Conquer the Dunes

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a_parkar
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Hello Everyone,

Felt good driving in the sand properly after a whole year. Until day before yesterday i was not even sure if i would be allowed to join the drive as the convoys were already full and i had not registered as i was not back in town but thanks to the organizing marshall [mention]Booy[/mention] who let me join the drive as soon as i contacted him. The meetup time was set at 7 am and to my surprise around 10 cars were there at the meetup point by 6:45 which shows the dedication that the members have towards the club.
The drive briefing started shortly after 7:30 and we were split up into 3 convoys which were being led by [mention]presa[/mention] , [mention]Agalon[/mention] and [mention]Barish[/mention] with [mention]presa[/mention] leading the 5+ convoy that i was a part of. The convoy also consisted of [mention]Solmaz[/mention] and [mention]SINGH[/mention] floating around and [mention]Gabor[/mention] , [mention]Johanna[/mention] and [mention]Petr[/mention] supporting the convoy.
The drive started in hatta and ended in al faya. It consisted of three portions the first one being safari style near pink rock where we were thought the proper procedure to make arches along the dunes safely based on the limitations of our cars followed by a quick drive in a flat area and finally ending the drive in fossil rock where we were made to climb a portion of fossil rock in a safe manner. I found that my car struggled a little bit while climbing the area near fossil rock as i forgot rhe main thing in between the drives which is to constantly check and adjust the tyre pressure and as soon as i had reduced the pressure my car was able to climb with ease.

I would finally like to thank all the marshals and support to organize, lead and take care of us newbies during the drive.
Hopefully will see everyone again in the sand soon.

Regards.
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Phoenix
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Ok, here we go after a loooooooong time my trip report.

First I would like to welcome all the new members of our family.

It is GOOD to be back, although it was a bit hot but then again we are ALMOST4X4, the weather has not stopped us before even if it storms, rains, windy, foggy you name it and we have camped and driven in it so why would it be any different this time. This drive was mainly designed to give the newly joined members in the last CLUB MEMBER drive the opportunity to take their driving skills and safety training put to practice and also provide other members with their share of sand action as well.

Our convoy was lead by [mention]Barish[/mention] who did an outstanding job of leading the convoy and keep the level of the drive always fun and safe considering that we had the biggest cars of this drive in our convoy. Of course, the leader can only be as strong as his support team and who else to provide the best guidance and support then our lovely [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] and [mention]Youssef.Abdelhady[/mention] as floaters and [mention]Jasper[/mention] as intermediate support and me as sweeper. I think have become the designated sweeper for all drives now grin

The first half of our drive was safari style and the second half was a mix of just a little bit technical, some arches, a few drops and again some more safari style. The convoy did extremely well and in the first half, there were a few stucks and second tries which is PERFECTLY NORMAL as everyone was starting to learn the behaviour of their cars and getting better in a safe manner. If you fly? then you are not learning but if you get stuck or do second tries? that means you are learning, getting better but in a safe manner.

By the second half of the drive the radios went dead silent, it only meant one thing and that is that every driver was in THE ZONE and the convoy was flowing like a perfectly oiled machine. I do have to get Outlaw back in the garage because while driving I felt that Outlaw is not getting enough traction and when I would turn the steering rack full left there was a grinding sound from the front right wheel. But this is Outlaw we are talking about, he does not know how to give up... he never gives up and always brings me back home.

Anyhow after about 15 minutes into the drive the noise went away but only for me to realise much further into the drive that I had lost 4x4 and was actually driving 3x4. Like I said, OUTLAW NEVER GIVES UP !! cool and we finished the drive and it got me back home.

We had a sick passenger in one of the cars and luckily we were close to the road at that time so we made the arrangments in assisting them back on the road and saying our goodbyes.

By the end of the drive, we had a tyre burst and while changing the tyre all hands were required on deck because of some technical difficulties but then again we are ALMOST4x4 and WE LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND. cool

All in all, it was an amazing experience to drive with the new members and stand shoulder to shoulder with the convoy support. It is always a lovely experience seeing new members join us and learn and grow as I see myself in them when I was doing the same couple of years ago and just like my friend [mention]Barish[/mention] says that the learning never stops because you have decided to keep improving while changing.


