Le Misérable Dans Le Désert

[refad]

First of all Awsome drive. ok now i will explain

We all meet at Badayar shops by 8:00Am and we were three convoys 2* new bees and 1* intermidiate, intermidiate was allowed to roam freely any ware without disturbing new bee convoy.
We were in convoy lea by Hamdan and Sweeper Armin. Capri informed to start the convoy and les than 3 minutes Hamdan took us to the top of the big dune behind the badayer shops and from there to further, unfortunately with in 6 minutes first pop-out armin fixed it, and for another 45 minutes there was 2 or three pop outs which i heard over the radio, Me 1 stuck, with in no time Armin rescued me. again the Convoy started to move in "hamdan style" like a arrow released from the bow to its destination, the drive was awesome due to the speed kept by Hamdan and the dunes and technical where he took us.

Later we all meet at Ifthar bowl and we saw iintermidiate playing in that area , and Poor neebees only allowed to watch:012:

we reached back badayer by 11:30am



After 2 months first drive with Almost was great fun.

I LOVE IT

[Maddie]

aaaah, I look forward to my first newbie drive. .. Mon Marshal, when will zat be??? :(

[Iqsaan]

Thanks to the marshals , Caprihorse & Abu Jimmy for organising this trip and for their patience with us Newbies.
I was part of the second newbie convoy ... some of us struggled more than most but that was expected after Caprihorse raised the difficulty of the drive.
There were a few stucks which offered us the opportunity for some chit chat . Unfortunately , close to the end , one of guys had a problem with his radiator which led to a substantial delay but the marshals as always were able to resolve the problem.
As for my performance .. all I can say is I finally got to use all my offroad equipment :011:
This trip was a sharp learning curve and the lesson learnt was that ' THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR EXPERIENCE '

Overall , a truly amazing drive ... looking forward to the next drive at this level :051:
Thanks to Anis , Alok , Anwar , Mubz , Bromolin, Baher , Bombays and others for the great company . :045:

See you guys in the sand soon !

[Melfi]

The Intermediate report will be short:
We decided to chase up the newbies. They had 3 pop-outs in a 10 minute frame. We waited and played around as Armin wanted to practise his pop-fixing skills. :028:
One of our cars had a tyre issue and while the boys fixed it, some of us moved on with the Newbies, who then got a parallel double stuck. Roby and Hanai pulled them out, while Hailun scouted the area looking for Hamdan's tracks at 12 o'clock, who was behind us at 7 o'clock. By then we had given up on the rest of the Intermediates who got lost also looking for our tracks, chased up Caprihorse's children instead and finally made it too to Iftar Bowl.

Then we went back. We had decided to give the Newbies some leadtime while we showed some random amateurs how to go up the dune, then realised that we had lost them and Pwood lead us back to Badayer via another way. While everyone was inflating, I went back up to find them, which I did, and HumanFaith's car was struggling due to one small issue, had to redeflate as tyres had gone up 4psi, and one large one, with plenty of mechanical noise and oil leaking. As we were very close to Badayer, Hamdan's convoy continued and Armin and I took him via an alternative lower route.
We never saw Caprihorse. Given the conversations that group were having on the radio, I think he must still be recovering... :033::011:

[Nbaker]

As Melfi said, the intermediate trip report is quite short. But I've personally enjoyed it alot as it was my first intermediate drive :051:
We drove initially behind one of the Newbie convoys, then we heard Armin who was sweeping the Newbie convoy broadcasting the news of war :028: from popouts to stucks..etc
But he managed to help everyone instantly and off they went. Well done brotha :047:
We on the other hand kept playing in the back, wondering off here and there. Roby and Salhinai took off to join the Newbies and watch them in action, we later took off and headed towards them. Camel had to change his tire as it was punctured, otherwise no issues. We did get a bit lost but eventually we managed to get to Iftar Bowl where we muscled our away up and down for beautiful shots of adrenaline, shared the experience with my dear friend Knajia who I tortured as I deprived him from turning on the AC to release the entire power of the bull! sorry bro :011:
Chit chated with Pwood and Toby about some interesting experience they've had. Then we headed back to Al badayer.

Beautiful day with great company. Thank you Capri, Hamdan, Abu Jimmy and Melfi for the experience! :045:

[caprihorse]

In the morning 32 Almosters met at meeting point (37 registered earlier during the week). We sent out Hamdan's convoy, followed by Intermediates.

Before starting the 3rd convoy, Marshals explained to the remaining drivers, what does it mean Newbie 5+ level. In the faces of the participants we could see, before the drive, that they didn't believe us. So Marshals decided to show them in practice what does it mean. After the first dune at Al Badayer, as all passed it with shacking limbs, we saw even longer faces, with expression "... we didn't expect...". So we continued in the same style over next couple high dunes and we heard in the radio typical words from other convoys, like 'hold on convoy, pop-out, stuck...'. Our convoy was doing quite well, with no pulling, just self recovery in certain area, under the great supervision of the sweeper and 1 pop-out, due to the inexperience of the driver.
As our time was running out, we decided to take the lower dunes, but those didn't make the life of Newbies easier. Technical dunes, short and sharp, with unexpected short ditches behind crest. Some of the drivers started to struggle, so the speed of the convoy decreased.
At the end, one car after a bit of jump and inappropriate speed, managed to damage, his radiator section, so we lost a certain time to fix it and bring the car, along to others back to Al Badayer.
We could see, that with some drivers, there is still a very long controlling distance between car and driver and they need more drives on the lower level, as was this trip. Some did very well and showed their talent for off-roading. However it doesn't say that they are already off-roaders.
Thank to all participants in all convoys to drive with us and to our sweeping Marshal, Abu Jimmy for his role to give the advices to struggling Newbies and always to have the whole convoy under the control from the back, not to loose any car.

