Winter Stars

[Johanna]

Hello everyone,

first of all, welcome all new members to our club.
In my three years with the club I have barely seen a club member drive that fully booked.
It was amazing to see almost everyone today, even long missed ones like @Daggerfall (I hope to see you more often now, for example in Sweihan, Umm Al Oush, Al Wagan... )
@Booy gave our new members an introduction about the club and the basic rules of offroading before all four convoys took off at around 10am.

I joined @Solmaz convoy as support in the back, while @optimus helped in the middle. @Viktoriia did a good job as second lead and @alshamsi_m was floating with his Hillux keeping everyone safe.

It was the second time we had the CM drive in Al Qudra instead of Sharjah. The dunes are more narrow here and the sand partially soft. We had a mixture of all sort of cars and I believe all of you did very well. We had a few stucks which is perfectly normal and only one slightly critical situation which we solved with good teamwork and the pull of two FJs

Please never feel embarrassed when you get stuck, because if you do everything right you learn nothing.
I suggest (if not yet done) you get you tools to be ready for next weeks drive.

I hope everyone enjoyed this day as much as I did and I will see you soon in the sand.

[brett]

Had a great experience. Got stuck twice, and lost the convoy (oops) but the marshals were awesome and helped with experience and expertise. The little yellow Jeep

[presa]

Welcome all new Almosters!

I hope you had a great first drive with us!

The day was amazing, with a beautiful weather and a very precise and complete explanation from @Booy on desert driving techniques and how we drive at Almost 4x4.

I was with the 3rd convoy, with assistance from @Barish, @Rooies and @abuzaid.

We had a great CM drive, with a few stucks and 2nd tries, as expected. We were the last convoy to start and the last to finish

All that are willing to continue driving with us, please send the photos from your tools to one of our Marshals so you receive your first star being upgraded to Newbie. Your first drive as a newbie has being posted by Barish, as per below link, but you are only allowed to join after have all your tools checked.

Link for next weekend drive: https://almost4x4.com/trip_system/trip2.php?id=983

Link for the tools: https://almost4x4.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=3901

[alshamsi_m]

Hello Everyone


The end of 2020 was a blessing for us and we got blessed with over 70 members in our family. It was a great turn out and our organizing team made looks like a walk in the park

I was in the GIRLS POWER convoy where @Solmaz in the lead , @Viktoriia in the second lead, @Claude backup of the second lead & @Johanna for the Rescue. @optimus was the muscles and I was the brain .

@Solmaz gave us a beautiful educational track for our Club Members to practice what @Booy gave us in theory !!

Finally, I would like to say congratulations for all the member who are going to get thier first star and looking forward to see you next.

Also I would like to invite to our camp the upcoming weekend to chit chat around the fire and watch the beautiful sky

Till next time, Stay Safe

Shamsi

[dorudoru]

Hello Everyone,

First of all, thanks to all Marshals and support team to make this event possible. It is not an easy task to deal with 70 cars on sand. Hats off to that.

@Booy gave us a helpful introduction on driving on the desert and convoy rules. @alshamsi_m added some important points on self recovery as well. Then the seperation of 4 convoys took place.

Thanks to the "sharing is caring" mentality of the club, we somehow managed to provide a radio to every car in our convoy. Special thanks to @alshamsi_m, he provided me one since I left mine at home.

@Booy has leaded us through the dunes and @Daggerfall was floating around to keep everyone safe. I guess Booy was being gentle to us so that we didn't require a recovery. We had few re-attempts on some locations but everybody was able to overcome the obstacles. Great job! All convoy was very good and prompt on radio communciation which increased the safety aspect of the drive.

One important point I learned again was try to keep 3-4 car distance in between, not less or not more. The problem we faced was trying to be too cautious and keep a big gap which resulted to lose the track from time to time. As Booy conveyed "we are responsible for the car behind", so keeping an eye on the car behind is very important all the time to keep convoy together.

Thanks to everyone and hope we will see you in sand!

P.s. camping with the club is as fun as the drive itself, I suggest everybody to join the camp and be prepared to listen amazing stories in front of the bonfire.

Dorukhan.

[khatibmahmood]

Hello Team,

Where should i start, I waited for this CM drive to happen for almost 6weeks and when it happened, it was exactly what I expected from it, Very Professional, Caring and Sharing. Not to exaggerate, but i really liked all the Welcome and Caring attitude of group, special thanks to @alshamsi_m, @Booy , @Phoenix (although he didnt show up that day).

I was in Booy team and we enjoyed the ride a lot, which started off from smaller curves to good enjoyable dunes.
Looking forward to meet the team again (as soon as i gather my tool kit).

See you soon
Syed Mahmood (White Prado)

[Laarni]

Hellooo everyone ...

hope you are all in good health...so yeah...finally...I become an official club member after almost a year of being a passenger... I drove once with the ladies ( birds of prey) and since that day I never make my husband sleep without asking him if I can also drive officially in the group...and now the day has come and im sooo excited that I been so tense the whole week before the drive...but thanks to @Booy and all the support team..he made the drive really a wonderful experience for the starters like me..I have few second tries and once lost my track ( I almost went side cresting or maybe roll over) nways I want to give all my thanks to all the people who gather and made this event succesful

Hope to have more drives soon

Lara

[Booy]

Hello everyone,

It was amazing to see so many new faces, all excited to become part of our community and to enjoy the desert.

We actually did not plan on having a club member drive in December, as many people usually travel this time of the year (Yeah - usually, but we know it's 2020....). After a few personal requests, we decided to have a small CM drive to incorporate members who have already started joining us for camps and family events, to give them the chance to also start driving and enjoying the sand. Little did we know that there would be such a big demand at this time of the year. So, 2020 is ending well, with so many new people joining us. We look forward to getting to know you better and to spend our weekends with you in the sand.

Welcome again to all our new members. Hope to see you this coming Thursday at the camp, or at the drive on Friday morning.

Regards,

Booy

[Saeed FJ]

Good day everyone
It was very nice to meet all of you, and congratulations to all member who got their stars.
I was floating around in the first convoy leady By @Booy with @Daggerfall And @kareem.alameldin as second lead.
the convoy did very well no stuck only second try.

this was your introduction to the desert, keep coming and keep learning and you will enjoy every moment you spend it.

prepare your tools, car and your self for the next drive.

thanks for organizers, marshals and supporting team to make such an amazing drive and for all the driver to make it happen

see you on the sand

[Rooies]

It was a beautiful day in the desert. We met at the meeting, started the usual drills as more & more people arrived. Saw some of the marshals & inters I have not seen in a long time. We caught up with some chit chat & then it was briefing time.

@Booy explained all the do's & dont's to the new members as well as in which convoy they would drive.

I was in @presa 's convoy with @abuzaid second lead, @Barish was floating & I was sweeping. We had some "heavy weights" in our convoy, a Durango & a F-150, there was also a Pajero .

@presa & @Barish explained very nicely to the convoy how we will drive & then it was drive time.

The drive went fairly smooth with just a few stucks. The Durango got crested, we used his rope, which snapped & the car did not even moved. We used the viking to pull it off & nearly the Durango ended up against my car, was a close one . Later the F-150 got crested, I did not even checked what rope he had, just took out the viking. The recovery was "smooth" & soon we were back on the track again.

Overall it was a nice drive & we ended at Al Qudra cycle shop area.

Thank you to all the marshals, advance & other inters for assisting & welcoming the new members to the club.

Till we meet in the sand again, stay safe.

Greetings
Rooies