See you all in the sand.
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Fat Rabbit
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Hello everyone,

Thanks [mention]Booy[/mention] for organising the drive.

This drive was awesome!! I was in the 5+ convoy, and the lead [mention]presa[/mention] took us to some pretty amazing places. Thanks to [mention]Solmaz[/mention] , [mention]Johanna[/mention] , [mention]SINGH[/mention] , [mention]Gabor[/mention] and [mention]Petr[/mention] for keeping us all safe.

I had the distinct pleasure of driving just behind [mention]Johanna[/mention] , an expert driver who also has a 2-door Patrol Safari like me. I watched her manoeuvre over the tricky spots and did exactly the same. This was fun.

[mention]presa[/mention] took us for climbing some tall dunes straight up. Wow, it was waayyyyyyy fun. Thank you. I loved [mention]Solmaz[/mention] 's constant guidance over the walkie talkie and [mention]SINGH[/mention] 's guidance in the really soft sand areas. This really helped and we had no major stucks and nil pop outs on the drive.

Special thanks to [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] as well. I was sporting brand new A/T tyres (changed from the stock H/T tyres) and was chatting with him before the drive. He told me to keep the PSI on the front tyres a little higher than the rear tyres to avoid pop outs.

Missed [mention]alshamsi[/mention] on the drive TT TT

All in all, I enjoyed the drive, my first since Ramadan (took a break for the summer as I was travelling often).

Below is a pic of the 2 Nissan Patrols in love



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Where the road ends, the enjoyment begins..
With Natalie, a 2-door beige Nissan Patrol Safari
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Agalon
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Hi everybody.

We had a major drive with 3 full convoys including our fresh newbies from last weeks CM drive. It makes us happy to see our new family members walking the extra mile with us.

I was with [mention]Booy[/mention] , [mention]Issa[/mention] , [mention]optimus[/mention] and [mention]Bu Zayed[/mention] in our convoy. Thanks for the support guys.

We respected the plan successfully. Including some challenges we served our drivers and the minor usual situations that were the outcome, we ended the drive safe and on time.

I have to remind, especially to our fresh members that getting stuck or making multiple tries are part of the experience. Don’t get upset or feel ashamed; even enjoy and have fun with it. We are making these drives on this purpose so you can develop the skills and become better on sand in a safe way.

Thanks to everyone who joined us as driver and support; to make it another success. Till then...
AGALON
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optimus
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Hi All

It was a housefull trip with +40 cars. Thanks [mention]Booy[/mention] for organizing the trip.
[mention]Booy[/mention] divided the members into 3 convoys.
One was led by [mention]presa[/mention] , One by [mention]Barish[/mention] and our convoy (-5), [mention]Agalon[/mention] alon was appointed the leader,
with [mention]Booy[/mention] & [mention]Issa[/mention] floating around the convoy, [mention]Bu Zayed[/mention] Zayed was kept in the middle in order to make sure convoy is connected all through the route and I was the 2nd car behind the lead.

Agalon, during the convoy briefing said that the pace would be adjusted depending upon the convoy performance. He did a fantastic job by leading a group of recently promoted newbie’s. The convoy performed well during the medium paced safari style, until he decided to throw some straight cresting challenges & hence created some stuck situations which were handled well by the floaters.
Getting stuck or making 2nd tries is purely a part of learning. As Agalon mentioned above, enjoy these moments, have fun and learn from them because we live, we learn, we upgrade! 😊

Until next time!
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Hi everybody!

I am a new member and Conquer the Dunes was my first drive with Almost4x4.
I was in the first convoy with [mention]Booy[/mention] led by [mention]Agalon[/mention]

I really enjoyed the drive and the progression in the difficulty, as a real driving lesson.

