JeromeFJ

Dear @Lorenzo Candelpergher, please add me to the wait list, for 2nd drive. Ready to support as needed. Thank you

Thank you @Shaaz Sha and @Luca Palanca Falsini for the exciting drive yesterday. @Shaaz Sha for your first lead you have immediately set a serious level with no compromise. Very enjoyable to follow your line through the challenging terrain! You managed to make the maximum use of the possibilities considering the other convoys and cars circling around. 

For us it required our full concentration to navigate through the bowls and ridges, and avoiding the soft patches, every thing you would expect from an IM drive !

Thank you @Abu Muhammad for the support and @Russ for the sweep and assistance, if it was a test for your new role, you passed brilliantly !

@Luca Palanca Falsini, @Abu Muhammad, it was a pleasure meeting you for the first time, @Thomas Varghese, @Javier Lucero @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil @Rawad @Amir @Ranjan Das @Chinthaka Ruwan , alway nice to drive in your company, see you next week, for the ones who manage to click Sunday evening before 7:01 pm !!

Congratulations @Russ, you are already a very reliable support in any drive. It will continue to improve !

Bravo @GauravSoni, well deserved 👏👏 ! Whatever the drive, you are always supportive and enthusiastic !! 

Another signature drive by @Ale Vallecchi this morning. Personally, I love it ! A great variety of terrains, beautiful scenery, wildlife, and a real desert route that you can see on a map, with a starting point and a destination. And all these long range drives put together start building our own UAE desert map. Even if not that difficult, there were some tricky parts, and keeping the concentration and focus during the length of the drive, navigating through the vegetation or on top of the ridges required our full attention. I did not take my camera out !

Thank you @Thomas Varghese for the 2nd lead, very efficient, @Gaurav Soni for the support, and @Mario Cornejofor the sweep, @Rob H for the assistance, @Russ, @Looper, @Sunil Mathew for the company. Always a pleasure to drive with all of you. @Rawad, I hope the troubles will be solved with not too much issues.

Yes @Ruan van den Heever, it was definitely a scary moment. These guys were falling from the top of the dune like rolling stones. I don't think there was any mistake form any side. We had no gap in the convoy, and we were going one by one negotiating this delicate criss crossing on top of a steep climb, and you have started just after @Werno cleared the way. They suddenly passed the ridge way above us, from the side, and I don't think they could have seen us either. However, the same way we had spotted them 2-3 min before, they should have spotted us also, and taken this steep slope with care. You had the good reaction, aborting the climb and going down safely, but they did not show much consideration, and the rest of the convoy was continuing coming down at the same speed. I don't think the cars came as close as 2m, but this is the closest collision risk I have seen in the desert.

For the rest, the drive was beautiful, thank you @Mehmet Volga and @marks for the lead, and the perfect choice of dunes. The convoy was really performing well, and we all enjoyed the continuous pace, and the nice lines on the sand. It was a pleasure to drive behind the 2 Jeeps @Ruan van den Heever ans @Werno, always perfectly in line despite the churned tracks. @Mus_hus78 was one more time demonstrating his skills at taking the Pajero on the top of the highest dunes, and giving helpful support when needed. 

@Zed, @Archibald Jurdi, @Anoop Nair See you all very soon !

Gd morning @Mehmet Volga, can you please add me to the WL, for 2nd drive ? Thank you

@Ale Vallecchi many thanks for the beautiful drive this morning. The exact UAE desert life discovery drive ! It was the occasion to see that desert is not only sand dunes, but can be full of life. Trees, vegetation, domestic and wild animals, farms,...everything was there, and this short convoy was perfect for discovery. The last area of red dunes requires definitely to come back and explore in more details.

Thank you @luis mantecon for the 2nd lead, good to see you back on the sand, very well done @Max Beloenko, considering Newbie Plus level of some portions. @Chris Wing, @Niki, always a pleasure to drive as FJ team !

Thank you for the drive this morning @Lorenzo Candelpergher! 
A beautiful itinerary with huge possibilities, and almost no tracks at all. The only convoys in sight were camels ! It is a gem! Definitely worth returning and exploring further. The landscape was superb and we could enjoy even if the pace of the drive was requiring  a continuous concentration .

thank you all for the support and company, @Shaaz Sha, I hope you can recover you car without too much troubles.

@Lorenzo Candelpergher thank you for the teaser and presentation of the drive. It's going to be exciting !!

Can you just check the link to meeting point. there is a dot at the end making the link invalid in the post above. The link on top of the drive post is correct

@qaiser ijaz if you are looking for beautiful desert scenery, you can join with no hesitation. I've done this drive before, and will sign up for a second time this Saturday !

