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Abu Jimmy
Marshal
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Joined: Sat Feb 26, 2011 5:54 pm
Location: Sharjah
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Another pleasant Friday morning with the " almosters " . We were lucky enough to have a good weather in the morning where we met and did the briefing , The area we drove is very dear to my heart personally as its where I did my few first drives with almost club as a Newbie . It has small to medium red sand round top dunes and is perfect for an educational session for the -5 leve .
The convoy had a great number of support and an acceptable number of total cars .
All the drivers did really well in more than one aspect , we had a very good discipline in convoy rules and safety measures. The drive was smooth and constant except for a few second rounds , a popout and a damaged tyre ( rock shredded) which is normal for such drives.
Few climbs , some descends , safari style and an introduction to side cresting was the high lights of the day , we finished around 11 pm near to E44 as it was getting hot by that time.
Finally thanks to all the the participating Newbies for a great morning and special thanks for the support team on a job well done in keeping the safety and smooth flow present at all times .
What goes around , comes around .
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Bu Zayed
Intermediate
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Posts: 68
Joined: Mon Nov 07, 2016 4:46 am
Location: Sharjah

A lovely morning at one of my favourite spots. The weather was just amazing. @Abu Jimmy started by giving the participant a great introduction on do's and don'ts while driving in a convoy. The drive started very smoothly with many cars were seen driving around the pink rock area. The Almosters were doing a great job at the convoy with a number of 2nd tries.

It was nice to see new members and hope to see them climb up the Almost higher levels soon.

Can't wait to drive again with the best offroad club in UAE and thanks to @Abu Jimmy for organising the trip and for all the supporters for their support.

Bu Zayed over and out :-)
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AbuJawad
Intermediate
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Posts: 11
Joined: Tue Sep 10, 2019 5:17 pm
Location: Dubai-JVC
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Hello Everyone,
I’d like to open the seal off my first trip report.

First and Foremost THANKS to the one and only @Abu Jimmy not only for his leading to this drive but also for him leaving his comfort zone to lead us when he has Fever and he isn’t well. (Kafoo)
Talking about this Drive where we met at the 2nd December Cafeteria after a nice night camp with very few Almosters whom i didn’t have the chance to see cause i joined late (Only finding @Abu Jimmy , @Mohanad and @Yazan Ali and the rest were ZZZZzzzzZZzzzz.
Going back to the main topic, meeting time was at 8 and we completed the numbers and attendance at 8.30 along with the briefing and safety instructions by our leader, everything was clear and informative.
The total driving duration was around 1.5 Hours driving a distance of around 25 KM (if Gaia navigation application is right) , it was a nice smooth drive, the leader chose the best route to accommodate our levels.
We had i think around 17 Cars in total in one convoy including Marshal 3 Advance and 2 Intermediate @Johanna @Youssef.Abdelhady @Yazan Ali @Bu Zayed @haider alnuaimi .
We had couple of second tries by this long convoy, one stuck , a popout and one torn tire , we learned that never mess with the Nature specially rocks , because of the small rock with sharp edges makes it such a high ego piece that you have to keep a safe distance TT TT , popout: we have to feel our tires and learn the limits of each one, they are quite sensitive when it comes to weight and harsh turning specially when there is a side wall like what happened with one of the members, major factor behind the second tries is not keeping a safe 3 to 4 cars distance with the car in front of you.

Thanks to the support team floating , in convoy and sweeping.

We finished at Nazwa , tires inflated, bye’s were waved , and cars back on road to a later sand meeting .

PS: i attached a picture of the route which i remembered to start after like 10 mnts of driving.
Kindly share any pictures available of this drive.

FYI: i was writing this trip report yesterday and the page refreshed by mistake and 3/4 of the report was vanished, so i tried today to catch up with as much info i wrote as possible. X3
.


Abu Jawad
The guy with White LC/200.

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Sitting behind a wheal doesn’t make you a DRIVER, Boss!
Instead: Feel it , breath it , Take care of it, FLOOR it !
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Taco
Newbie
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Joined: Sun Mar 17, 2019 10:55 am
Location: Dubai
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Hello Almosters!

This was yet another amazing morning with our Almost4x4 family. As always, many drivers were at the meeting point before the meeting time, something I really like about our drives!

Pre-drive briefing was a bit more detailed than usual with @Abu Jimmy explaining the essential rules of driving in the desert, convoy rules and what we should expect on the day. It was almost like a mini CM Drive briefing refresher :) Briefing ended with the convoy order being announced and off we were.

@Sorin was assigned as 2nd lead and following him I was the 3rd car in the convoy. We had @Youssef.Abdelhady, @haider alnuaimi, @Johanna, @Bu Zayed and @Yazan Ali as support with only @Johanna within the convoy and everyone else floating as instructed by @Abu Jimmy.

We started with an easy and smooth warm up session. It was my first time driving in this area so I was quite excited as I was told the dune formations here is a bit different. The 1st half of the drive was uneventful with everyone keeping up just fine (mostly). At one point we came accross another convoy and while they waited we did a mini climb (cars were released one by one) trying to get closer to the base point where we would do our actual climb to Pink Rock. Shortly after this we reached base of Pink Rock and all drivers parked in a straight line next to each other.

I have to go into a bit more detail at this point and applaud how things are done at Almost4x4. As usual it was "safety first". While all of us we were lined up and enthusiastically waiting to start the climb, before anything else certain safety precautions were taken. As there were other convoys in the area, first, the support team was positioned at strategic points to prevent any passing and oncoming traffic/drivers.

