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Newbie all in V.9 - 16th October 2020

Posted: Sat Oct 17, 2020 9:56 pm
by Slydubai
Drive: Newbie all in V.9 drive to Al Qudra - 16th October 2020

Highlights:
-always follow a track
-2 x second attempts

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Let's start with the usual "thank you" to all the marshals, especially those supporting Convoy A (@Abu Jimmy, @alshamsi_m + one more gentleman whose name I haven't yet memorized.

We gathered near Murquuab entry point, just off Dubai-Al Ain road at 8.00am. It was great to see so many cars (little did I know there were more of them joining us near the camp site).

We started off with a quick chat about the Thursday's night camp and what it takes to be ready to attend one, before @Abu Jimmy and @alshamsi_m checked the attendance and divided us into three Convoys to make sure all groups can enjoy the drive at their level (why? Because newbie 10+ drives does not equal newbie 5- drives pacman).

After picking up the remaining campers, we left off to experience the beauty of the desert in early mornings - @alshamsi_m treated us to some impressive scenery including a bunch of camels, while @Abu Jimmy proved us that it really isn't about the car but the driver, tackling the dunes in a Suzuki Jimny. It was a very nice & relatively fast passage. Then, @alshamsi_m decided to have some fun with us and this is where things became a little bit tricky, with a handful of 2nd attempts as well as a couple of recoveries.

The highlight of the trip must be a ditch recovery, made particularly tricky due to the popout. If you look at this specific situation with the newbie eyes, you're thinking "wauw, this is not gonna happen", but the marshals REALLY impressed us with their experience. Not only did they recover the car without a single scratch, but also managed to fix the popout using a crest to their advantage. OSMILEY

We finished with a fast-paced drive to Al Qudra road followed by a quick chat - the campers were looking pretty keen to get back to their homes! Thanks for another great memory.

Slydubai, Black Wrangler TJ

Re: Newbie all in V.9 - 16th October 2020

Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2020 10:54 am
by David
As usual first to thank all the Marshalls that made the drive (and camp) possible.

For me the "drive" started Thursday night, my first camp with Almost and I was keen on seeing how it worked out.

Left the office very late but since meeting time 9PM still managed to reach on time, deflated already for the drive next morning and short drive to the camping site.

The beauty of the desert is that it always surprises you and Thursday night was windy and cold, very very cold, luckily I had packed 2 sleeping bags that kept my warm.

For me the best about camping is the chat around the campfire, it did not disappoint, various topics as it should be, from the offroading classics of drives, accidents, rescues, ... to the more general Arabtec, UAE labour Law or the fantastic welcoming traditions of the Eskimos in Greenland ...

One of the most important rules (and different from what I had experienced before) is that you only set up your tent when you are ready to go to sleep, you get into your car and drive to a location that seems to be good and as far away as possible from the noise and neighbours. When I was comfortable and warm inside my 2 sleeping bags I had to make the most difficult decision of the 2days, move the car to get better protection from the wind or not ... of course first I decided not to get out in the cold and hoped for the wind to ease or my tiredness to beat the noise of the wind but it did not happen, after getting the car almost on top of the tent problem sorted and off to sleep.

Friday morning the desert was gorgeous, just past 8:30 the main convoy reached the camping site and Shamsi distributed us into one of the several convoys that had been arranged at the MP, I was sent with Scorpio as leading Marshall and Barish in charge of keeping us all safe.

East to West route that is always more enjoyable AM, I must admit that I was ready and looking forward to check that famous Scorpio´s pace that you hear about in the Almost chat but it seems I will have to wait until another day, small technical dunes that forced the convoy to a few second tries and rescues, a couple of the rescues in "interesting" situations that allowed for the rest of us to have a look at different techniques, mid-way through the drive we managed to get into a better flow moving faster and with more ease finishing the drive in Al Qudra.

Another great time on the sand and looking forward to the next one.

Re: Newbie all in V.9 - 16th October 2020

Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2020 12:07 pm
by Nabeel
Another trip & a lot of learning experience..... pacman

Was nice to get back to the desert on a morning trip....especially when the weathers getting cooler...

Starting with a brief chat on the camping experience previous night... and some tips of camping essentials.... thanks to @A alshamsi we went on to attendance and convoy division along with @Abu Jimmy

Was placed in convoy B lead by @Booy who was waiting for us at the camp site....

After the line up inspection at the campsite we all kicked off the day only to be halted soon with me getting stuck at a tricky turn and slope..... hmmm ok that's done but not for long and then, i got trapped in the sand again.... TT TT ..... thought that was all for the day, but noooo.... the 3rd one came in mid way.....

3 sinking on the same day....however the instant support and assistance kept the spirits high.... Thanks to the great support and assistance provided by @Rashidjass , @SINGH , @Gabor , @Saeed FJ

Thanks to @Booy for leading the way that is definitely a learning experience...
Shall meet all in the next time..... thumbsup

Best Regards,
Nabeel.

Re: Newbie all in V.9 - 16th October 2020

Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2020 12:30 pm
by alshamsi_m
Hello Everyone

After the amazing camp, we had on Thursday with surprisingly COLD weather. Had to wake up in the morning and drink the COFFEE with @Abu Jimmy :yaeh_am_not_durnk: .

