Offroad Brothers and Sisters Trip, Friday 22 July 2011

[sandmonkey]

Its 2300 Hrs. All's quiet while Geni, her friend (Samhit/ Samedh...Sorry buddy I forget your name) & I lie in the sand and look at the stars. And then suddenly we realize that its a bit too quiet; a quick look confirms what we suspect but did not expect... Only two cars and three clueless persons standing in Iftar Bowl while a couple of cars disappear over the next dune. However one phone call(Three cheers to Etisalat) and we had three marshals come on the double to accompany us back to the road; and as they say all's well that ends well (albeit with a 15 minute delay in our case)

That may have been how our day ended (with some lessons to take away) but we had an amazing time until then. For starters, we had a combined drive with uaeoffroaders members; And man I've not seen so many cars at once in Badayer (looked more like a traffic jam in deira or sharjah). Intermediate + Advanced went off in one convoy while the newbies split up into two convoys.

After which the fun started, with Silvester zooming off and challenging us to keep up which gave us a great opportunity to step up our driving a couple of notches. Personally it was a far more confident day for me, with the worst spot i got into being remidied by engaging diff lock and backing up. I think having been previously on the route also helped quite a bit, though a couple of bits were new. One of these bits provided some comedy (yours truly going around like a headless chicken trying to cross the dune) and tragedy, with our friend in the Black Pathfinder (forgot his name too... damn) first having a pop out and then losing all his transmission oil due to leakage. That poor beast is now parked near Madam awaiting the arrival of a recovery truck in the morning.

So after all these adventures we reached the Iftar Bowl for the fun and games. First up was trying to climb the big dune in front of the bowl which I very nearly topped out before falling off; 3 subsequent tries were no better. I later discovered the fundamental error I made (thanks Naser!) by failing to switch off my AC thereby losing crucial horses when I needed them the most. Then came the watermelons, ice creams and juice followed by the Tug of War. Our friends at uaeoffroaders had anchored their end to a Nissan Patrol behind them, but we still showed them that we could pull a fair bit (thanks are due here to the two uaeoffroaders marshals who joined us in the pulling). Ultimately we chose not to pull too hard because we didn't want to damage that Patrol!! After this some of us got T-Shirts from uaeoffroaders (I got my size... yayy) and more yummies in the form of lemonade and fruit salad by Al Shamsi followed in the end by burgers grilled on the spot. A big thanks are due to all those who generously got us the food and drink. If offroading means having the chance to enjoy healthy and tasty food I say lets go daily! All in all a great day where I drove with more confidence, made some new friends with some wonderfull food being the icing on the cake.

As a footnote, I remember Shamsi always telling me that we could always expect surprises on these trips. While we probably would'nt wamt to have another of this kind, it certainly had some valuable lessons as takeaways.

1) When you go away from the main group do inform the leader or sweeper that you are going for a walk.

2) Go buy that Walkie-Talkie set you have been procrastinating about for so long.

3) As far as possible stay put until more experienced vehicles arrive. If you do have to move out then make sure you have all the equipment required to get you out of any sticky situations.

Thats it for this trip.

Until next time, Cheerio,
Prashanth.

[caprihorse]

More than 70 cars from UAE Offroaders, Dubai Offroafers and almost4x4 members gathered at Al Badayer Shops to enjoy desert tracks designed by almost4x4 Marshals, to ensure the best experience from desert driving.
We split the cars into Intermediate and 2 Newbie convoys and immediately hit the different tracks. All convoys were driving different routes and doing very well with very few cars loosing traction and coming to still-stands or having pop-outs. Black Pathfinder lost the oil in the gearbox, but was safely brought to the main road.

With smiling faces of everybody we arrived to our enjoyment place at Iftar Bowl, parked the cars, sat, chat and make BBQ until deep night. It was served fruit salad, ice cream, frozen watermelon, lemon juice and plenty of beef burgers.

On the way back, for some drivers it was a completely new experience to drive in the night and they arrived into a new stress situation. But the sweeping marshals always were guarding those lost ships in the darkness and everybody arrived safely to the main road.

All drivers, we hope that you enjoyed the trip and we met your expectations. You are free to express your opinion on the trip in this thread.

