Back on track III

David
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Feels great to be back into "Club life" and book the drive, receive the MP, ... it had been too long.

Before I start a little note regarding this drive that I think is good to mention as it is applicable to all drives & Marshalls and that I think is important to share. Somehow I came to know that the drive was supposed to be in a different area but the organizing Marshall got some reports that the area was not in good condition, midway through the week the Marshall went to check that area to see if suitable for the drive. My point, Almost drives are not great just by chance, there is a lot of scouting, marking, preparation, planning ... and yes, afterwards the execution (that is what we see) is always perfect.

Back to the drive, the meeting point, good to see so many faces I had not seen in a long time. 2 convoys, I was sent to the one lead by Solmaz (the other one by Giorgio), Agalon as supporting Marshall, Armin floating around with Johanna, Jasper, Osman and myself for support. Route, farms behind Super Bowl to Al Madam, we all know the area, it is crowded and with loads of tracks but Solmaz managed to put together some fantastic sequences of bowls and arches, it was great to see that the convoy was doing really well, some drivers I had not seen for some time and I was very impressed with how much they have improved!!! thumbsup

Maybe the only point I would like to mention is the "distance", it needs to be adjusted depending on the type of dunes, if you are doing bowls and arches at 50km/h you need space but at the same time you need to make sure you can see what tracks belong to your convoy, otherwise, in a area like this it is very easy to follow the wrong tracks (as it happened a couple of times) and end up in the wrong side of a dune.

Other than that just to mention that Yukon's might look heavy but I can assure you that they feel even heavier!!! Psmiley

See you on the sand soon!!!
Last edited by David on Fri Sep 10, 2021 8:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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alshamsi_m
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Hello everyone

It is always at the back of my mind to mention to passengers that they have the right to write trip reports if they like , it is not exclusive for drives.

So this is my trip report from the passenger seat grin

I had the chance to be a passenger with @Tomvanhouten who was sweeping but I was the one with radio :yarr:

@giorgio managed to take us safely through the area without any trouble at all. Although it felt like the offroaders OPEN DAY you're kidding, right

We had a great day although it was a bit humid but all in all it was nice thumbsup

I believe by October we will be ready for the camping season so I suggest not to miss the event in www.adihex.com to go shopping as a group and the seniors can give advices to the new members.

Looking forward to see you in the sand.

Shamsi
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Ehab
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Back on track 3, a trip which was not expected for 10+ newbies after the CM as marshals usually will get busy with recently joined newbies.
The trip took place in Al badayer/ Al madam area which is an amazing play ground with medium and large dunes and that allowed us to do many side cresting and climbs. I had the pleasure to be in @Solmaz convoy, supported by @Agalon @Jasper @David @Johanna @Arminjune and @osman thank you all, it was indeed a fast pace drive and reminded us with Sweihan area.
More than 30 km with few stops and second tries. Unfortunately at the end we had to leave with @giorgio convoy as there was a recovery in the back of our convoy taking longer than anticipated to be recovered.
It was pleasure meeting you @David face to face and see your fully modified Jl.

See all soon.


Enjoy watching
David
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Ehab wrote: Fri Sep 10, 2021 9:57 pm Back on track 3, a trip which was not expected for 10+ newbies after the CM as marshals usually will get busy with recently joined newbies.
The trip took place in Al badayer/ Al madam area which is an amazing play ground with medium and large dunes and that allowed us to do many side cresting and climbs. I had the pleasure to be in @Solmaz convoy, supported by @Agalon @Jasper @David @Johanna @Arminjune and @osman thank you all, it was indeed a fast pace drive and reminded us with Sweihan area.
More than 30 km with few stops and second tries. Unfortunately at the end we had to leave with @giorgio convoy as there was a recovery in the back of our convoy taking longer than anticipated to be recovered.
It was pleasure meeting you @David face to face and see your fully modified Jl.

See all soon.
Good to meet you too Ehab, hopefully seeing you soon in other drives.

Jeeps rock!!! pacman
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This was my 6th drive with the club - even though I’ve been a member for around 4 years now. I have joined several other clubs’ drives and have been off-roading for a long time however Almost4x4 has always been the most organized and fun group to go off-road with.

Firstly, I want to thank @Barish for accepting my request to "Challenge the Marshall" and for believing in me :) Thank you @Solmaz and everyone else involved in organizing this great drive and for allowing me to be part of it. It was extremely organized and punctual, as always. We deflated our tires at the location and then were split into two convoys. I was part of Giorgio’s convoy. Thank you @giorgio for the strong lead and for the advice. It was also great meeting several new members. Last but not least, thank you @alshamsi_m for your unwavering support and for creating such an amazing community that we all get to enjoy and be part of.

Despite the weather still being a bit on the hot side and being extra humid yesterday, it was still a great drive and I look forward to joining future trips with the club - especially as the weather starts to cool down. thumbsup
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CARLOSS
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Hello everyone!

Back on Track III was a special drive as it was the last time that I am driving my white Pajero on the sand OSMILEY . It has been around 11 months sharing together good and not so good times with a wide range of emotions from happiness have a nice day to ugly frustration eyes on fire . I started from scratch barely knowing how to engage the 4x4 and now I feel that I have squeezed every single horsepower of the car in any possible maneuver.

Just come to my mind several drives being the only Pajero’s driver surrounded by powerful Jeeps and FJs but this was encouraging myself ever more. It has been my personal challenge for a while saying to myself many times: “If you are able to drive and control this car while following the pace (to some extent Psmiley ) of the convoy, you will be able to better perform in the future when driving a different type of car”. Most probably this is completely wrong, but this is what I still think have a nice day

All in all, it is time to move forward and even though it has been an incredible journey with my old white friend, now let’s welcome soon a new member of Almost 4x4 family.