The plan was to drive from Morghab to Morgham to Al Qudra and our convoy was with the junior newbies. We had to a situation which were good learning for our members and I really admired the hard working of @mhaas , @CARLOSS & @Flor for rescuing the stuck car with the traditional way of
DIGGING :yarr:

The time fly so fast and I realized that I have to take the convoy to the END point !! By the time I reached I found that all the other convoys were there too " Perfect time " cool

See you soon in the sand

Shamsi

Re: Newbie all in V.9 - 16th October 2020

Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2020 3:18 pm
by AdamW
Hello Almosters!,

Thanks to all for another great ride. thumbsup I was in convoy convoy lead by @Booy.
The way was smooth with some tricky/technical parts. I had one pop-out and one small stuck but
thanks to marshals and support team @Rashidjass @Saeed FJ @SINGH @Gabor all ended up good - (with pop out the guys were faster than F1 pit stop ) thumbsup

See you on the sand next week :)

Re: Newbie all in V.9 - 16th October 2020

Posted: Sun Oct 18, 2020 3:25 pm
by Booy
Hello everyone,

I was at the camp, and decided to go to sleep at around midnight. Offcourse, summer is still on its way out, so I brought only a thin fleece blanket - not to cover myself, but to sleep on. Well, it seems that winter arrived on the night of 15 October this year, and it was a really cold night for the ill prepared. In hind sight, I should probably have stayed around the camp fire with @Abu Jimmy as it would have been warmer than trying to sleep under the stars with nothing to keep me warm.

In the morning, I stayed at the camp while @alshamsi_m and @Abu Jimmy went to fetch al the newbie members from the meeting point, to bring them to the starting point at the camp.

After greeting all the members in our convoy, we set off - final destination, Al Qudra. We started off with some smaller technical dunes, which soon caught out some people. After a few recoveries and some second tries, we made our way to the bigger dunes, closer to Al Qudra, where the flow of the convoy was good. At times we could speed up a bit and enjoy some safari style driving.

Life is good in the sand - hope to see everyone soon again!

Best regards,

Booy

Re: Newbie all in V.9 - 16th October 2020

Posted: Mon Oct 19, 2020 2:10 pm
by Abu Hasnain
Hello everyone,,

I was in the convoy A led by AlShamsi and he took us to a camping site with a very effortless track and it was fun. From thereon he was good and kind enough through out the trip with low technical track except the last and the tough one to cross the big dune where I saw Flor with white wrangler and Xterra having some tough time to cross.

Meanwhile I was waiting for my turn and got myself in trouble with some sort of stuck and then AlShamsi saw my position and guided me with 4L to get me out of that trouble situation with his genius expertise and knowledge.Thanks @alshamsi_m and he took me the other side of the dune by far easier way to reach the waiting convoy.. I was lucky enough for an easier track cool cool cool

The track from dunes to the Tarmac road was so dusty that we could not even properly see the front car.., but still maintained the speed...!

Highlight: The Pajero recovery was awesome by the Marshal AlShamsi thumbsup thumbsup thumbsup

Thank you for all the support Drivers, Marshalls AlShamsi, Abu Jimmy.

Waiting for Straight Crestors trip!!!

Abu hasnain

Re: Newbie all in V.9 - 16th October 2020

Posted: Tue Oct 20, 2020 3:04 pm
by Stephan
Hello everyone.

We joined the camping trip with ALMOST4x4 and what an amazing experience it was! This was the first camping trip for my wife and I in the UAE. When we arrived at the camping site, we lit a fire and everybody gathered around the camp fire. It was a perfect evening and everybody enjoyed themselves around the fire. We went to bed just after midnight and by that time we realized that we had to inflate our air matrass manually! We finally finished with our camp setup and was ready for bed. That night was a very cold night and we did not bring any warm clothes nor warm blankets with us!

We woke up early next morning with a warm coffee to get ready for the drive. We started the drive with small dunes for everyone to get used to their cars. Later during the drive, things got interesting at the small technical dunes. After some recoveries and second tries we headed for bigger dunes :-). The flow of the convoy was faster on our way to the bigger dunes which led to more play time. The last bit of the drive was really great and I was sad to see the drive come to an end. Thank you @Booy for leading the convoy and Support team for your guidance and advice during the drive.

It was a great weekend.

Stephan

Re: Newbie all in V.9 - 16th October 2020

Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2020 3:51 pm
by Mehdi
Hello almosters,

I was placed in convoy B after short breefing from @alshamsi_m before entering the desert.
We reach the camp where people from the club took this option get a cold night . OSMILEY
From there we where two independant convoys, mine leaded by @Booy .

Personally this outing I did not have to take it twice on any passage, thank you to my lucky star. I enjoyed that. thumbsup
Once again I was able to attend recoveries, and a pop out, always so interesting to see when you are not an actor in the scene, with all the stress that implies.
This allows you to see your own mistakes, and with hindsight, to better understand them! :have_a_nice_day:

Hats off to @Gabor , @Rashidjass , @Saeed FJ , and @SINGH for support and assistance.
@Booy , a pleasure to drive car under your lead.

See you all on sand... playingsmiley

Re: Newbie all in V.9 - 16th October 2020

Posted: Thu Oct 22, 2020 5:30 pm
by Barish
Nice day with all Newbie levels. This area is really amazing to accomodate all levels of Newbies.

We started with our 10+ convoy, through some technical dunes and then a larger area..it was an interesting track but i believe helped our well done members, as @alshamsi_m mentioned them at the briefing, to tune more. As the convoy was doing better and better, i asked @Scorpio to give a gift to them at least and hopefully they liked it.

Many recoveries are done by support team and shovels by some members as well, and was all good experience how you can manage your car and get to know its behaviour. Still getting out of marshall track is not convenient. Dont worry, the time for that will come in the future🤣

Dont forget; chg starts with improvement.

See you next time.

Barish