Solo Bats 6.0

[Mo Sh]

Hello to All,

This was a quite learning experience that you drive on your own at night, nothing but your shovel for the help and ( @Solmaz) grin .

i reached a little late due to the Valet was unable to get the Airbus out the parking took them 25min before they informed me so i was very late. reached the meeting point to see everyone ready and being briefed!

i started 5th or 6th car, i was just told to go! at night you could see the lights of the other cars going all over the place climbing up and going down, who is doing 2nd try and who is stuck...

I have to say this area is NOT TRUCKS Friendly love you, Shamsi!

the points were a real challenge as they can be inside a devil's bowel or sky high dune with powder sand!

navigating by yourself choosing what you think is the best track for you is where you really get tested!

you burden these choices and if anything happens it's your responsibility to deal with whatever comes from it.

All did well in my humble opinion, everyone reached their home safely, in 1 piece, and with a tummy full of many things that got served by the generous fellows of Almosters specially @Tamam ICE cold watermelon that ended up as @RashidJass Birthday Cake! HAPPY BIRTHDAY HAJI grin .

in the way back we had nice small bowel that Rashid couldn't resist to let us have a go in it!

Thanks to all who organized and helped in this event making and succeeding, BIG Thank you for @Solmaz for not 1 or 2 but 3 times rescue!! "Remember your favorite customer" thumbsup

Till next time

Mo Sh & Airbus on Standby killzonesmiley

[KIMOz]

Hii All

I reached ontime to the meeting point and everyone was checking on me to make sure that iam awake. grin ... After deflating and preparing everything, I checked all the coordinates for the last time to make sure that they were saved correctly. The points were SB01 to SB05.

We had our breifing that was conducted by @Booy in which he explained the game and He mentioned the sequence of the drivers. In addition, he was saying that the Lucky person is @KIMOz as he is the first driver to hit the dunes.

I started the drive by around 10:20pm. Headed to SB01 which was the highest point of all the five points then I went the the other points in sequence till i reached to the end point at around 11:06pm. I was so happy to finish the game without having any stuck or getting created or having any situations and after I finished, I understood why @Booy was telling me that I was lucky. That was because I was driving on virgin Sand without any tracks and was designing my own.

After I reached to the end point, reported to the marshals and relaxed in the dark till @Alkhateeb and @Falcon joined. They stayed with me for some time then they left. After that, the other members reached.

We had a great night where @yazan and @Thaer shared some Sohoor and Cold Watermelon which ended up as @RashidJazz’s BD cake. Happy Birthday @RashidJazz.

To sumup, it was an wonderful night and great thanks to @Booy and @RashidJazz for the organizing and support.

See you soon in Sand,
Cheers,
grin

[presa]

Hey Almosters!

We had an amazing night driving at night in Al Badayer area.

The idea of this drive is to navigate in a high dune area, at night, by yourself... and everyone did great!

I was in the middle pack when I left and there were a few tries on the first dune, but choosing the back of the dune made it easier to climb it - although Mosh didn't agree with me and climbed by the step side :)

I used the drive to enjoy the sand and did a different track, going behind the 1st and 2nd dune... it was challenging, but this is the idea :)

We were close to Solmaz and she, as gentle as ever, help me when I decided to enjoy a very soft crest dune, near 3rd point. One more point to Solmaz!

4th and 5th point were not a problem to reach, and although I couldn't see anyone in front of me, I was surprised to see Kimoz at the last point, already sit on his chair, having tea and enjoying the stars!! I did it in about 1h00, with no rush, but Kimoz was lighting fast and finished much faster than I did! Those FJs are fast machines!! ORLY ORLY ORLY

We gather to chitchat and enjoyed the company of Almosters, but before 01h00 I left, since I had to wake up by 6h00 to take some work colleagues from abroad to offroad... that is a good reason :)

I am curious to know what was the total points the advanced and Marshalls made grin grin grin

Thank you Booy and Rashid for organizing this challenge/drive you guys rocks!

[Scorpio]

Hello All,

This was my 2nd Solo Bats (SB) drive and it was more interesting than the previous one; may be because the route was longer. This time we finished at Super Bowl as compared to last SB when the finishing point was Iftar Bowl.

I reached at the meeting point at 9pm and as expected no one was around because the meeting time was 9:45pm. I had the plan to offer the prayer in Badayer so reached early. I think it’s good to pray before you go alone in the desert at night scared ! Well, we had the briefing by @Booy and @Rashidjass about the drive plan and the sequence in which the Intermediates and Advanced drivers would be sent in the dark. It was 1 Advanced after every 4 Intermediates. The participants were to go to each GPS points in a safe way using the navigational and GPS skills that we have learnt from almost4x4 and if someone gets stuck or has a pop-out then he can try to self-recover himself. Participants can help each other and Advanced drivers can also help Intermediates to earn points/credits playingsmiley . At the end, the Marshals were to sweep the whole route and help and rescue if anyone is left behind. Radio communication was mandatory and has to be maintained all the time, whenever required, to keep the Marshals aware about your status. I was in the middle and started at around 10:35pm. There were 5 GPS coordinates to reach to with the last at the Super Bowl.

