Friday Funday 3

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Loca
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Dear Almosters

Friday Funday 3 was a drive above expectations. Designed to be a Newbie 10- drive it developed into something at higher level thanks to the enthusiasm of our Marshals and Explorers plus a good bunch of Intermediates in support.

The area selected for the drive was between Al Badayer and Pink Rock which is a very nice area for both landscape and shape of the dunes. Perfect ground to move the first steps toward side cresting

At the briefing we got split into 2 convoys, one led by [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] and supported by [mention]Solmaz[/mention] . The other led by [mention]Agalon[/mention] and supported by [mention]Booy[/mention] . I was the sweeper for Agalon's convoy where [mention]giorgio[/mention] was the 2nd lead

The speed was chilly at the beginning and fast in the second half with many 180 degrees turns, quick arcs and side climbs. [mention]Agalon[/mention] increased the speed progressively but constantly as all the drivers were coping well with no stucks but just some 2nd tries. It was a challenging drive and could have been a good fit for a 10+ level drive. Face of the drivers at the end was a mix of astonishment and pride.
The Wise Man [mention]giorgio[/mention] summarized the drive with .. [mention]Agalon[/mention] did not take any prisoner today grin

Being the sweeper was easy and funny today. Easy as nobody got stuck and I had not to worry with rescues under the sun and 40+ degrees. It was funny as being at the end I could customize a bit my trajectories and enjoy longer sides or higher arcs. From the back I could also follow the actions of [mention]Booy[/mention] who was floating therefore I could study the art of floating and being everywhere

There is always a lot to learn, even from the drives which are designed for the lower levels. Our Marshals deliver great emotions and unvaluable teaching at every drive in love

Wish you all the best for the remaining part of Ramadan and peaceful Eid Holiday

Looking forward to meeting you soon
Gianluca (aka Loca)
Black/White FJ (aka La Ciccina)
Mobile 0561776322
Adrian
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I was in Agalon’s convoy. Only 3 of us newbies in the convoy, two of us in FJs and one in a Jeep so no need for Agalon to worry too much about any of us newbies struggling with less off-road capable cars. This meant that us 3 newbies got a VIP trip in terms of supervision and teaching because each of us had an intermediate in front and an intermediate behind. I had Petr in front of me and Loca behind me as sweeper. Booy was a constant presence seemingly appearing from nowhere looking at everything from the top of a dune and he occasionally drove in between me and Petr so I got to see how both he and Petr tackled the dunes. In my previous 8 drives I’ve been behind a fellow newbie so it was great to be able to directly observe and follow drivers of higher levels.
Booy gave us a briefing about half an hour into the trip telling us the importance of the right speed and momentum when doing an arch and when to let off the throttle and when not to. I learned such a lot on this trip. But all of the previous trips had led up to this point. The club is so organised in how it brings beginners along step by step with the gradual introduction of new challenges and skills, all building on what has gone before in earlier trips. The leader sets off at a certain pace and chooses certain paths and adjusts the level in real time to the capabilities of the various drivers in the convoy based on the feedback he gets about stucks, second tries etc.
Booy said that Agalon was deliberately going up the soft side of the slopes and that in this area the other side is hard so these are good dunes for introducing us to side cresting. I had not noticed this at all and made a mental note to myself to pay attention to this for the rest of the drive. Then as soon as we got going again I completely forgot about it. I have to concentrate so hard on keeping the right speed and momentum and on keeping the right distance so I don’t get too close and cause a problem if there’s a second try in front of me and don’t get too far behind and then get disconnected from the convoy. I think it’s going to take a while before I’m able to look around a bit more rather than focussing entirely on following the car in front.
Loca as sweeper was right behind me the whole way and pointed out my rubbish tyres which I’ve known about since my first trip with Almost 4x4 but I’ve been putting off buying proper off road tyres but now the time has come when I must upgrade. When there were tight turns I often had to take a wider one because the car was sliding so much and I’m also aware of likelihood of getting a popout with me being towards the back of the convoy and there being deep tracks in some places. Time to start researching what kind of tyres to buy and from where.
I had one second try because of going too slow even though I’d seen someone in front of me have second tries on the same dune. A couple of times I had hard landings on the other side but the car just takes this minor abuse with no issues. I rarely got out of first gear and used 2/3 of petrol in the tank during this 2 hour journey. These modern off road cars are incredible. Anyway, what a brilliant morning it was. I won’t forget this trip for a long while. Thanks as always to all of you who give up your time to teaching the drivers at the lower levels.
Adrian
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giorgio
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Adrian wrote: Sat Jun 01, 2019 9:22 am I was in Agalon’s convoy. Only 3 of us newbies in the convoy, two of us in FJs and one in a Jeep so no need for Agalon to worry too much about any of us newbies struggling with less off-road capable cars. This meant that us 3 newbies got a VIP trip in terms of supervision and teaching because each of us had an intermediate in front and an intermediate behind. I had Petr in front of me and Loca behind me as sweeper. Booy was a constant presence seemingly appearing from nowhere looking at everything from the top of a dune and he occasionally drove in between me and Petr so I got to see how both he and Petr tackled the dunes. In my previous 8 drives I’ve been behind a fellow newbie so it was great to be able to directly observe and follow drivers of higher levels.
Booy gave us a briefing about half an hour into the trip telling us the importance of the right speed and momentum when doing an arch and when to let off the throttle and when not to. I learned such a lot on this trip. But all of the previous trips had led up to this point. The club is so organised in how it brings beginners along step by step with the gradual introduction of new challenges and skills, all building on what has gone before in earlier trips. The leader sets off at a certain pace and chooses certain paths and adjusts the level in real time to the capabilities of the various drivers in the convoy based on the feedback he gets about stucks, second tries etc.
Booy said that Agalon was deliberately going up the soft side of the slopes and that in this area the other side is hard so these are good dunes for introducing us to side cresting. I had not noticed this at all and made a mental note to myself to pay attention to this for the rest of the drive. Then as soon as we got going again I completely forgot about it. I have to concentrate so hard on keeping the right speed and momentum and on keeping the right distance so I don’t get too close and cause a problem if there’s a second try in front of me and don’t get too far behind and then get disconnected from the convoy. I think it’s going to take a while before I’m able to look around a bit more rather than focussing entirely on following the car in front.
Loca as sweeper was right behind me the whole way and pointed out my rubbish tyres which I’ve known about since my first trip with Almost 4x4 but I’ve been putting off buying proper off road tyres but now the time has come when I must upgrade. When there were tight turns I often had to take a wider one because the car was sliding so much and I’m also aware of likelihood of getting a popout with me being towards the back of the convoy and there being deep tracks in some places. Time to start researching what kind of tyres to buy and from where.
I had one second try because of going too slow even though I’d seen someone in front of me have second tries on the same dune. A couple of times I had hard landings on the other side but the car just takes this minor abuse with no issues. I rarely got out of first gear and used 2/3 of petrol in the tank during this 2 hour journey. These modern off road cars are incredible. Anyway, what a brilliant morning it was. I won’t forget this trip for a long while. Thanks as always to all of you who give up your time to teaching the drivers at the lower levels.
Adrian
Adrian it was an amazing drive and u all did great. Dont worry about understanding the dunes etc. Things will fall in place over time without you noticing. Just drive improve and listen. Slowly day after day all will make sense
The Wolf is not concerned with the opinion of the sheep
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Agalon
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Good morning everybody.

