Desert Gazing - Night Outlaws

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Tomvanhouten
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Hello everyone,

another great experience in the book!
This week, the night took us from Mileiha to Pink Rock, via via via. Absolutely lovely to experience the night in the dunes!

As said last week, I needed some flexibility with regards to lighting and this series of night drives made me finally install some extra lights, which were already in the house for some months cool
Having the different lights installed and playing around with them in different circumstances was brilliant and the difference between the white light in one situation, the yellow light in another or a combination is just huge.

This week, we went a bit more into the dune area's, which was different from last week, however the way the level is increasing is very slightly and it really makes you feel comfortable. Another great vision of the organizers!

Making me drive in the night and trying to write a trip report in the morning, is still a challenge :z_z_Z: but one which for me is part of the experience..can we not have Ramadan drives a bit longer? This is really fun!

Thank you all for the good drive, lovely flow, nice conversations and great organization!

Hopefully see you all next week

Tom
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piotr
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The report morning after is the way to go @Tomvanhouten :)

Completely agree with the post above, another great drive, and fantastic fun. Mleiha-Fossil Rock-AlFaya Dune-Pink Rock-Big Red (or vicinity) - Pink Rock. Favourite playground of many. Could not select a more picturesque route, although we were not really able to see the red sand so much this time, despite full moon ;)

The modus operandi was very similar this time - arrive, switch off lights & stay quiet, deflate, briefing, form 2 convoys and off we go, all very fast and efficient. This time I had the pleasure of driving in @alshamsi_m convoy.

And it was a fun drive! We had a few steep climbs, some gatch roads, and fair amount of driving in the dunes (safari style) - with a pace that was considerably faster than the first Ramadan drive. The flow was good, for 2h of "moving time" we only had 15 minutes of "stop time" (this including karak break - thank you @alshamsi_m !) It's great fun to enjoy the sand this way, after the drive you always crave for more!

After the drive many Almosters left, but a handful decided to stay and enjoy great weather, views and silence(!) of desert at the top of the Pink Rock - what a great way to relax after the drive and enjoy the stories!

Learnings: do not lose focus, and maintain the right distance - a moment of distraction towards the end of the drive earned me a (silly) crest (@giorgio thanks for a pull), and coming too close to the car in front led to a second try - at night there is just a bit less room for error (if one keeps the distance too far, there is a risk of losing the track!) :)

Overall we covered 52km and drove for 2h. I was back at home at 3:15 (kids woke up 6:) ).

@alshamsi_m , @Booy again - thank you for organizing and leading the convoys - this requires substantial preparation time for both of you, to keep everybody happy and safe!

BTW - this time we were not chased - I guess we were driving too fast ;)
Last edited by piotr on Wed Apr 28, 2021 9:16 am, edited 1 time in total.
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giorgio
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Desert Gazing - Night Outlaws:

This was the second out of the four night drives for the Ramadan season.

A well put together track which incorporated, arches climbs and safari style driving.
The two convoys were led by @alshamsi_m and @Booy with abujimy leading the rescue team and @James keeping the second lead on @alshamsi_m convoy.

The full moon made the drive easier and the weather was fairly good. The flow of the drive was smooth, with minor delays and only one assisted recovery.
In this drive the drivers had the chance to test their lights set up and practice keeping the required momentum via proper distance.

The drive ended with a small gathering always keeping the covid 19 regulations and under an amazing moon light.

I would like to thank the Organizer and lead marshal's as well as all rescue teams and drivers.

Looking forward to see you all next Tuesday on a more challenging terrain.

Till then drive safe
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brett
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Good Morning All

Night Outlaws ! thank you to @alshamsi_m for organizing the drive.

I agree with @Tomvanhouten comment - not easy to reach home at 1am, be in the office by 8am and trying to write a report !

Briefing given - group split in to 2 convoys, I had the pleasure of being in the convoy led by @Booy in "Big Red"

The early sections were a very pleasant if somewhat roller coaster drive along the track at a decent pace. all lights full on it was impressive to look in my mirror at the rest of the lit convoy. as mentioned at the briefing a couple of decent climbs, all was going well until it was time to switch off the "off road" lights as we scootered down the track parallel to the road. When it came time to turn them on, again once again my light gremlin struck and i was reduced to road lights only.

With the full moon and the combined lights of the vehicles in front and behind i did not have too many problems following along at the same pace as the rest of the convoy. it was really impressive to watch @Booy at the lead in Big Red. then we came to fossil rock and the climb ! @Booy first attempt Big Red refused to finish the climb, returning a 2nd charge with a longer run up - trumpet charge intro over the radio ! climb 2 also had to be abandoned. 3rd charge, longer run up, louder trumpet call !!! and again Big Red just didnt have the legs to make the top. So @Booy took the long way around. but the attempts were fantastic to watch.

My turn came and off I Charged in the Wasp (V1) no problems with power and the climb, however finding the right exit track through the rocks was not easy with no off road pillar lights, but we successfully joined the group at the top. we spent a few minutes under the hood of the Wasp to try and find the gremlin without success.