@AdamW , @jayslens , @jcarlosgarme , @Alf , I will not part of the Pajero’s gang anymore but you will never walk alone! thumbsup

With regards to the drive, I must confess that I did not have a single minute for relaxing myself as it was a challenging drive led by Giorgio. From the briefing it was clear that it was a tailor-made drive for checking some newbies’ skills in a complex environment plenty of convoys, tracks, small and medium size dunes, technical areas and soft sand. It was not my best drive by far but still, not too much upset with my performance considering the latter circumstances.

Special thanks to @Solmaz for organizing the drive and @giorgio and the supporting team (@Rathica , @Rooies , @orlantsev , @Tomvanhouten and his unexpected passanger @alshamsi_m ) for taking care of us.

Look forward to seeing you soon in the sand.

Carlos
Last edited by CARLOSS on Sat Sep 11, 2021 1:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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AndreAJ
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This weekends 10+ drive was amazing, the pace and the technicality of the drive was fantastic.
Our fearless leader in this convoy @giorgio lead us through the dessert with an amazing pace with high arches and fantastic side cresting, thank you very much and I look forward to being your second lead again soon.

Thank you to our fearless rescue team @Rooies and @Rathica who ensured our safe recovery.

A big that to @Solmaz for setting up this drive for us, @alshamsi_m thank you for your tips and help I really appreciate it very much.

This was a great morning out and i can not wait for the next one, i cant mention all by name but Thank you to all our Marshals, leaders, crew members, rescuers we don't say thanks often enough you are appreciated.

Regards,

Andre
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jeepers76
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Hi Almosters

This drive was different for me, as I get a chance to be the second lead with Marshal @Solmaz. I was driving under her lead for the first time since I joined the club last year.

Let me tell you, what an amazing Marshal she is, I loved the way she selected her own tracks and consistently threw curve balls and challenges to the participants. drive was an amalgamation of fairly high speed, medium level side cresting, high and low ridge cresting and lot of climbs and slopes negotiations.

It was an arduous task keeping pace with her, but I am sure all of the participants enjoyed like I did.

There were lot of participants on the day of drive, therefore two convoys were formed and I was part of second convoy headed by @Solmaz, after necessary briefing we headed towards the dunes.

There were some recoveries, but i think no pop outs. Sand was generally very soft therefore, there was some struggle involved in maintaining momentum and speed. Overall every one did well.

Till next time.
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Umer Jameel Shah
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Back on track III a 10+ level drive in Badayer playground.

We need to be fair, a worse day on the sand is better that the best day sitting home. Having said that Friday's morning briefing found us all sweating at 7 20 am from the high humidity, one of the worse mornings so far, but still it is a drive day.

@Solmaz broke the list of drivers into two convoys (older and newer 10+) and she was kind enough to let me lead the older batch. Thank you @Solmaz for the opportunity.

With @Tomvanhouten swiping @Rathica and @Rooies within the convoy and @AndreAJ (who did and amazing job) as a second lead and @orlantsev floating we took of for our morning drive.


The drive started on a slow pace on small dunes as a warm up just to increase slowly to faster mid dunes and even faster to the high dunes.

The radio communication was fairly ok but I would like to mentioned that the faster the drive the faster you need to report on the radio.
In more than few occasions we had drivers following too close or not close enough.

Finding the balance is the key. You can only reach balance when you know your car's capabilities and you plan ahead according to what is coming (climb, arch etc.)

Over all the convoy did very well with most of the issues on the back of the convoy with the Pajeros having more of a difficult time, but still they try their best and survived the drive.

Last but not least @alshamsi_m manage again to surprise us all where this time, he pulled a new trick from his sleeve. He came as a passenger and gave a chance to @Tomvanhouten to be the proxy marshal (I am sure that was a lesson that money cannot buy) while he was controlling the convoy from the back and leading everyone in trouble, back in line and to the convoy's safety.
Specially in this area where we had so many other clubs roaming around.

I would close my report thanking all the support and specially @orlantsev as he worked hand in hand with @Tomvanhouten and @alshamsi_m as well as the rest of the support team.
To the rest of the drivers I have to say that you guys did great, keep driving and focus on improving your skills.


Until next time, stay safe and looking forward to see you soon on the upcoming drives and camps.
The Wolf is not concerned with the opinion of the sheep
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Since I joined both drives it is a hard to decide which trip report to post first. In the morning drive I was assigned to @giorgio convoy and was allowed to float. The drive started in medium sized dunes at a moderate pace. As we moved to higher dunes I realized that something was wrong with my car. In bigger arches it would accelerate and than suddenly stall with RPMs dropping. First I thought it was the tire pressure and deflated even more. Few times I was close to pop out as I was pushing the car too hard trying to overcome the issue. Finally, after I could not even do the 20% of the arch I gave up and asked @alshamsi_m to have a look. He drove the car for a while with me as a passenger. I did not know that Patrol had to have a kill switch to disengage traction (on my former FJ it came as a standard setting). So for as long as you go more or less straight It works ok, but the moment you start small slide the computer shuts off the engine. After I understood my limitation I had to adjust the angles and tried to maintain straight lines as much as possible. One bowl did not give me many options though, so I had to cross to the other side of it from the rest of the convoy and got separated. With many other convoys crossing the same area it was not entirely safe to reunite with our group. Thanks to @Rathica for returning and showing the way where the convoy went. At the deflation point another fiasco occurred. The famous Dragon Mart compressor failed before even inflating first tire. Thanks to @Tomvanhouten for lending the compressor to finish my inflation and to @alshamsi_m for lending his for the second drive. Yesterday I had the kill switch installed and got a new compressor, so let's see the changes it makes next week.
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