Drift & Switch again

[Mghoneim]

Dear Almosters,

As the drive name indicate, we were set to practice switching, drifting and switching back (if the terrain allowed us) and I was afraid that the sand will be hard after a couple of rains in Nahil sweihan area in the past couple of days.

Arrived early to the meeting point, deflated and ready to go. During the briefing, I was assigned to the convoy led by @optimus and watched over by @alshamsi_m and our only advanced @David. I volunteered for a second lead and luckily got it. We kicked off the drive and it was a full of switching, crests, and drifting as it was indicated in the briefing.

The sand was soft in some areas and required a lot of focus. I was enjoying one of my most favorable second lead behind @optimus . Apart from 1 cut tire, I think we didn't have any other incidents. I personally learned more about my car and about distance to be left for the leading marshal.

The convoy flow was not the best due to some lack of radio communication which was highlighted by our founder @alshamsi_m , and i think it was due to some faulty radios.

For me it was an enjoable second lead and I can't be more thankful to @Scorpio for the organization, @optimus for the lead, @alshamsi_m & @David for the support, and for my fellow intermediates.

Till the next one !

[alshamsi_m]

Hello Everyone

Since we have an advance drive in the afternoon I decided to take it easy and enjoy the day with the intermediates.

@optimus gave us a very nice drive today but the Intermediates needed to play with as a team

1. relay the message
2. Park your car correctly so you won't hit the car infront of you

It was nice to see the other convoy from time to time to wave for each others

Till next time, stay safe and keep the sand flying

Cheers
Shamsi

[Mahmoodyasin]

Hi Everyone
Returned to the sand after months of stay in south of France. Indeed a delight to see beige earth after a long break.
Scorpio's legacy Drift and switch again drive, is a nice platform to learn how to switch back after a side-crest in case encountered a surprise on the switched side.
Plan was to keep the convoy small, so the gang was split into two convoys, old int with @optimus and a mix bunch with @scorpio. Warm up was side crests on small dunes with a gradual increase in level. Although there were quite a few second tries but good to see all very playing safe. Since quite a few dunes were approached from different angles, the area being covered was relatively slow. Due time constraints we couldn't make it all the way to old lady, but enough action was presented to all, to leave a smile on everyone's face.
thanks to @scorpio @optimus for the lead,
@rashid @alshamsi_m for keeping a watch
and all the members for the wonderful company.

till next time
Mahmoodyasin
white fj (blizzard)

[David]

After being away from the UAE for many weeks over the summer I got very excited when I saw Rashid posting an afternoon drive for the afternoon, however, I did not want to attend without some prior practice to warm up so joined also the interm drive in the morning.

2 convoys and I was positioned as sweeper in the one lead by Optimus and supported by Shamsi. Apart from the issues indicated before the flow was generally good, very much "Optimus style", good pace, not messing around, you blink and you lose.

Always good when there are enough Marshalls to split the convoy in 2 (other one lead by Scorpio and supported by Rashid), makes drives much more enjoyable, there is no doubt that in the desert less is more.

Drive was in Sweihan, starting by the farms and finishing in the Old Lady (actually 200m before it)

Personally very happy to see many good friends after such a long time and to get a very good warm up before the main dish in the afternoon.

See you on the sand soon.

[nidal78]

Hi dear Almosters
Another switch and drift series this weekend organized by Marshal @Scorpio
The convoy was split into two groups one for the old intermediate led by @optimus (welcome back brother ) and the other for the fresh intermediate led by @Scorpio
Our convoy (the old intermediate) was including 5 drivers @Mghoneim as second lead , @mpodroid ,@Rooies ,@aknigge and me, supported by @David and our beloved founder @alshamsi_m
As we always saying less cars more fun in the desert but honestly because of the leakage in radio communications (I had a radio issue in my case) specially while doing the second tries we couldn’t have the perfect flow, regardless of that the drive was full of fun and challenges specially when our leader add the last man standing role
My aim was to be the the second lead in some part of the drive and I reached the third position but the second lead hold it well so good job @Mghoneim
Overall our leader gave us a great lines full of side cresting and high climbs which made us all happy by the end of the day so big thanks @optimus for such a great drive
Big thanks as well to our beloved founder @alshamsi_m for his instructions and keeping an eye on us
To @David for his efforts and I hope he got a good warmup for the advance drive in the afternoon to my fellow intermediate who played good and safe well done guys
Finally to the organizer of this event @Scorpio and @Rashidjass for his support
Till next time stay safe and see you soon on sand

[galindakis]

Those day I am being a little bit late with the report and that is not good.

