munkybizness

Thanks so much for posting a unique topic on this @Frederic. I’ve struggled a lot with my Baofeng UV-5R on drives - including ours this weekend and once during a live recovery in which I was being assisted by @Niki. I use the squelch as much as I can when it gets bad but I fear it may be time to get a different handset soon if this continues.

Thanks Ale, I'll wait until Wednesday to ensure anybody who wants a first drive has had a chance to register.

Please waitlist me, as a second drive.

Please add me to the waitlist, as a second drive.

Congratulations @Warren Flay!

Congratulations @Lawrence_Chehimi!

Congratulations @S Jacob!

So far, I've been quite fortunate to do Fewbie drives with the majority of the marshals. All of this week, I've been looking forward to @Lorenzo Candelpergher and the reputation of his blitzy drives. While we didn't get the blitz, we got pristine sand with no tracks - except for camels & gazelles. And then we got a 2+ hours of twisting & turning. All that tight manoeuvring would have certainly given all of the LWBs today abs if they were hitting the gym Firstly, @Josh T., I hope you were able to get help on the road and were able to uncover what went wrong with that front-left tyre. Do keep us posted. You drove such a long way to be here with us - we'll welcome you back with a redemption soon Thank you @Gregory for playing an excellent SL as always. Having been on many drives with you - and your son - I am always confident that having you either in SL or CF brings a very sensible line to the convoy. @Sunil Mathew, having seen you across the forums for months now, I'm glad to finally see your bright yellow beacon keeping the end tight. Having your experience a couple of cars back was enough reassurance that I had support when I needed it. @Daniel Yang - you put those extra 25HP to excellent use today. While we didn't need a lot of throttle today, I could see you so effortlessly gliding up slopes. Always a pleasure to have another Y61 on the drive. @Mohammed Mansoor - two drives in two days! Both @Bernard Kalaaniand I heard your V8 roar, not to mention that you also steamrolled the vegetation and the any bumps that came with them. You also added some extra fun for us in the back by churning up more sand through those beastly wheels. And finally, Lorenzo, thank you for exposing us to this entirely new area. From the views to the twists, for all of our driving time, my attention was only in the drive. A second of diversion meant discovering a nasty step that had caught me unaware. And I guess that's where you took one for the convoy in what must have been a pretty nasty nose rub. I can't wait to be on another drive with you where we retain your blitzy reputation but even if we don't, I'll happily take doing crunches with my Y61 in your convoy. Safe travels tomorrow! And to the rest of the convoy, see you all out on the sands again soon

Showing up to a Pajero party in the morning - @salah2u& @Mohammed Mansoor's menacing Y62s to @Sara EL FANIDI's limber SWB JK, @Joji vargheseand his skill-full murdered-out Fortuner, @Rsjiv Samuel's clean lines FJC, and of course @James Thorn's beefy beast - thank you for evening out the marques 🤣 I joke because with a total driving time of 3.5hrs, of which only 30 mins were spent with some minor refusals, today was a smooth sailing convoy and one of the quietest radio comms. For the latter - thank you! It was lovely to settle into a peaceful trance at the back rather than listening (& chipping) into bad jokes usually powered by the lack of coffee. You would have all heard me pip up as I've been spoilt hard in the other drives. I can get used to this more Thank you @Frederic & @Warren Flay for giving us the best path out, and @Yousef Alimadadi in his lovely two-tone Pajero - providing ample guidance and keeping our core tight and agile. As my first sweep role, I would like to report that I had nothing to do than follow Samuel & James who were so deftly helping our convoy slink forward. I would also like to report that I did not get up to any munky bizness ( no photos so it didn't happen ) See you all out on the sands again soon

Just back from break, and catching up on everything I've missed. This is up there! Supremely well deserved @Niki - your presence in the drives always inspires confidence, and here on the forums you're the voice of reason with some of the finest photography of our drives.

Hi @Frederic, please waitlist me, as a second drive

Congratulations @Islam Soliman! Really looking forward to joining your convoys soon - especially one for us obese LWBs 🤓

From the flavorful radio bursts to that flitty feeling in the stomach ascending & descending, this was a drive to remember. And do over, and over again. Thank you @Gauravand the entire convoy for making this such a great day out. So anxious was I for this drive, that I fast-tracked changing to A/T tyres this week even if I will be away from action for the next few weeks. And they delivered over and over again. Sitting at P6, meant I had the best of both worlds - the good fortune to not have to deal with too much churn, and to be able to see the beauty of our convoy channeling its way through these sands. In terms of statistics, the numbers confirm how much bigger these dunes are. And we still had more ground to cover. Throughout the drive, we were 200m above sea level. Towards the end, we scaled 300 - a sign of the climbs to come Once again, thank you @Warren Flayfor playing an excellent SL even though, between yourself @Gaurav and @S Jacob, and your SWB Pocket Rockets, I had to re-check my approach angles a few times and not get caught up in the excitement of where my car (and my passenger) shouldn't go. Thank you @Christian Andras for giving me the confidence that if I did get stuck, I had support right where I needed it. And so cool to see your boys out. Having my dad with me on the drive today, showed me the power of the memories you're inscribing into their consciousness. @Josh T. - we may not have talked today but I heard your Shaheen roar. We're coming to Abu Dhabi more often, and you're going to help announce our arrival with what's under that hood, with every bowl we pounce upon @Aisha S - what you lack in your taste of football clubs, you made up for in the energetic radio comms and your drive. Seeing you scale that dune towards the end was sheer joy! @Damien Ranjit - when I caught those Hulk-green springs peeking out from your tirewell this morning, I knew I would see a new side to your drive. The aggression today in some sections was amazing @ShereenMK - my first drive ever offroad was in an LC100 which looked exactly like yours. Seeing you on some crests in my rearview was such a nice trip down to nostalgia. @Santoso Marjuki - welcome to Fewbie I too sometimes get caught up with what I think my car should be able to do and it conflicts with what the sands are telling me. Gravity is a better voice to listen to. I'm learning to pay more heed to it too. @John Vanderbleek - please don't get concerned about getting stuck. I think the general rule is that if you're not getting stuck, you're not trying hard enough. And. you did really well. You were setting up the best approach angles for me and Damien to follow with LWBs. In a sense, you were the Second Second Lead to LWBs And finally @Arman - thank you for keeping our end tight 🙏 Thank you all, thank you Abu Dhabi, thank you cooler weather, and thank you @Gaurav See you all out on the sands again soon!

Thanks @Frederic! And good luck to all those heading out tomorrow morning 🏂

Didn't want to start a new discussion topic on this, and this seems like a good place to drop it in. If you're out and about this afternoon in Dubai, there's a pretty heavy sand storm that at some points reduced my visibility to 50m. My question though is - is there a concept of "fresh powder" with dunes just like there is with snow-covered mountains. Having spent some part of my life in extremely cold climates, I would look at snowstorms as the perfect opportunity to head out to the slopes the morning after to find some "fresh powder". Does the similar concept apply in the dunes? Or does it make driving more treacherous with more pockets of soft sand after?

That's an absolute shame. But I see exactly why too. Of all the drives I've been on between Dubai & Sharjah, it's one of the most scenically stunning places, but every time we've been out for a drive, it's been littered with trash. The base of Pink Rock, a few weeks ago looked like it was the scene of an overnight festival.