The convoy moved on and into the Dunes and the more technical area. now I was really struggling without my lights trying to keep pace with @Flor so that I could follow the track and watch the terrain from her lights, on occasion this meant I was too close so when @Flor had to have a second try I needed to quickly take action to find an exit, on one occasion I found myself with nowhere to go and ended up well stuck facing a wall of a dune. while others were having 2nd tries further back in the convoy, I was able to apply what we have learnt from the previous drives and managed to extricate myself without any problems - 4L reverse light on gas, left right left right and i was free !

During the next stop while waiting for a couple of 2nd tries, again there were several guys under the hood of the Wasp - tapping, wiggling wires etc trying to scare away the gremlin ! whilst doing that woosh - @alshamsi_m convoy sped past us ! oh well.

Fortunately the drive was coming to an end - we survived ! it was a great drive but mentally very challenging driving the technical areas with no lights and after the extremely late night the week before we decided not to join the camp and exited to the road to inflate along with the majority of our convoy.

After inflating and chatting with the others we headed home ! and yes the Gremlin had been left behind the off road lights were mysteriously functioning again !

Take aways :-
- Get my Gremlin issue resolved before the next night drive
- Keep listening , observing and learning


Thanks to the 2 convoy leads @alshamsi_m @Booy

To the support crews @Abu Jimmy @giorgio @AbuJawad @haider alnuaimi @Jasper @KIMOz @mpodroid

And all the other almosters
@AdrianUAE @AndreAJ @CARLOSS @desertwrangler @dorudoru @Flor @Giovanni @James @jayslens @Kris @Laarni @NahorJP @piotr @Stephan @Tomvanhouten

Until the next adventure

Brett
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Until the next Adventure

Brett
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alshamsi_m
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Hello Everyone

Our highlight for this drive was driving in the SUPER PINK MOON which made our drive much more relaxing than expected yaeh am not durnk .

The breeze was so nice and the flow was amazing too, I was driving in a speed of 40-60 km in some areas to pull the convoy to go faster and the drivers were doing very well thumbsup

Towards the end of our drive the two convoys were close to each other's so I decided to divert to the higher dunes to give more fun and challenge to my convoy at the same time, to give space for the first convoy to pass.

Suddenly, I heard @Abu Jimmy crying to reach the sitting area in Pink Rock so I had to make the short cut and go straight to the final point :yarr: which gave a little of a surprise to the members that the style jumped a little bit up but luckily only for 700 meters :you_re_kidding_right:

The gathering on top of Pink Rock was epic with the beautiful moon, food and chitchat.

Till next time, stay safe and get ready for the FINAL DRIVE of the Desert Gazing meta knight

Cheers
Shamsi
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Hello hello everyone!

Ah what a night it was yesterday! :)
I got super excited when the PM was sent out for this drive as the meeting point was close to Fossil Rock and within the UAE - Mleiha is my favourite spot.

I was placed within @alshamsi_m convoy, deflated and we rolled and within two minutes I stopped because I felt somehow comms wise I am missing out check my walkie and poof its dead OSMILEY @piotr was behind me told him about my situation and he offered me his spare walkie from which I could barely hear but it was doable plus I can inform to team if anything happens to me. Thank you @piotr

Just loved the drive, the pace was good few areas were bumpy and hard. Did get stuck in a ditch but was out easily. After the drive it was good to be on Pink Rock area with the breeze in the air, moon full lit, silence and few of us chatting, eating and sipping on karak.

A memorable experience.

Thank you for organizing and support @alshamsi_m @Booy @Abu Jimmy @giorgio @haider alnuaimi @Jasper @mpodroid

See you all soon!
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Hello everyone,

I almost forgot to write this trip report OSMILEY …I do not know why I am running late of drive reports lately…maybe the night drives keep me a bit sleepy during the daytime :z_z_Z:

Anyway, here it comes:

The night outlaws drive was very special because even though the “première” of night drives was gone still I was very excited about the idea of driving on dunes. I like dunes! have a nice day

I was in Booy’s convoy and using my old offload lights but in the new (appropriate) spot, so nothing was stopping me that night cool . An interesting combination of big dunes driving on tracks at the beginning, intermediate section meanly flat connecting to the last part (close to big red) plenty of narrow dunes with some challenging tracks. I had a lot of fun in the latest part of the drive!

From time to time when reaching a big drop I was disconnected a bit from the car in front of me (cresting one by one) so it was also nice to drive on my own for a little while in the middle of the desert…strange but nice feeling at the same time. thumbsup

At the end of the day (or the night I may say) it went well for me and my car and with no major issues. Happy with my performance that night and with the whole convoy pace…less than 12 minutes stopped in total.

I would like to thank @alshamsi_m for organizing the drive and @Booy for leading us. Same for the supporting team @Jasper , @KIMOz and @mpodroid , @Abu Jimmy , @haider alnuaimi , @giorgio .

And the usual suspects: @Flor , @brett , @desertwrangler , @jayslens , @James @dorudoru , @@Tomvanhouten , @Laarni and @NahorJP .

See you soon at night

Carlos
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