I was looking forward to this drive as it is always nice to learn something new and really useful depending on the situation.
I arrived to the meeting point soon enough to chit chat with @A alshamsi and @Rooies.

The convoy was divided in 2, less is more, one lead by @optimus and supported by @alshamsi and @David and the other one lead by @Scorpio and supported by @Rashidjass and @Mahmoodyasin. I was part of this second convoy.

We had a very good drive, I could foresaw how you become more confident and repeating some techniques.

thanks to @Shamsi @Scorpio @optimus @Rashidjass @David @Mahmoodyasin and all the intermediates.

See you in the sand soon

[Ely]

Dear Almosters,

It was definitely a nice drive during which we could practice a new skill : double switching. Very exciting!

For that occasion the marshals decided to split us into 2 intermediate groups. I was in the convoy led by @Scorpio , with @Rashid as floating marshal and @Mahmood as support along with my fellow inter @Aljamhi , @Ahmed M Hassan Al , @Lenny and @Galindakis.

To begin with, we received a ground lesson from Scorpio our leading Marshal and drive organizer. He explained us (1)when we would eventually need to use this technic and (2)how to effectuate a double switch safely. That’s when I understood why “drift” was part of the title of that drive…

I have very bad memories of my first time trying double switch, I was scared about it since then. But you know what… there is a time and sequence to learn everything. The last time I tried I was actually practicing single switching and cresting on higher dunes… so of course trying to do double switches at the same time is definitely not the right moment and way too early...

It’s one of my drawbacks: I want to learn and master multiple skills fast and I get frustrated with myself when it’s not happening. In my profession we call that having a lack of “growth mindset”. In off-roading probably this could be called being “out of your mind”.

So after the briefing I felt this would be a hard pill to swallow. At the beginning It was hard to go back for the second switch without risking fighting gravity and drifting so I had my chairs of second trials… but after some time, I started to slowly find out the limit, and how close from the crest ones should remain parallel in order to come back smoothly for the second switch. It’s not perfect though… I still need lots of practice but it was satisfying enough to “understand” the how’s.

On that note, big thank you to all the marshals for organizing, supporting us and giving us the chance to learn more while staying safe ! As well to all our advanced members and my fellows inter.

Take care and see you very soon on the sand !
Bisous

[Rooies]

First off, big thank you to @Scorpio for arranging the drive .

I was first at the meeting point, thought I was at the wrong place, but slowly more cars arrived . We did the normal drills & caught up on some chit chat. @Scorpio did the briefing & the convoy was split in 2. @optimus was leading our convoy with @David sweeping @alshamsi_m floating & keeping an eye on us

It was my first Intermediate drive in a very long time & judging from my performance I am super rusty . As @alshamsi_m said to me at one stage it's a good exercise. There was nice big climbs, side crest, arches, everything that we could ask for & @optimus did not disappoint us. There was some communication errors from our side, but otherwise the going was good. I have sorted out the suspension as well & no longer looked like a kangaroo in the UAE . I had a couple of O Shhhh moments but I was wearing my brown pants so all was good . Thank you @David for the help/comments to get my rusty ass in gear.

Overall it was an awesome drive for me, being my 1st Inter drive in a long time & spending time with my family away from home.

Thanks again to @Scorpio for organizing the drive, @optimus for an awesome drive, @alshamsi_m & @David keeping an eye on us & the rest of the inters for not getting stuck or pop outs in the heat .

Till we meet again, stay safe.

Greetings
Rooies