Dear @Ale Vallecchi, for my part, what I like in the drives you propose is the exploration/ navigation part, the fact that we intend to reach somewhere, to travel in the desert, and not only climbing a high dune or circling a tight bowl. I like the fact that we use our vehicles capacities and our driving skills to navigate into the desert environment to reach a point, or travel far into one direction. Learning the specificity of the areas (geology, vegetation, wildlife, human activities) is also part of the interest. And doing so with an homogeneous convoy at FB+ or IM level just expands the possibilities.

So yes, sometimes, it might look a bit "easy" because if you isolate 20 min of the drive, one might consider that this single portion does not bring so much difficulty, but the fact that this 20 min portion is repeated 15 times in the 5h total duration of the drive is a difficulty in itself, and keeping the concentration and awareness to be ready for this slip face a bit more steep @3:47, or this sudden sharp turn at the end of a ridge @4:38 is also part of the challenge.

Having said so, I must admit, that I took the liberty in some occasions, especially in the Little Sweihan area, to go a bit higher than the car in front of me when the path was clear and the roller coaster fun was too tempting. Probably things that you see when you have a few cars in front of you to show the route, and when you don't have to worry with the navigation part.

We are lucky within @Carnity to be offered with a wide variety of drives, We have other possibilities for breathtaking bowls or climbs! I definitely appreciate a lot these long exploration drives, and considering how fast your drives are filling in the calendar on Sunday evening, sure I'm not the only one ! 

Great news @Niki ! You have always been very supportive, and giving patient and wise recommendations ! You will be a great asset to any drive.

🙈🙈🙈

Dear @Ale Vallecchi, thank you for the drive this morning ! This was really a full length border patrol, through areas I had never been before, except for the Little Sweihan, where we had already the opportunity to experience the tight dune cordons, the sharp crossings, and the nasty sand pockets. The drive was very fluid and in a beautiful environment including some wildlife, perfect mix for this Saturday morning !

Thank you @Gaurav Soni and @marks for the support, and all the convoy for the friendly team spirit !

@Kailas many thanks for the drive yesterday. The area is amazing and you know how to make the best of it for the convoy ! Congratulations again for your Marshal nomination, and all the best for the coming months !

Thanks @Paolo Pellegrini for the tug from my crest, and for the video ! I'm lucky enough to see my car going up and down through the dunes !

Thank you @Thomas Varghese  @Naveen Raj @Mus_hus78 @Paolo Pellegrini for the pics in the gallery, I've added a few for @Christian Andras @Hasan Wahlan . See you all soon !

Dear @Kailas, can you please put me on the WL for 2and drive ? Thank you

Amazing videos @Chinthaka Ruwan and @Ilya ! Thank you for sharing !

Very sincere congratulations @Kailas, well deserved ! It is always a pleasure to be in your drives ! Looking forward to more adventures under your lead !

Thank you @Ale Vallecchi for taking the time to prepare new itineraries and giving us the opportunity to discover new areas.

Reaching the meeting point in the fog was part of the challenge, and the same prevented the convoy to take the full measure of the first portion, but for sure it will be worth going back.  Then we could fully enjoy the nice mix of rollercoaster, ridge riding, and crisscrossing !

Thank you @Wrangeldand @Alex Raptor for the support, and to all the friends and new faces in the convoy. Sharing experience on previous drives and car mods is also part of the pleasure  !

Really amazing drive this morning! Many many thanks @Srikumar for unveiling the unlimited possibilities of the Sweihan world. The early moments of the drive where pure magic with the sun rising over the dunes still covered with fog below us. 

And the rest was just the continuation,  with high climbs,  bowls, ridges,  and the endless dunes. 

Thank to all the convoy allowing the continuous pace proposed by the master of the area @Srikumar!

Thank you @Lorenzo Candelpergher for the exhaustive drive report. It is always a pleasure to relive the drive, and often an opportunity to realize things we did not notice, as depending on the position in the convoy, the experience is different.

The first  picture is beautiful. Honestly I was wondering why you were putting so much efforts to take a backlight picture, directly facing the sun.  I don't know if it was worth eating the sand, but it is definitely part of what I like in your drives, it is a complete experience with the desert environment, not only the driving practice.

And thanks for your support, I've already signed for the IM drive in Abu Dhabi on Friday  

Dear @Lorenzo Candelpergher, many thanks for the drive this morning.

I enjoyed a lot this early workout before going to work. You have perfectly tuned the itinerary to enjoy the best views, avoiding direct sunlight in the eyes, and proposing maximum fun with the dunes considering the heavy soft sand and the so many tracks remaining from the weekend.  Thanks to all the convoy for the company and mutual support. Enjoy the rest of the week !

Well done @Rawad, bravo !

Bravo @Sunil Mathew ! well done !