As mentioned in the above reports i lead one of the convoys with [mention]giorgio[/mention] as 2nd lead, [mention]Loca[/mention] as sweeper and [mention]Booy[/mention] floating around us. [mention]Johanna[/mention] and [mention]Petr[/mention] was in the convoy with our newbies [mention]Stefano[/mention] , [mention]Mahmoodyasin[/mention] and [mention]Adrian[/mention]

The intention was to increase the pace along the drive. We started with easy safari style, making some short arches time to time on the soft side to practice the control. As [mention]Booy[/mention] observed some of our drivers are having issues with throttle control on the arches, we made a re-briefing to remind how to control. As a reminder, momentum is the key. Enter the dunes with correct speed. Correct momentum makes it easier to control throttle. Especially on the soft side of dunes, never release the throttle till your nose is down. The car will immediately lose power if you do which, might lead into a serious situation.
After our briefing, as the convoy was doing very well, we started increasing the pace and introducing our drivers to cresting diagonally on short dunes keeping a fast flow. I am very happy with the performance of our newbies as, aside from a couple of second tries, we just drove uninterrupted with radio silence. I must say i had fun.

Thanks to [mention]giorgio[/mention] for great 2nd lead, [mention]Loca[/mention] for active sweep and [mention]Booy[/mention] for being the eyes around the convoy and all intermediates for support. Hats off to our newbies for the great drive.

