to pusch… In this challenging terrain, @Varun Mehndirattalead us smoothly, playing with the obstacles… Some refusals and stacked, quickly recovered by very good intermediate folks… It has been a pleasure to drive with all of you… Have a nice week 😉

I will be 10 min late

In 😉

After a month break in Namibia, it was a real pleasure to be back in the desert and to follow @M.Seidam. We have performed a short warm up in the technical dunes of Al Faqa prior reaching little Sweihan. After few refusals and a pop out, darkness has come and we have ended our drive under the stars… Thanks to @Hisham Masaadfor his sweep role… Congratulations to @Ahmad Nerat for his first FB+… Nice to drive again with @Mohammad Anwareven if you drive a Nissan Patrol now and no more, your legendary LC… I won’t be able to join you this weekend. I wish you nice drives and hope to drive with you again and soon 😉

We left the camels’ races to enter the desert. Slow path with some refusals quickly recovered. @Gauravmade an incredible repairs on @sohinikcar to be able to exit car. Lucky enough not to be too far away from Lisaili. It was nice driving with you this morning. Have a nice week and hope to drive with you again, next weekend 😉

In

If places are the same, drives are always different. Not enough focus, I found myself stucked in a tricky situation. @Rob Ssecured my LC with his new FJ, to avoid capsizing while self recovering. Quickly and safely back on track, @Rizwanm2brought us from the technical dunes of Al Faqa to the technical dunes of little Sweihan to exit in Al Qadra. Despite some refusals, convoy drove almost perfectly. Have a nice week and hope to drive with you next week 😉