I was just behind [mention]Bu Zayed[/mention]: he kept a good pace, I lost his tracks once and took me a couple of tries to find my way back to the convoy, with the poor guy behind me following me blindly (yes, we were the two ocean blue wrangler).

Thanks everybody.
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presa
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Hi Almosters!

We had a great early Friday drive with our fresh Newbies, welcome ALL!!! And with our 6-10 newbies.

I lead the 6-10 convoy and we had good fun, driving around 45km from Nazwa to Maleha area.

The convoy was doing well, so we could increase the level and do some climbs near fossil rock and then near fossil rock. Tire pressure plays a huge rule on climbing with soft sand and many drivers felt that decreasing a few psi (2-3psi) was the difference between getting traction or sliding down.

One of the fun areas was when we avoid the wadi and crossed a 2-3km area o the top of the dunes, what was challenging due to the soft sand and by being against the wind direction, what the convoy did great.

We finish the drive by the East side of Fossil Rock with around 3,5h of driving that fell like 30min to me :)

Hope to see you all next weekend!
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Petr
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I was a sweeper at [mention]presa[/mention]'s convoy. One interesting fact - when we lined up, the cars made couples - two Patrols, two Fortuners, two JKs, two JKUs.

I appreciated that Presa inserted the climb at the end of the drive - it must have been an interesting experience for many newbies and some lessons learned about the tyre pressure.

Talking about the pressure - I noticed that some in this thread mentioned it is important to check the pressure periodically during the drive to avoid the problems with adhesion. While having the right pressure is right, checking it periodically is not. It just holds the convoy from moving on. The right approach is to account for the temperature changes at the time you deflate. Remember that the temperature of the tyres is not only a function of the raising sun and the air temperature, but also of the tyre friction during the drive. The rule of thumb*) is:

5 deg C change increases the pressure by 3%

If your tyre has 30 deg C with 10 psi, and it goes to cca 70 deg C during the drive, the increase is 24%, so if you deflate to 10 psi you have over 12 psi later on. Note that if the initial temperature is 40, the change is 18% - still around 2 psi difference.

So, when you arrive to the meeting point, deflate about 2 psi below your desired pressure - and you will be fine.

*) https://www.tirerack.com/tires/tiretech ... ?techid=73
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SINGH
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Hi All,
Thanks to my laziness to write the trip report a bit late. Although, most of the highlights of the day are already very well written in the above reports.

I started a bit late from home and wasn't sure of myself to make it before the start of the drive. So i sent a msg to [mention]Booy[/mention] that i'll catch up with the convoy if i reach late. Luckily, i made it within the time. After briefing, the drivers were divided into three convoy's.

I was supporting the 5+ convoy which was lead by [mention]presa[/mention] and the support team was [mention]Solmaz[/mention] , [mention]Johanna[/mention] , [mention]Gabor[/mention] and [mention]Petr[/mention] .

The drive started by a kind of a warm-up session for the drivers, followed by a slight safari kind of a sprint. Once we reached to the pink rock, [mention]presa[/mention] had different plan. grin . The drivers were introduced to making an arch on a steep climb, where i must say most of them had enjoyed the power of their cars and off-course did that safely.

Crossed the 2nd December and started towards the Fossil Rocks. Took a slight break near to the fossil rock and then headed towards the end point.

But wait, [mention]presa[/mention] again got something extra for the drivers. He went up from the back side of the Fossile Rock to find a safe balcony and asked all the drivers to try to climb one by one. ORLY

Few second tries, but most of the drivers made it. A nice training to know how to use the momentum and the power to reach to the heights without damaging your vehicles. Newbies must have felt high on confidence after climbing that high in the end. have a nice day

Thanks [mention]Booy[/mention] for organising the drive and thanks to all the Marshals, Explorers and Intermediate drivers for providing your support.

Till next drive together.....see ya...
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Booy
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Thank you everyone for the trip reports.

It is good to see such a big new batch of new Almosters, eager to drive, to enjoy the desert and good company.

It was great driving with everyone, and we are looking forward to a jammed pack season.

See you in the sand :)

Regards,

Booy
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