Hello Hi

[CARLOSS]

Hello everyone!

“Hello Hi” drive was an intentionally “misspelled” drive’s name referring to the high dunes of Al Badayer and actually honored its name as we went high. A +7 drive with some touches of +10, I would say.

Our dear founder cooked a trap …instead of splitting the convoy in two due to the twenty something cars showing up he decided to keep a single convoy and started pushing hard in the first few dunes and the mess came up : convoy disconnected, overtakes, taking wrong tracks etc.

And one of the problems was, as usual, not keeping an appropriate distance . In some other areas with no tracks it is easy to follow the track & catch up if necessary but in the Golden Dunes you don’t have a chance as it is plenty of them and some other convoys make our live harder. Another issue was not following one of the essential rules: No overtaking and waiting for the driver in front of you to sort out the stuck or second try. Bad habit to be rectified.

After no more than 5 min drive, we were called for a debriefing and from that point onwards the convoy performed much better. By the way, I am saying convoy but it was actually a sort of a “big snake” covering no less than 3 dunes…beautiful scene to see all these cars moving at the same time.

We finished on time with a smile in our face…no need to inflate for me and some others as we were heading another adventure…but this is another story.

I would like to thank @alshamsi_m for organizing the drive and @rapailo & @orlantsev for taking care of us and my mates @AndreAJ , @Dastoori (nice meeting you), @Jasper , @Laarni , @mpodroid , @Rooies for supporting the convoy and the media team @Ehab and @nidal78 . And @brett , the main usual suspect.

See you soon

Carlos

[brett]

Hi Almosters

What a great morning we had ! I arrived in plenty of time to get myself organised, deflated etc and ready to go.
Thanks to @alshamsi_m for organizing the drive. It's a lovely area of red dunes with some high areas and technical areas, so a good variety to test our development
As @CARLOSS mentioned it was a large group that would normally be split in to 2 convoys, but of course our intrepid founder always has surprizes up his sleeve - Expect the unexpected !!

We had @Laarni in second lead, and a number of other Intermediate and advanced drivers to keep an eye on us newbies, with such a large group they had plenty to keep an eye on so special thanks and respect to them @orlantsev @AndreAJ @Ehab @Carloss @mpodroid @Rooies @Jasper @rapailo @Dastoori
rounding out the usual suspects we also had @nidal78 making up the Media Crew.

So off we headed in the very very long convoy of course right from the start @alshamsi_m started at a frantic pace - a 7+ drive ?? well the first 5min certainly woke everyone up, with the realisation there was no easing into the the rhythm it was required to have 110% concentration right from the start. fast pace, multiple tracks in the dunes and lose sight of the car in front and bingo the convoy was disjointed and scampering to find the "right" track. Guilty as charged I managed to become one of the main victims of this - somehow going from being about the 10th car in the convoy to connecting with the 3rd car !!

After the 5min regroup off we went again with the rest of the drive pushing most of the drivers out of their comfort zone and preparing them for the next level of learning.

The drive ended as planned and we said our thanks and goodbyes.

Take aways
- @alshamsi_m should never be taken for granted - things change in an instant with him as the Lead
- Mid convoy is a great place to develop your skills at maintaining the right distance not to close not to far
- Radio communication is very important.

Time to refuel (our bellies) and head off to the next adventure

[Daiyaan]

Hello, Hi everyone!

What a drive this was. High, fast and exhilarating!

Convoy was big and tracks a many, therefore it was very important to maintain the correct distance to avoid chaos. I found myself in a situation with a big gap to the car in front of me (due to my incorrect gear choice at one point) however luckily didn’t lose track and caught up. Due to the heavy use of this area, many of the tracks were heavily chewed up, causing severe shudders while driving which made me feel like I was certainly going to break something in my car.
However this was alot of fun and alot of learning which is great as always.

Thanks @alshamsi_m and the crew as always!

[piotr]

Hello Almosters!
Writing with a slight delay, but still with a wide smile on my face when i remember the Sunday morning.
The area rarely gets ventured into by the club - so even bigger was the anticipation (later I realized why that is - it is just VERY busy and tracks are chewed!).

