All Lead X

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rapailo
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Hah their you go wtfsmilie . It look like I will open this trip report topic and I hope that that will not cause Armageddon tomorrow as usually I am an recorder in writing late reports.

This was another All Lead drive that was in Sweihan and as per [mention]JockJKU[/mention] this is the real intermediate area. "This is were you guys are going to suffer" [mention]JockJKU[/mention] was encouraging as usually grin . I thought it is going to be fun and it was. We were divided in two convoys and assigned points to follow and lead to and all coordinates were sent to us. And I didn't have a clue about it until I reached the meeting point wut . I started deflating and than [mention]Booy[/mention] told me "don't be lazy and put all of the point in your Garmin on fire . Thanks God [mention]Johanna[/mention] was there to help me so I got all my point in very quickly. Thanks [mention]Johanna[/mention] . We had some new comers with a car that I didn't believe will survive the drive with no damages but it did.

As usual on those kind of drive everyone got the chance to lead and it was fun. [mention]KIMOz[/mention] was first to brake the ice (I do not know if this phrase can be used in the desert but anyway) and he made very smooth route. Others followed and we had few stuck cars but nothing major I would say.

At the end it was my turn to lead in what I found very strange area. Moreover it started to get dark and it was a bit harder to read dunes for me so I hit one ditch but nothing serious. Some of the guys had issues with fuel quantity but had enough to get to end point. Due to that [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] patapon was my second lead for the second half of leading.

The way to the road was in complete dark which I enjoyed very much. I cannot wait for night drives to come. And it is going to be soon :shock: .
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Petr
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Hey guys,

It was a great drive, I wish I could stay longer :)

I was the third lead in [mention]Daggerfall[/mention]'s convoy, after [mention]Bu Zayed[/mention] and [mention]jose[/mention]. They started carefully to warm us up, probably due to the respect to the sizes of the dunes and to the very soft sand at some places. Then my turn came. First I was asked to go straight to my GPS point to escort [mention]Bu Zayed[/mention] who didn't have enough fuel. I tried to go as straight as I could, but got immediately stuck on a rim of a wall with a very soft sand. [mention]Scorpio[/mention] needed 3 attempts to get close enough to connect my rope. In the meantime Bu Zayed was escorted and then my timer started.

First we needed to pass a high hill, which was a bit challenge in the soft sand, but the convoy did well. I kept in my head [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] instructions - don't do anything crazy and mainly about keeping the flow. It took me some time to get the tempo but once I grabbed it, everything started to be easy and fun - like when you finally get it how to dance. I greatly enjoyed it and I think the convoy did too. When I was asked to stop due to a second try back in the convoy, [mention]Saeed FJ[/mention] stopped next to me, smiling, that he liked the track.

Since I lost a feeling of the time I got to my GPS point a bit early, so I went back on to play more. The area was close to the road though, and not to nice, so I decided to proceed to the other side and continue to play there. At one moment I thought that it takes too long and I am out of inspiration what to do next while not going far from my point. At the next moment I didn't spot a rim of a dune while descending and my Jeep dive-nosed, turned to the roof and to the side and bounced back on wheels. At this moment I heard [mention]JockJKU[/mention] in the radio: "Petr, time is over". My radio was at this moment out of reach so I couldn't respond - JUST IN TIME!

When the rest of the convoy reached the spot, I found I can continue driving, I just missed the back window and the back side one, and the body case was sideways. So I had to say goodbye to the convoy, and with [mention]Scorpio[/mention]'s escort we drove back to tarmac.

Now trying to fix the car, hope to be back in the sand soon!
Mohanad
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In my humble opinion there are two drives that really determin if you are an offroader or just a follower , All Lead and Solo drives. These two drives teaches us how to chiise the routes and take responsibility if our selves and others.

I arrived to the meeting point on time with [mention]Issa[/mention] to find out that something is wrong with my GPS and its not charging. Then [mention]Booy[/mention] saved the day and took my GPS to charge it.

Luckily we were split in to 2 convoys so we had 25 minutes to drive each. I was the se ond after [mention]KIMOz[/mention] . Before i started my turn i was stressed but once i started my turn i forgot every thing and i was just focusing on reaching the points and enjoying the dunes. The point i started in had small dunes coopare to the area so [mention]Booy[/mention] asked me to head to the big dunes and there the real fun started.

I have to say that the weather was hot and the sand was very soft so it was not easy to climb the big dunes.

Honestly, i feel that everybody did well and i enjoyed every part of the drive.

Thanks to our Marshals who organized and supported the drive.
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JockJKU
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Morning All!

I remember when i did my All Lead very well. I was very nervous and let the nerves get the better of me. My nerves came from only ever having driven off-road with the club, no private drives, never led etc etc. I guess why i am saying this is that i saw the same circumstances from guys at the start line and the looks on some of the faces were familiar and that it is OK to feel these things! The morale of the story is that the Club do this drive for Inters to gain the experience of leading, and within a short time at the front confidence grows and leading becomes a much easier and enjoyable task!

