Rob S

Cracking drive! Thanks @Davie Chase and @Patrick van der Loo

Hi @Simon D okay to join?

Think @JeromeFJ has covered off the drive report well. Thanks for taking us through the desert this morning. 

Great learning opportunities for everyone today, whether you were recovering yourself from a stuck or watching on and taking some mental notes. 

Not much exercise, running or shovelling for me today so I'll need to visit the gym. 

Thanks everyone and have a great weekend, few images of you all decending the bowl in the gallery. 

I think @Davie Chase and @Sunil Mathew drive report covers pretty much everything! 

Great to see more newbies learning the art of desert driving! Keep up the enthusiasm and the learning, whether it's watching the car Infront, the car behind, or learning self recovery when it's your turn to get stuck! Everything at newbie level is a learning opportunity.

Some photos added to the gallery!

See you all soon!

Swift inflate and made it back home by 12! Allowing me a quick turnaround before brunch! 

Thanks @Davie Chase for another great lead through the sands, and a great last drive of the year! Top job @Ben Lee for SL and thanks @Frederic for joining and securing the convoy in the middle. Shovelling (and brushing) when needed. 

@khlief and @Jitin only one refusal for each of you I think on your second drive. No shovels needed, well done to you both. 

Shovels required for @Shinebabu a couple of times but this gives greater opportunity to learn the car, and how to recover from stuck situations with only shoveling in key areas. Self recovery was made little difficult with the slightly damp sand in places but once your were able to master full left and full right steering with the right balance of throttle it became much easier. Well done and no gym required this weekend. Sometimes recovering yourself from stucks is more satisfying than having an easy drive!

For the guys at the back, some of the ruts in the track got quite deep in places. Always be careful not to carry to much speed and aggressive steering in this situations. Often it can result in pop-outs, though non today! 

Enjoy the rest of the weekend, and happy new year. 

Thanks to @Gaurav for leading us through the beautiful dunes of Lisaili. Thanks to @Imran Asghar and @Pacific for the support and well done to @sohinik for wonderful 2nd Lead job.

Our journey started through the camel farm where potentially @Damian lost his flag material in the trees. Always good to remember when navigating on the roads of overhead obstacles. Then onto the smaller dunes, finishing on some of the taller wide open dunes on the hardfaces of the dune. 

No use of the rope today, which is testament to both Gaurav's smooth tracks and attentiveness of the drivers to make sure they were able to follow and navigate the terrian succesfully. Difficult to comment on the drivers right at the front and also the back but directly infront of me @Jitin and @Abdullah N(and @khlief a little further forward) had their first learning opportunities to self recovery. During my time in newbie and fewbie drives these refusals gave great opportunity to learn the art of self recovery and how your vehicle handles.

At all levels, its important to stay calm, annouce on the radio you are stuck, mentioning your name and car, then listen carefully to instructions on the radio for the lead or support team. All three of you did fantastic job here, ensuring swift recovery and no damage or requirements for further assistance other than left and right steering and some expert shoveling from the support team. Well done guys.

Looking forward to seeing you all again soon in the sands. 

Great drive today! Thanks @Davie Chase and the rest of the convoy! . . . New spray bottle has been ordered

Hi Mohit, can you explain a bit more what you mean by "car is taking a bit of abuse"

Although I drive a modified FJ (Lifted with Dobinson's suspension) I don't feel the car takes to much of a beating on intermediate level drives (though driving slowly through cross tracks is required!). Unfortunately I cannot compare driving stock FJ! 

I too bought another car as my daily now, so can keep the KM off the FJ and it can be my desert toy for many years to come. 

Great drive today, thanks @Davie Chase for leading us through the sands. @Emanuel and @Rafey Hashmi for Second lead duties and @Mike M. as sweep!

The day started with a few spots of rain along the E44 and I was bit worried about what the weather may do! turned out to be an amazing morning, but as most of the convoy found out, driving on wet sand is little different!

Most of us deflated to slightly higher PSI than usual (I went for 15 vs my normal 12!), briefing completed and we were off into the dunes. 

I had anticipated a pop out or two given the conditions, but seems the higher pressures plus great driving of the convoy, avoiding any fighting against gravity meant I was wrong (I think everyone understood the risk from the briefing  ) 

Convoy progressed well, once Davie picked up the pace, we had a couple of breaks in the convoy, as i mentioned on the radio, as you get more experienced you will be able to evaluate the correct distance to the car in front, being far enough behind to stop safely incase of refusal, but close enough so you can watch the car in front navigate the obstacles. (you learn a lot from watching others).