The drive was advertised as 7+ so I took a friend and 2 kids onboard expecting a relatively easier ride (my 4yo cannot handle 10+ - this was tried and tested) :) - still this turned out to be a mistake as @alshamsi_m pushed the long convoy to its limits. The oldbies in the car enjoyed it a lot, but my young passengers not so much, so sadly I had to bail out after 1h (still, covering impressive 20km!)

In that 1h we covered super picturesque terrain, with views from the top of the dunes reaching far and wide into the desert below. Just stunning!
The track was fast and curvy, with plenty of climb-mini-arch-traverse-valley-repeat sections. Sadly, at the end of the convoy the sand was extremely chewed (particularly on the climbs) and additionally due to plenty of other tracks the ride was very very bumpy. On the positive side - I now know the suspension can still handle it :)

Learnings, as already pointed out earlier, were mainly "keep your distance!" and do not overtake. Radio comms, as challenging as it may be in a convoy of this length, are also crucial.

Overall it was a great drive, and one I would eagerly take part in again. Thank you @alshamsi_m for organizing, our Intermediate/Advance/Explorers for supporting and our great media team for reporting!

See you in the sand (soon!)

Piotr

[Ehab]

Fast pace drive right from the beginning, leteraly a jump done by Alshamsi in the first 100 meters, drivers were given a shock and a wakeup call. I remember when I first drove in this area with Alshamsi after multiple technical drives, this area require good amount of speed, high level of attention and very good communication.

Few mistakes at the beginning of the drive but all were avoided after a debrief. Drivers adopted the pace quickly and the rest of the drive was smooth. Good number of intermediate drivers were there which made all newbies feel safe. Lot of enjoyment and learning.

Enjoy watching

[theDanutz]

Dear Almosters,

A bit late for the report, but I would like to post it, was resting in my mind.. and share my learnings as well.

Hello Hi was very nice trip, started promising, early in the morning, nice area, sunrise on the road, perfect day! Thank you @alshamsi_m for organizing it for us. Thank you to also Support crew whom was excellent!!

Unfortunately for me, was not the best day in office, but learned a lot from it. Also had to finish my drive a bit early as could not get focused enough to continue. I guess there are some days like this also

• I didn’t expect that the so many tracks in the area would create problems and make my ride very uncomfortable, maybe something with suspensions also I would have to change, focus.. it was a bit of everything.

Overall, I have some takeaways from it that I will take further:

• keep close to car in front, but don’t speed up a lot in case distance becomes too big to catch up, better to announce on radio as the terrain is unpredictable;

• pay close attention to surrounding cars, especially during stops and start

On a positive note, I had one stuck, which I managed to safely recover without using the rope Thank you a lot for your guidance and help! It all showed up during the self recovery

With this report, I would like to say how grateful I am to Almost4x4 for teaching me this new skill, which definitely takes time and re-tries to master;

Thank you and see you in the sand!

Best regards,
Danutz

[AntonT]

Good evening Almosters!

It's never too late to write a report, even if the emotions decreased after the trip.

We recently rode almost in the same place (Ghost Village drive) before an expedition to Liwa. But this time, it was completely different. It wasn't easy to see what was around because the pace was not at all the newbies were used to. The convoy was so long that I saw its tail more often towards us than the five cars ahead. It was challenging to keep the proper distance at such a speed, and I constantly spied on @CARLOSS when and how he was cautious or, on the contrary, accelerated to take obstacles. At the same time, I repeatedly apologized to him for huddling too close, but this is only because I am confident in his skills.

What I remember well was @alshamsi_m's stern call to concentrate: "Take control of your emotions and circumstances!"
It helped and not only me to tune in to the right wave)

What's new? @rapailo told another valuable technique that I immediately began to apply. How to deal with trenches at the foot of the dunes during acceleration...

More and more, I come to realize how finely almost4x4 school program for beginners is built. Step by step, our capabilities and the capabilities of our iron horses are revealed to us.

Thanks to all - organizer and support team - for the valuable experience!
I was glad to see @Rooies after a long break and @AndreAJ after his recovery.

Already looking in the app and waiting for a new chance to see everyone and have a great time together.