See you all next time...
AGALON
/ Wrangler JK'18
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Mahmoodyasin
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Hi Guys
May 31st was a very different day, In terms of the number of intermediates surrounding the newbies. Felt like VIP.
We all met at a point north of bidayar and did a journey to pink rock and back. The group was split into two having @Daggerfall with @Solmaz and @Agalon with @Booy.
A hand full of newbies surrounded by plenty of intermediates, made me think that marshals will definitely have a surprise package up their sleeve. And a hint of such sort, was passed on by our lead @Agalon at the brief.
I was the third car, having @Giorgio and @Johanna, ahead and behind me.
We started of with a smooth ride, moving up, with a touch of aggression time to time, which by our lead, was a smart way of judging the capabilities of the riders. Hearing no screams on the radio....YET... @Agalon pushed the level up gradually, by introducing the side crests, vertical dips and arches on the dunes......😯. Cars tailing out brought the lead to stop for a pit stop and a quick chat.
It was a very important short brief where @Booy demonstrated, the art of approaching the dune for a side-crest, in which how the speed and control plays and important role. @Johanna pointed to me that i was having, frequent tail slides, a pressure check revealed, an increase to 15psi, happened due to a sudden rise in temperature. Once corrected i felt the difference and for the remaining strides i could feel more control on the car.
Upon reaching the pink rock, surprisingly all of us newbies, had the same feeling of being tested, challenged and pushed to the limits. Which was great, as it was not expected on my 4th drive at all and i must say that i was very lucky to be a part.
We started moving again and while When we thought that was it, the radio shouted “Get your diapers on Guys” (by @Giorgio) @Agalon just raised the level further up and adding a speed to it. Made me realize how it feels to get sweats 😰 even when the AC is at full. This time a few had to take second attempts but thankfully no pop outs. The speed was continuous and the flow of the convoy became constant bringing us to the finish point. With coaching tips by @Giorgio and continuous monitoring by @Johanna, i learnt a lot of things that day which will need more practice to master.
I must stay, a ride full of adrenaline which i will cherish for a long time.
Thanks to the Marshals, intermediates who took time and hassle to make us learn and more over become means of bringing joy to our day.

👋🏼
Mahmoodyasin “dark stallion”
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Petr
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Hello All,
I am glad I could join this drive, my car was in a garage till the last midnight before the drive!

I joined [mention]Agalon[/mention]'s convoy, which was like a VIP drive - we had three newbies surrounded by the support staff of 4 intermediates plus [mention]Booy[/mention] floating around. It was a nice area with mid sized dunes that allowed us to keep the pace. Agalon was gradually adding more challenging side crests but all newbies did great and we had no need for recovery, just several second (or third wink ) tries.
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Rathica
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The area selected for the drive was between Al Badayer and Pink Rock which is a very nice area for both landscape and shape of the dunes. Perfect ground to move the first steps toward side cresting

At the briefing we got split into 2 convoys, one led by @Daggerfall and supported by @Solmaz . The other led by @Agalon and supported by @Booy .
I was in @Daggerfall's group supported by @Solmaz.
The drive was an exciting mix of straight Cresting over mid sized dunes; lots of side sloping and side cresting with some sharp turns. It required my full attention and concentration. Driving behind the 2bd lead meant I had to keep abreast of the pace. Glad to say I was able to keep up with all the challenges. There were times when the course needed to be revised due to the soft sand and skill required to manoeuvre up the dune, but it was done in good time. There were a few second tries, and we had 1 pop out towards the end and that tyre eventually needed to be changed and just like that, the trip was over. Definitely a Fun Friday ❤️
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Rooies
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We met at the meeting point & there a lot of new faces & some that I remember from previous drives. I brought a friend that recently joined the group, but have not driven with us before. He had a good chat with all the jeep guys, yes he drives a jeep.

He had our briefing & I was second lead for [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] . The track was nice & flowing, testing the skills of the newbies. We headed over to Pink Rock & there was hardly any issues getting there. One or two second tries, but no ropes needed. We got to the bottom of Pink Rock & @Daggerfall went up first to check if the track was clear. I was chatting away with my passengers & when it was my turn to head up the track I was in the wrong gear, but decided to stick it out, fortunately the Patrol made it to the top grin . One by one the convoy came to the top, we found the other convoy there, they headed out & we stayed a bit longer chatting.

We headed back towards the road with a few bigger dunes to climb. The sand was soft & hot & tyre pressure got higher. The going was still good. @Daggerfall went over a dune & said that I must go 3m left, but I was to close & got stuck, second try Psmiley . He came back & we took another track with a climb & arch. Somebody reported a pop out over the radio & we stopped while the fixed it. @Solmaz stopped next to us, somewhere she took a big knock & there was some damage on the front bumper, but nothing serious. The pop out was fixed & we continued again.

We headed to the road & the drive came to an end, another fun drive in the sand. Thank you @Daggerfall for the track & @Solmaz for looking after us.

Till we meet in the sand again, take care.

Greetings
Rooies
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Saeed FJ
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Good afternoon almosters
I was appointed in [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] convoy, I ware the last in the convoy in front of Issa, the drive was amazing, and the convoy did well
advised to the driver,
- in such level, you have to keep the proper distance not too close and not too far
- radio communication, for clearance, 2nd try or stuck
- the right speed and angle for approaching the dune which is very important, the proper distance will let you notice the car in the front of you and that will help you for avoiding the 2nd try, pop out or stuck.

good luck everyone and till next time stay safe
see you on sand
Abu Madi
yellow FJ (Bumblebee)
Adventurous League of Mountains, Oceans and Sand Thrills
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