Only after the area was secured we started our climb, one by one. Before this of course instructions were given over the radio on the track to be followed and how we should make the climb. I watched @Abu Jimmy and @Sorin effortlessly go up the hill and I followed with confidence. It was good exercise for me here because my car upshifts automatically when I hit the redline so I had to keep an eye on the track, on the RPM counter and keep listening to my engine to make sure I don't pass the treshold and end up with the car upshifting to 2nd gear, which would have resulted in me losing power and most probably not completing the climb. At the peak the track becomes quite narrow and there are some sharp rocks to the left of the track which become visible a bit late leaving not much reaction time. Luckily I was already positioned good enough to avoid them and just sligtly went over them hoping I did not damage my tires.

We all stopped at the other side of the hill (still at the top) where we took a long break as one of the cars in the convoy had a slashed tire due to the rocks at the top and we had to replace the tyre. The way our marshals and support teams operate in such situations is amazing, it is just like watching a theater, how safe, smooth and effortlesly they got things done, they indeed are real professionals! We all were reminded once again how dangerous rocks are, no matter how small or insignificant they may seem.

Second part of the drive started with us moving down from peak of Pink Rock but with a tiny upwards motion first. As we set off we immediately hit a patch of extremely soft sand. It looked like an easy path and having just started off from a long stop neither did the 2nd lead or myself had left the usual 15-20m distance between us and the car in front so it was 10-20 seconds of pure adrenaline 3 cars almost back to back, sliding/drifting filled with thoughs whether the car in front is going to get stuck, what if I will get stuck, oh please push push push grin With this we were reminded of another very important lesson, leaving the correct distance is crucial!! I think the first 4 or 5 cars crossed successfully after which we heard over the radio someone was stuck so we had another break waiting for the car to be recovered.

While the 1st half of the drive was uneventful, the second half, actually starting from reaching the top of Pink Rock, turned into a different story melt The pace definitely increased in the second half, our lead was throwing in very nice challenges back to back. At one point @Abu Jimmy instructed @Sorin not to follow him, which is not an uncommon thing but he did continue following nevertheless. Although I head the instructions, seeing 2nd lead keep moving I also followed, but cautiously. When I came to the top of a rather round crest I saw why the instructions had come and I decided to stop, which turned out to be not a pleasant spot. It wasn't a dangerous place but I coulnd't continue driving forward, switched to 4L, engaged my rear diff-lock and reversed back down with @Yazan Ali watching me and giving instructions from the side. I was quietly reminded of another lesson, if in doubt, just stop and radio for instructions!

I was a bit anxious because I had already seen the problematic are when I stopped at the top and now I had to cross it knowing what was waiting for me. It was kind of a V ditch and entering at the wrong angle would be problematic but I managed to pass through without a major issue (just a little bump :lol:). The car behind me wasn't that lucky, it was a heavy Lexus and the wrong approach angle combined with fighting gravity resulted in the pop-out of the day. It was another break but happy about it as we had the chance to have a nice long chat with @Abu Jimmy & @Sorin ;)

Things got only faster and more intense this point onwards. Watching ahead the 2 cars in front of me I do recall my surprize as I saw them side-cresting! My heart started beating faster as we had not done any side-crests before and for a moment I almost let adrenaline take over but quickly calmed myself down reassuring myself safety was always of the highest priority in Almost4x4 and we would never be put into a situation before we are ready for it (as proven time and again)! It really is a very different feeling, side-cresting, and we did many more of these till the end of the drive. Now I know what we did was extremely basic and any intermediate and above driver will not even call it side-cresting, but for us it was indeed legit side-cresting yaeh am not durnk

We finished the drive a bit earlier (I think) than the planned time with no more issues. It was an amazing track with a wonderful mix of different challenges and experiences. Driving under the lead of different marshals I am very pleasantly amazed every singe time, it really is a great opportunity following their different driving styles!

I want to thank once again @Abu Jimmy for organizing & leading such a fantastic drive, @Youssef.Abdelhady, @haider alnuaimi, @Johanna, @Bu Zayed and @Yazan Ali for their great support as always!

I've to admit, I'm still riding the high while I wrote this report, I can't wait to get back on the sand with our Almost4x4 family!
Taceddin "Taco" | 0564806086
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Youssef.Abdelhady
Advance
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Joined: Wed Nov 25, 2015 2:37 pm
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Hey Almosters,

The weather is finally starting to get better, so i really enjoyed the pre drive chitchat with some coffee and the light cold breeze. in love

When everyone was ready, @Abu Jimmy gave us a clear briefing and emphasized on the importance of following the safety rules of driving in a convoy.

I had the opportunity to float during the drive, which is a skill I'm gradually trying to improve. At one point I had a second try on a soft climb and almost lost the convoy. XD

We had an interesting track with some big climbs and really soft sand. There was a few second tries, a tire that was cut on rocks, a popout, and one recovery; but for the most part we were constantly driving with minimal stops.


Couple of points I'd like the emphasis :
1. Maintain the right distance, our convoy was driving way too close which resulted in a stuck car and second tries.
2. Stay vigilant and avoid rocks / broken branches / barbed wires etc
3. Pay attention to the walkie talkie


Thank you @Abu Jimmy for the lead, and @haider alnuaimi , @Yazan Ali, @Johanna, @Bu Zayed for the support.



See you all soon. pacman
Good Things Come To Those Who Floor It. redbullsmiley
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