As we had received the GPS points in the PM therefore, we had the time to study them and find out the approximate distance from one point to the other roughly. I did not off-road this Ramadan until the SB and was away from the desert for good one month hence was full of adrenaline that I was finding hard to control. Although, I had the plan to go easy and safe but the moment I was given the signal to go ahead I was a different person on fire . From Badayer Shops to Point 1 which was the farthest around 4km, I was literally going intermediate style – the adrenaline rush effect. I saw many tracks in between, some fresh and some old, but I was just driving like as if I wanted to flatten all the dunes that night :twisted: ; just like when a kid is set free in the magic planet or in the swimming pool after staying away for quite a while. After reaching Point 1, I started feeling better in terms of controlling the excitement of being in the sand after 1 month yaeh am not durnk .
The drive from Point 1 to Point 2 and then to Point 3 was also completed without any issues also but this time I was a bit more cautious and had the feeling in mind that ‘enough playing around :!: ’ now I need to reach to the last point. After reaching Point 3, when I was moving towards Point 4, I saw @Abu Odai who had a pop-out so I stopped by to give him company and to help him fix it. I think its destined for me and Abu Odai to meet in the desert in SB drives - Abu Odai, do you remember the last SB as well? thumbsup . Well, after the pop-out is fixed I started moving towards Point 4 again. Now Point 4 was on my 3 O’clock position and there were two ways to go there at that time. First, to bring back the side-cresting mode and enjoy the fear of getting crested if you miss and second was to go easy around dunes. Naaah, second option was too boring so I switched to the Sport+ mode again ninja . I think after Point 4, I reached to the area where @Mosh, @Solmaz, @Tammam were there and now all of us had to move to Point 5. I knew if we all move together then I would become part of the convoy which I did not want to in order to continue enjoying my way to the last point. But since we all had to go to the same point and we all were together so at some point or the other we were following each other tracks intentionally or unintentionally. I reached at Point 5 at 11:50pm and reaching there brought all the relaxation to me of not only driving back in the desert after a while to enjoy the adrenaline but also to complete the route safely.

We had good chit-chat at the Super Bowl; had arabic sweets, fruits, dates and cheese bread; thank you @Yazan, @Tammam and everyone. It was a pleasant surprise to find out that it’s our guardian angel’s birthday so we consider the half-cut watermelon as the birthday cake for Rashidjass and wished him thumbsup . We left at around quarter past 1am from there I think, under the lead of Rashidjass and Booy as a sweeper and enjoyed some high revs in one of the bowl again before hitting the tarmac.

Thank you all for having this drive arranged for us that provided us good learning experience of driving alone at night in the desert using the GPS.

See you soon in the sand!

Cheers thumbsup

[Solmaz]

This was my first night drive since last summer and also my first Solo Bats ever. I don't know how, but I managed to miss them all since my intermediate upgrade.

Driving solo is a whole different experience just by itself but when you add night drive and GPS points to the mix you get a perfect challenge. I enjoyed every second of it.

I had Agalon with me as my passenger and we left as the 5th car after Airbus you seem to be serious . Just before the first point I found Mohanad and Mosh stuck back to back after a failed rescue operation. Double points for me XD

After that one rescue for Presa and twice more for Airbus. So I finished the night with total of 5 rescues. I had two close calls with Yazan, unfortunately he self recovered both just before i reached him. TT TT

Oddly my radio was mostly quiet during the drive. Later when we all met at Superbowl I noticed that i was only receiving the radios that were very close to me, so if i missed anyone's call for rescue, i am really sorry.

Rest of the night was classic Almost, good company and lots of treats to share blank

[Booy]

Hello everyone,

Another fun night out in the desert.

If you managed to reach the end point by yourself, and without any damages to you car, you did very well in this challenge.

I was the last one to leave, as sweeper, and picked up a few recoveries on the way.

Once again, everyone pushed their own skills to another level, and this is a good way for you to see where you need to improve and where you experience short comings.

Keep driving, keep having fun, and improve your your skills while doing so.

Till next time..

[Abu Odai]

Hi All

This is one of my favorite drives in the club because its improved and polished the driving skills especially when your are alone and in the dark.

I was the second to move after @Kimos and the dunes were almost fresh. while i was driving toward point 1 i got stuck bumper to bumper then the action begin with my shovel (40 minutes of digging ) to remove the maximum amount of sand from front , and finally the car got out self rescued.

After some time i had pop out , thank you @Scorpio for the help , and near last point i got another one with same tyer (no wonder since i was 7 psi with HT tyers ) got fixed quickly , thank you @Tammam , @solmaz.

it was great night , super drive , and blessed Sohour with almost family.
Thank you @Rashid , @Booy , and all drivers for making this success night.

[Mohanad]

this was an amazing experience and i wish we can have similar drives more often.

i was the 3rd car in the drive and i was enjoying the drive. i finished the first point and when i was going to the second point i got crested on a very hard and sharp crest. Mosh was close by and came for the rescue but we ended up both stuck due to the narrow space in the area. after that stuck the car started making noise. i ignored it and i moved to point number two. but then the noise became very loud and i did not want to take the risk. i called on the Radio for help. Rashid and Shah came to me. Rashid checked the car but couldn't figure out the problem. so he lead me through an easy track back to the street. i went back home with big disappointment for not finishing the drive.

well, the car was fixed the next day. it was the steel sheet covering the drive shaft !

thanks all for this amazing experience.

see you in the sand.