[Bomolin]

As first advised by Chief Capri after all senior departures from the meeting point, all trip was depending on how able we were going to be to play around with the first butch of dunes...most of the convoy did quite well but as mentioned by capri, after first dunes some facing remains a ¨We already knows what its means 5+...within only 3 minutes from trip started¨

With the motivation of been able to skip the first dunes challenge, the convoy got a decrease on speed as some easy-to-recovery vehicles, including a pop out which most of us will wish to be able to be on the spot to see how it was fixed...

For some of the group, lesson was learnt and been able to position to take the right decision about themselves within the next ¨New babies 5+¨and for some of the others, still a bit wonder how many challenges would have been waiting for us if that deep dune bowl which hunted a radiator will allow us... as always, no words for Abu Jimmy and Capri, always keeping ease-to-lost discipline within all new babies and tremendous patience with all new comers, which creates a non-stop desire of improve and learn trip by trip.

Thanks to all convoy including Anis, Alok, Anwar, Mubz , Baher, Bombays to name few but no all, for the lil chat between recovery and recovery.

[Arminjune]

keeping it short...

This was very interesting drive for me. as I reached Badayer and greeted friend, I see Capri approaching me with his famous look, and I thought oh my I have done something wrong. :P but he gave me a great opportunity :D

in short time we started the drive, and in few min we got the first pop out, my Favorite part of desert drive :D, but then I got tested again with another, and another and I lost count after that. I think it was three.

I think it would be nice to share by friends who got pop out here, how they think they got it, so we learn from other friends experience.

one I think was from sharp turn, another from slight turn and hit a bompy sand, and another the valve was loos from first deflation, which lead to air out and pop out eventually. from these we learnt how important to have all the tools.

right jack, valve remover, proper gage, proper WOOD where missing by some drivers in this situation.

then for a while the drive went smooth and no pop outs. but then the stucks started. again I lost count, but the coolest one when one got stuck, and another car wanted to be super hero and I sow him driving with excitement to rescue his friend, but then he felt bad for him and didn't want him to feel the pain alone, and joined right beside him :P kidding, it was tough crist, anyone could have got stuck there, from newbie to advance. thanks to our intermediate Alhanae, and I dont remember who was the second car, got them both out in no time

Rope, and Rated Shackles where missing by some members.
toeing rope dose not work in most situations in desert, it will damage your suspension in long term from the big hit. best ones are rubber ropes. and tiny shackles might work in few time, but its matter of time it will brake and damage someone car.

5 min drive left to Badayer, we had if I'm not wrong oil leak in one of the cars. we managed to get it to badayer whops by help of intermediates, Geni, and kashmir. hope it gets fixed asap.

to some they look at pop outs and stucks as a bad drive, or something went wrong, its actually completely opposite. with out them most times the drive is boring to me, these are the moment one shares laugh and conversation with friends, and where one get to learn new things, and makes one be active that. best example how boring it is when we don't here marshals guiding on radio.

Hamdan took us to a great and exiting track, I don't think any of our friends been thru there before with almost. some I could see they thought it was too much, but in my opinion for the level was asked people to sign in was perfect.

again, getting stuck is part of desert driving, no shame, and it dose not make you bad driver. we all do it. at some point. we all have seen best drivers get stuck at some point, and if we laugh and take pictures, its just natural reaction, and for some is to learn from it :)

few more things, when situations a cure do not park behind each other and uphill. find a spot where you can move easy later on, and a place where you will not block others to find a spot. and while driving, KEEP DISTANCE. unless if on radio they ask you to stop instantly. (MARSHALS CORRECT ME IF I'M WRONG)

Thanks to all the Marshals, and crew members. for me it was a full day. driving among some of the best almosters and friends.

[Kashmir]

Arminjun.....Good report and advice for others..
It was a memorable drive for me where i got a chance to lead six intermediates who were left behind while changing the tyre of Camel's car.

[Alok708]

Well friends, for me it was again one more day of great fun and adventure with almosters. Every drive is different and this one too had shades unique to itself. Since the drive was pegged at 5+ level, I was clearly expecting some challenging situations and the route chosen by the marshals did not disappoint. Surely we had a no of stucks, one pop - out, and unfortunately one radiator damage as well, but it was huge learning for all of us. The waiting time during the rescues also provided excellent opportunity for chit chatting and I could clearly sense that all of us become thicker friends by the end of the drive.

While it sounds a bit repetitive, but I would still like to whole heartedly thank the marshals for their support, guidance and patience. Thanks also to all the drivers for a great time spent together. I look forward to driving again with you soon.