In the name of all marshals we, thank you very much for joining us !

[Yoghybear]

well, after two weeks it has been very nice to meet you again, very good feeling, nice trip, once more different sand situation, I really enjoy....and learn :003:
Thanks to all for the fruit salad :045: for ice cream, drinks, hamburger....

Special thanks to Bu Salem for the two T-shirts (now no more excuse, I must loose weight otherwise cannot wear it :011:)
and Caprihorse for leading our convoy, with some challenging passage, and....to let me climb the big dune :051:

thanks a lot guys, you are all really nice.
hope to see u soon

[Alosh]

Huge no. Of offroaders
That's show how big family we are
Many thanks to all the marshals for the hard work
With us no one will remain behind
Keep in mind almost4x4 offer rescue for 24/7 in most of UAE desert
All what u need to regester and join or team and have our founders or marshals phone noM

[Alosh]

Huge no. Of offroaders
That's show how big family we are
Many thanks to all the marshals for the hard work
With us no one will remain behind
Keep in mind almost4x4 offer rescue for 24/7 in most of UAE desert
All what u need to regester and join or team and have our founders or marshals phone noM

[NaSeR]

what a wonderful trip.. I had the chance to be a leader for 10 minutes and at the end we got lost :011::011: Milan saved us and took us back to the convoy. DC and I got pop out in the same place with same scenario but less damage to my car :033: and we had great refreshments at the end :058:

Thanks to all marshals and members and it was great to meet new members :047:

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[Milan]

It was nice to be back in the desert after almost two months. But above all, it was nice to be together with my Almost4x4 family again.

Coming back from Europe where the highest temperatures were 26 - 28 degrees, it felt a bit 'warm' at first, but once the drive started I soon forgot about the temperature. I was impressed not only by the number of cars that gathered at Al Badayer, but also by how well things were organized. A big thanks goes to Bu Salem, Khatib, Silvester, Falcon, Lamboo (with his new baby, hehe), Faisal, Alosh, and all the other marshals.

Leading the lost group of cars back to the main convoy was the highlight of the day. :) No tracks to follow, just the virgin dunes, and you have to select the best route. Fun, fun, fun...

Can't wait to go back to the desert again.

Milan

[Abu Jimmy]

That was not a trip , that was an " event " which will be long remembered, nice company , fun drive , melons , fruit salad , cold drinks , burgers , and its all for FREE , where else in the world you can find this generous hospitality ?

Many thanks to all participants , marshals and founders for all organizing clubs. and a very special thanks to our big family


AL MOST 4X4 , GUYS YOU ROCK...:045: :045: :045:

...

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[Sam]

Hello almost4x4

It has been a while I didnt join any trip coz of the hot weather for sure; but this trip since I saw the invitation looked like Irresistible, so I decided to join and even I asked my brother and he asked his friend too :D ......

we join in 3 cars ( My Brother - Hani in the Silver JK & His Friend Khalid in the Black Pajero ) it was thier first time to join a group ,,, we reached the meeting point a little bit late, but after all we made it and joined Falcons Group :)

We had lots of fun and great experience too ...

Thanx Everybody for the well organized trip, and it was nice to meet new friends from other clubs :)

[Al Marshoudi]

First of all, I'd like to thank you guys for organizing the trip ..

It was the mega summer trip .. around 70 cars got together from all UAE cities & met in Al Badayer area .. chit chats & laughs every where .. the two clubs are mixed with each other ..
Bu salem ( Al Shamsi) did well organized briefing & split that number into 3 convoys .. that helped us to manage them & run the routes perfectly ..

after that, Al Iftar bowl is amazing .. we kept playing & playing all the time, I tried to reach up there but unfortunately the heavy stuff was in my ride limited it's power :S
then we put our loads & Had our refreshments ( Watermelon, Icecream, Lemon juice & fruit salad) .. in addition Yaghi did BBQ & Burger sandwiches are served.

All in All .. trip was amazing, i met my friends in Almost 4x4 ( Bu salem, Al khatib, Falcon, Al Naqbi) .. Caprihorse & Lamboo ,, nice to meet you

Take care guys & hope to see you soon ISA :D