It’s A New Day

[osman]

Hello fellow members,

I had my wife's niece as a guest and when I introduced her to @giorgio, he checked her courage first and then assigned me as the second lead for 10+ convoy. The rest I guess is one of a life time experience and adrenaline peak for a city girl. She said she was so glad to put her foot on the sand and return to normal breathing in our convoy's first stop. Later on she adapted well and enjoyed fully. Being the second car maximizes all the thrills if you are sitting at the passenger chair. Thanks @giorgio for the opportunity.

Regarding to the drive itself, like everyone else said, condition of the sand changes a lot after a heavy rain. Instead of to avoid bogging yourself in to the soft sand, the focus is to avoid even a small jerky moves that potentially trigger much worse consequences.

We had number of second tries, a few pop-outs, losing the convoy, etc. as part of the normal menu. But on one occasion, Giorgio had a break and made a briefing about the correct technique on exiting the crest. All it takes is only one mistake to see the world upside down although you do it right 100s of times before (or the luck is on your side).

We finished where we started a little bit earlier than planned time. And it was another great day with great people on the sand. Thank you all....

[sandjose]

Last week we had this amazing drive "Its a new day", organized by @giorgio. I was placed in the 5+ convoy lead by @alshamsi. I reached the meeting point early and found Mr. Shamsi with his Jimny. I knew from that moment the drive will be crazy and later I found myself racing through the open desert at 80-110 km/h, catching up with Shamsi in his Jimny.

@Rathica was the second lead and she was driving so well, keeping up with his momentum. @Ahmad closely behind. I had a hard time catching up them, but I believe I did well and I was closly following them, i was careful and at the same time it was so exciting. Regular pauses allowed Shamsi to share terrain insights, making the drive both enjoyable and manageable. Need to mention his coffee and karak

The sand was not soft on that day and it helped us climbing tall dunes with ease. Loved it some places I lost momentum, but manged to get to the top and my gear shifts are also becoming better. The drive was so fast even I felt heavy in my stomach A fellow passenger was moved to Shamsi's car, leaving me amused and wondering if she'd survive the ride.

While side sloping one tall dune I couldn't make it to the trail the convoy moved, I lost momentum and had to chose a safer path as Shamsi cautioned against fighting gravity. Believe that was a good decision. @marco reunited us back to the convoy

We had a popout in our convoy when Ahmed drifted on one dune. That was a tricky downhill. But what fun if everything is going so smooth As always, team gathered around with recovery gears and shovels. Shamsi and Bret lead the process. We dug, we fixed and we moved again

As the convoy safely exited, I bid farewell to the team and then went back in to the desert to sit some time peacefully at the Lake which I spotted when we entered the desert.

Gratitude extends to Almost4x4's founder, Gorgio for organizing, @brett, Marco and other senior members for their support. The trip was unforgettable, and I look forward to the next thrilling off-road adventure with this amazing community.

Trip Moments:

[alshamsi_m]

Hello Everyone

Since the weather is still nice I decided ro bring my little car " it small, green and not that powerful " information for the new members in our club ⁴

Nahel is a beautiful area and gave us a mix of everything for the 5+ members. I tried to go as fast as I can but the whole convoy was keeping up . So well done everyone

Thanks @giorgio for organising and all who come to support.

Looking forward to see you soon in the GPS challenge

Cheers
Shamsi

[AZK89]

Hello everyone ,

I was happy to back to drive again with my Love Club , because there is no holiday on Saturday.
I request from @giorgio if i can join the drive to Get my skills back after long time stop to drive and his response ( yes , welcome ) . Thank you Giorgio


I was with @alshamsi_m convoy in the first my hand was shaking , after that we take a break for 5 min for karak + cookies i feel anergy & ready to fly .. thank you for the karak & cookies .

@alshamsi_m after the break he start his engine took off
He make the level 10+ not only 5 + .... really we enjoy from start to End .

Thank you @alshamsi_m and other who's support to fix a Tire .