One or two refusals were quickly deal with and the drive proceeded well till our Second Lead @Emanuel's bash plate decided to loose a bolt or two and part detach from the car. After removal and safely secured in the back of the pajero, we made decision to exit Emanuel to avoid causing issues to the car, with the front now having zero protection and various mechanical bits exposed.

For last hour @Rafey Hashmi did a great job to replace @Emanuel in second lead and we once again hit the dunes for the final hour. One or two more refusals dealt with, inflated and made it home in time for lunch. Thanks again all, see you again soon.

Hi everyone, 

for those who have not driven in wet or damp sand, I suggest deflating to a higher PSI than normal. If you usually run 14psi, go for 16/17, if you usually run 12psi, go for 14/15. We can easily reduce a little during the drive but having that bit more air in the tyre will avoid any early pop-outs! 

See you all in the morning

checkout this link about compressors @Rahul6157 and @Rohit Deginal

Just at the carwash so thought to use the time to say thanks @Islam Soliman for taking us through the sands. Thanks @anish and @Simon D for the support!

Well done to @Rahul6157 and @Rohit Deginal for your first outing on the sand. You both did great, following instructions, not fighting gravity and self recovering from one or two stucks. 

Others Infront of me and directly behind did very well. Key learning of the day were balancing the gap to the car Infront and choosing right place to stop, or start when the convoy got moving again. I became the victim of this shortly after Rahul's stuck but managed to self recover with aggressive right and left steering along with blipblip of the throttle. 

We also got to learn the use of the shovel for self recoveries from a crest, digging a V channel in front and behind the crested car. . . . And a little bit of a push at the end too! 

See you all again soon!

Absolutely gutted to read this @Hisham Masaad. Wishing you well, hope to see you on the dunes sometime somewhere! Yalla push 👍

Fantastic drive today! Thankyou @looper! Well done to all, special shout to @Patrick van der Loo for tough job in SL and @Rajiv Sam sweeping! 

"Looking back in the choices the made to join the drive" is a very true statement! At the beginning and around superbowl it was muddy/cruddy/horrible in the tracks at the back. However, it was a great drive in-between those at the beginning and the sand and route chosen by looper through the second half made it a fantastic morning!

Thanks again and well done to everyone! 

Hi Looper, Just quick triple check. Start location is Badayer area not the start point sometimes used for Shuwaib drive right?  

I will create some tracks for you guys at the back, don't worry 😀

Its been a while Mr Hisham. Don't think ive dropped out of one of your drives and have zero intention of doing so this weekend.  Sorry Waitlist . . . . . .  im IN, YALLA PUSH.

Was great driving with everyone on Saturday, thanks @Looper for the drive, @Ranjan Das for sweeping and great job by @Mohit Gurnani in Second lead along with the rest of the teams in the convoy. Think looper covered off quite well with his debrief. I didn't see much of the people behind but was watching closely @Rk ram and @Deepak Eswar. 

@Rk ram as i mentioned, once you get the balance and momentum right in climbing the side of the crests you will be able to position the car a  little more "on top" of the crest before crossing to the other side. It will be come easier with a little more practice.

@Deepak Eswar your Rubicon is powerful car but short wheel base makes it little less stable on the crests. Try to find the right balance of speed vs momentum and don't be afraid to steer down, loop round and attempt again if the car starts to fish-tail. Looper has his name for that exact reason

See you all again soon

Congratulations @Looper, looking forward to joining your convoys when I am back in the sands! 

Well done @Davie Chase, looking forward to joining some of your convoys soon once I'm back in the dunes!

Cracking drive today, thanks @Hisham Masaad and the rest of the gang! managed to take a few photos as sweep but having trouble uploading. Will try again tomorrow! 

Brooom brooom 🥳

I'm not sure my radio will be able to hear Hisham with the long convoy but I'll be shouting yallah push regardless!

Hi all,

What a fantastic drive yesterday! Thanks to @Frederic for the detailed planning and leading us on the epic 150km journey via the desert to Sweihan! Thanks to @Looper and @Zed for the support to the convoy and well done to the rest of the convoy, everyone drove excellently!

looking forward to seeing you all on the sand again soon! 

Congrats @Imteeaz, I still remember our first fewbie ride together! Its been great driving with you and watching your skills grow and the Patrol modification journey! Looking forward to seeing that Patrol supporting and sweeping from the back of the convoy . . . .  Welcome to the team!! 

I'd be interested to find out why it has different bolts. It could suggest a previous repair and that the oil pan has been off before, bolts broken and not replaced properly. . . . . . .