On the other hand, we also had guys that do lead on weekends, who were confident and very accomplished when their times came!!

Overall a very nice and enjoyable experience in the sand and nice to meet up with the other convoy at naqrah for some chit chat before heading back to the tarmac in the dark!

Thanks [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] for organising!

Till next time,

Jock
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presa
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Hi Almosters!

Another highly successful drive with Almost4x4!

My convoy was the 2nd and we were driving from the forest, going near the village, up to Nagran dune.

The convoy started on a lower than intermediate and warm up until, in my personal opinion, to its top level with [mention]Agalon[/mention] kicking everyone out of their comfort zones!! I am not talking about crazy danger climb and sidecrests, but precise medium dune crest ride, fast but controllable transitions keep it safe but at the limit of traction! I had great fun with it, thank you Bud!

On my leading, after agalon, I had half of it on the same area that Agalon, that was fun, but the transition between the fence and not going direct to Nagran, but playing on it access area wasnt a top notch drive, and this shows the need to prepare yourself, when leading, to careful select a good area, otherwise you will have a less the good driving experience.

[mention]Scorpio[/mention] assumed after my drive and took the group to play on Nagran, with long climbs and arches.

After it we meet the 1st convoy on Nagran and went back home. I am not sure what was our km, but we drove 80-90% of the 4,5h and I spend around 50-60L on my FJ, so wouldn't doubt some jeeps had to use the jerry can!
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Daggerfall
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Hi,

The weather was hot and the sand was burning you're kidding, right which indicates the summer is here sad but everybody was excited and ready for the drive at the meeting point!

We organized separate routes for both convoys . One with classic route to Nagra and the other one through more south including some uncharted areas for most of our members! ...I was at second convoy with [mention]JockJKU[/mention] and really enjoyed the area and I must add that I am planning to return that area since some of those dunes were crying while we were passing them by! TT TT

As mentioned before everything improves with practice and this was a good opportunity to do that under supervision and support . All our intermediates had 25 minutes each which I believe surprised them and some struggled to realize how it feels longer in the desert when you are leading grin

This was a good opportunity to experience the fun, responsibility, pressure and risks of leading a convoy and I hope all enjoyed it.

Some Notes:

* Its leading cars responsibility to manage the time
* Leading car should always communicate immediately with its second lead in case of any issues
* When you are committing to a crest , bowl or wall make sure there is always an exit plan available if the followers cant make it!
* Make sure you come drives with full tank!

Thanks to [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] [mention]Booy[/mention] [mention]JockJKU[/mention] and [mention]Solmaz[/mention] for the support and [mention]Scorpio[/mention] for escorting [mention]Petr[/mention] out and all particiated

Looking forward to seeing you on the next adventure.

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mkhiara
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Hi everyone,

The drive was amazing.. Driving with the experienced drivers is always fun.

I was in the Y62, stock car.. And the rest were in fjs and wranglers.. 😍

And it was my first time with my new tyres and I manage to pop my tyre out in the first five mins of my lead 😭.. However I the Marshalls and the leads were gr8 amazing experience. Cresting with the Y62 and the new tyres felt little scary but later on I was fine..

I got a lot of help from the organing team in setting my GPS as the mine was a giving funny. So thank you to all the organisers.🙏

I. Look forward to more drives with all of you.

Thanks to all the participants and organisers for the exciting drive

Best Regards
Mk.. (The man with beast) 😎
[mention]mkhiara[/mention]
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Agalon
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I was a bit late to the meeting due to the irresistable Mandi feast in Sweihan but catch the meeting and was ready before the briefing.
We got the usual safety warnings from @Daggerfall and lined up in our convoys. I was in convoy 2 with fellow almosters @Bu Zayed, @Jose, @Petr, @Saeed, @Yousef, @Presa and @Scorpio under supervision of @Daggerfall as 2nd Lead and @Jock as the time keeper/floater.
Weather was hot and sand was powder soft in some places. We started with an easy pace and along the way drivers started to warm up and the pace shaped accordingly.
Leading is not an easy task. Totally different from driving inside a convoy. You take the risk, check the destination, manage your timing and drive in a fun way while doing so. It gets better and better with practice and i should say floating as a support helps a lot.
When it was my turn, the thing i was afraid the most happened... No no no; not a jeep problem! My mobile which i use as GPS got overheated :) I had to wait a couple of minutes facing it to the A/C to cool it down. Once done we were ready to go. I tried to drive the way i enjoy. Thanks @Presa for the nice words!!! I am really happy if you had fun :)
Overall everybody did very well and the day was well spent. Thanks to the organizers and marshals for this opportunity.
See you next time...
AGALON
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Scorpio
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Hello Everyone,

This was my second All Lead drive and compared to the previous one I would say that I enjoyed this one more; reason being that unlike the first time when I was feeling the pressure on fire while leading, this time I felt very serene and enjoyed my time have a nice day .