See you in sand
Ahmed Mafia

[Lapsis]

Dear all,

After a week of chaos, and finally finding a quiet few moments to review and relive the thrill that was 'It's a New Day', I finally completed what must have been a good hour of trip report writing and editing, and finally after choosing a few images to add, I pressed the 'Submit' button do be faced with...

...Nothing! Blank. Gone. Lost forever! That epic trip report is no more. Gone to that special place.

So I will have to ask you to forgive this brief trip report and you will just have to imagine just how incredible that trip report was! How exciting and dynamic. How well planned and executed. How full of lessons learned and smiles had.

That is what you must imagine, just how there was no way I could ever have imagined just how incredible 'It's a New Day' was going to be. How exciting and dynamic. How well planned and executed. How full of lessons learned and smiles had.

Although this is the 'second try' of trip reports, there is just enough fuel in the tank, and momentum up the slope to recall a few moments:

- The warnings of how hard sand is a different beast - and it really is!

- The fact that a certain Mr S and his skilled support crew can lead a group of 5+ newbies on a wild rollercoaster ride of a drive.

- How that rollercoaster ride can be unforgiving to passengers.

- How going too far along a sharp crest can cause a stuck or bail out to the other side of the dune.

- How popouts can happen easily in such conditions, and how with Almost4x4 there as a committed team of eager newbies, and knowledgeable support, who will come together as the team and family they are to share their labours and experiences to get the popout, or stuck, or lost, fixed and recovered, and get the whole convoy on the move again.

- How passengers that swear like a trooper when they're with their husband suddenly become quiet when they are with @alshamsi_m! P.S. Shamsy, silence is usually one stage before you're in big , BIG trouble. You are a lucky man!

And I know that the trip organisers, and the support, and all those that get us 'newbies' on the dunes don't expect thanks, and kisses, and praise poured upon them, but I gave it out in heaps on my other trip report. Loads. Tonnes. Literal mountains of thanks directed at every one of them. Like a flash-flood of thanks in a wadi after a torrential thanks storm in the mountains minutes earlier. That much!

But as you all know by now, this is not that trip report. This is my second try. And as a result you'll just have to imagine the thanks too!


[Thinks to himself: "Right, I must copy the text before submitting this time! Another lesson learned."]

[Oasis]

Hello all! As a passenger on this drive (not enough drives under my belt to qualify ) all I am going to say is… I survived! But not without some knuckle clenching, teeth gritting, breath holding and language that my mother would not be proud of.

At a certain point I took up @alshamsi_m on his offer to ride with him as co-pilot in his toy which lead the convoy. That way Shamsi was finally balanced (there was no stopping him after that!) and I got to experience first hand how the pros do it. Thank you Shamsi for the experience… you make it look effortless!

Without further ado, some pics I took during this drive…

[Paddy]

Reached meeting point a little before the actual meeting time, As I was the first to reach I found one guy joining me at the same spot, I thought he is also driving with us in 5+ convoy and we started talking to each other. Thats when it was clear that he was came for a private drive with his friends, but the good thing was he did his very first desert drive with no other than our founder @alshamsi_m, some 7 or 8 years ago but didn't continue with the club due to xyz reasons.


Well later other Almosters joined me at the meeting point. Convoy was divided in to 5+ and 10+, started with a nice flow and sudden stop with a popout of a fellow 10+ driver, which we managed to get fixed quickly. Later I heard someone calling for a second try on radio but to my surprise next voice I heard was @giorgio saying "it is not called second try you are stuck" After that He called for a mid briefing to reiterate how to approach for a side crest.

Drive continued with further pop outs until @giorgio realised something in his car wasn't right and needs to be looked at. We concluded an action packed drive a little short than anticipated due to unforeseen issue, but the way @giorgio handled each situation is commendable. He gave enough time to drivers to learn new terrain and styles with multiple retries, which gave them confidence in them as well as on their cars.

Thank you @giorgio looking forward to many more drives like this.

See you all on sand soon.

~BR
Paddy