Baby on board

[Mghoneim]

Hello Almosters!

This marks my second intermediate drive and the track was amazing. Started off Al Taf road heading towards old lady. The dunes were medium to high, and the sand was super soft.

The convoy was led by daggerfall, swept by petr and Giorgio and Orlantsev were floating. We didn’t have the best flow, a couple of stuck situations, and several second tries all over the convoy however it was interesting start to end.

Sweihan as an area never fails to impress me and push my adrenaline levels higher. I am writing this report while i am eagerly waiting for F13 later in the day.


Cheers,
Mghoneim

[galindakis]

Hello there,

I'm excited to share the highlights of our recent off-road adventure, the "Baby on Board" drive. Led by Daggerfall and accompanied by Giorgio and Orlantsev, this drive took us from Sweihan to the Old Lady dune.

We gathered at Sweihan, ready to embark on an exhilarating off-road drive. Giorgio kicked off the adventure by advising us to trust our navigation skills, setting the tone for a confident and exciting journey. Daggerfall followed with crucial safety techniques, emphasizing the importance of playing it safe.

As we hit the trails, I initially felt a bit rigid, making a few second attempts at obstacles. However, after just 30 minutes, I found my rhythm and started feeling perfectly at ease, embracing the challenges that lay ahead.

Overall, the convoy performed well, with only a few second attempts required along the way. However, one area we identified for improvement was radio communication. We recognized its key role in avoiding difficult situations and made a note to enhance our communication skills for future drives.

This was my second intermediate drive, and I can't help but dream of the next one. The thrill, the camaraderie, and the personal growth that come with each off-road adventure leave me eagerly anticipating what lies ahead.

A big thank you to Daggerfall for leading us through this exciting drive, and to Giorgio and Orlantsev for their support and guidance.
Until our next off-road expedition.

Best regards,

[orlantsev]

Hello all,

I have been away fair amount of time, and was excited to register into both drives. I woke up at 3.30 am on Saturday, left Abu Dhabi at 4.30 am and reached the meeting point on time.

I have not driven with many of the recently upgraded intermediates a lot, so was not sure which level to expect. The weather was surprisingly pleasant for this time of the year. Daggerfall brought the convoy into medium sized dunes, and except for few second tries the convoy did well. From my observation the issue was the communication. Since I am not yet familiar to new voices I struggled to understand who was doing the second try, or lost track etc. I will get familiar eventually, but it would be perfect if there was an indication of a name. There was an opportunity to practice driving in a bowl, riding a crest. Slightly more delays towards the second part of the drive, but overall very well done.

I was glad that we finished on time which I thought left me with enough time to get back to Dubai for a short rest before joining the afternoon drive with a passenger I was supposed to pick up. I finished inflating, and switched off the car to reset the kill switch. After I attempted to restart the battery was dead without signs of life. I think it was not in the best condition to begin with, and in addition to the compressor I ran AC and fridge. Luckily Sorin was still around and kindly helped me. The jump-start cables did not work so the battery had to be swapped. I had to go and get another battery in the little time which was left, so I only could take shower before driving back 140 km.

By the time I got back from the afternoon drive it was already 10.30 pm which meant I drove for 18 hrs with 1 hr proper break. Not sure I would want to repeat this, so I am looking forward to somebody to open a proper co-work space with pool and refreshments in Sweihan to use between the drives.

[Daggerfall]

Hi Almosters,

Just like described, it was a nice and easy drive where we enjoyed the good weather in the morning and fresh dunes of Sweihan which was also a good start to get in shape after a long break (More than a year )

The convoy was a mixture of "young" and "old" intermediates, so some second tries and interruption on the flow happened as expected but everyone did good in general.

However, as we notified during the break communication needs to be improved and no overtaking should be done unless it's absolutely necessary for a better flow and safety! The distance between the dunes was wide in this case but you will find yourself in such scenarios in the future where you might enter a bowl after a huge crest where you will have only space for 2 cars or no space at all. (This was experienced!)

Thanks to Giorgio and Orlantsev for the support and all participated.

See you next time!

[Petr]

You never know with @Daggerfall when he is serious and when he is bluffing, so the trip title coud actually indicate anything between a smooth and easy drive and a crazy dance on top of the dunes while swallowing dusts of sand after his car.

It appeared he came in a relaxed mood so the drive was on the easier side, however interrupted by a few skill tests on climbing high dunes on the soft sand.

I was assigned the role of sweeper, which is the desired position of any intermediate at newbie drives, since it gives one some freedom at the end of the convoy. However, as the rule of the day was no overtaking during second tries, it required to abort the approach for anyone behind the car having problem and to wait until the driver makes his attempts to crest. That naturally makes the last car waiting the most, and sometimes even not getting the chance to try the crest when @Giorgio decided there have been too many failed attempts on this spot and he diverted the rest of the convoy to an easier track. Eventually my hunger to try something harder after long waiting betrayed me at one spot and got stuck in a stupid place.

Anyway, the most important is that we return back home in one piece and Giorgio had a lot of work to manage the herd's safety. Thanks to him, to Daggerfall and to @Orlantsev it was a successful and funny morning.

[nidal78]

Hey Almosters
Baby on board
Although the name and the description of this drive but you can’t expect what Daggerfall hide for you
Honestly Daggerfall was merciful with us this time ( the fresh intermediate ) but he put us in a challenging position when he decided to put us at the back of the convoy
I was the last before Petr the sweeper and that was really challenging in some parts because of the super soft sand which causes some 2nd tries and because of that second tries and some another convoys tracks we lost our track and Giorgio had to do a great effort to re join the convoy
Overall it was a great day with the friends we all played safe but as mentioned before we have to work more on radio communication
Big thanks to Daggerfall, Giorgio and Orlantsev for their great efforts, to my fellows intermediate for playing nice and safe
Closing my trip report with a video of our drive
(Special Thanks to my media mate Sorin for filming me )