As planned, we met in Sweihan and after the necessary briefing by [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] we were split into two convoys and me being the last one in the second convoy. Daggerfall was the second lead and [mention]JockJKU[/mention] was the time keeper and floating marshal of our convoy. This is the drive where we enjoy different styles of driving styles due to ever changing Lead car. For some of the Inters, it was their first experience to lead a convoy and I can understand their emotions and feeling when their turn came to lead. In my opinion, this drive provides an excellent opportunity to learn and practice to be the Lead car and one should try to utilize this opportunity to the best of his capabilities.

During the drive, we had to take a break and [mention]Petr[/mention] needed to exit to the road. Daggerfall allowed me to escort him out while the drive continued. After taking Petr out to the road safely, I returned and knew that the next lead car (which was [mention]Saeed FJ[/mention]) will be driving between which two gps points. So, I head to his destination point directly to catch up with the convoy there. After joining back the convoy, I placed myself back into my position.

Everyone got the chance to lead and I experienced almost all driving levels with our convoy. It would be worthy to mention about [mention]Agalon[/mention] lead, where I had to stick my gear to 1st thumbsup ….you can understand with that how was it. And I kept the same gear ON for presa’s lead as well…amazing guys yuush.

As I was the last one in the convoy therefore, I had to start from my point and end the drive at Naqra but at the end, the plan got a little changed and I actually got the opportunity to start from Naqra itself :) . Like everyone else, I had 25 min to play and after reaching to the end of the route, unconsciously my mind decided to play in the nearby area only. One other reason that probably let me took that choice was the sunlight factor – we were nearing to the sunset and I did not feel from inside that I should go away from Naqra at that time. Daggerfall and Jock mentioned to me after the drive that there were some nice chains of big dunes on the side and I could have gone there and play. I am sure if I had spotted them during my lead I would have asked Daggerfall or Jock first before going to those dunes (was conscious of the dropping sunlight) but anyways, there is always a next time…hoping to return to those dunes sometime soon with the marshals yuush .

I enjoyed my 25 min and gained valuable experience. Tried to challenge many crests whatever came on the way, conquered some and left some. Kept the rule to respect gravity all the time in my mind and tried to keep the momentum flowing and tried to keep the drive level interesting for the convoy. As the lead car, I found the crests more sharper and the climbs easier ORLY . It was a different feeling altogether and I would like to thank all the marshals for their training and guidance.

Well, the drive ended at Naqra where the other convoy had already reached before us and after some chit-chat on the drive experience with other almosters, we took the exit under daggerfall lead.

As truly said earlier by Agalon, floating around the convoy plays a big role in giving us the confidence and to learn the skill to read the dunes. It helps a lot when one has to lead a convoy – I personally felt the same as well thumbsup .

I would like to thank Daggerfall for arranging this drive and all the marshals to make this happen. I would like to congratulate all those who participated in this drive because of the unmatchable experience and learning that we have got from it.

Hope to see you soon in the sand…

Cheers all!
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Bu Zayed
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Hello everyone,

It was my first time to participate in such drive. I had finished the morning drive had lunch then came straight to the drive meeting point all excited forgetting that I have a JK and I have used half of the tank in the morning drive X3 No one had extra fuel in a jerrycan and no one had a hose I could use to get fuel from other cars. ( It’s a good point to keep a hose in the car for such cases).

[mention]Booy[/mention] and [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] decided to make me go first so that I can exit when I run low on fuel.
I started leading the convoy to my point having to drive in a new area didn't know what to expect. I saw big dunes blocking me from going to my point which means I will have to take a risk and try to climb them but I remembered [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] instruction to take it easy and avoid trouble areas so we don't get cars stuck or damaged. I tried my best to reach the point in time with a smooth drive which I guess was a good warm up for everyone in the convoy. Then I had to switch place with [mention]jose[/mention] who chose a nice track. After that it was [mention]Petr[/mention] turn but I was running short on fuel so I had to call it and asked to leave the drive. [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] asked [mention]Petr[/mention] to go straight to the next point which was close to the catch road. In his way, he got stuck in a high dune. At this point [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] asked me to come to him, there were more than one black FJ so I got confused on which one was he. I thought he was the one in the top next to [mention]Petr[/mention] so I climbed and all of a sudden my car engine switched off (btw the black FJ on the top was [mention]presa[/mention] ). Apparently, since I am running out of fuel all the remaining fuel in the tank shifted to the back of the tank and no fuel was coming to the engine. I restarted my car then followed [mention]JockJKU[/mention] to the catch road. From the road I saw the recovery of Petr, waited for it to be over then said my goodbyes to everyone on the radio and left.

Lesson to learn:

1- Always make sure to have a full tank before the drive.
2- If possible keep a jerrycan full of fuel as spare.
3- Keep a hose to help you get fuel if needed.
4- Marshal job of selecting the right track for us is not easy AT ALL. Thanks all Marshals for all your hard effort in making our drive safe and enjoyable.

Till next time grin
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