Ghosts of The Desert

[Dave]

Hello all, another delayed report due busy but fun packed weekend. As always, I was excited about my Friday morning drive with the club. Great to start the weekend meeting and greeting everyone. Arrived at 6.55am and met Yoghybear, Zorro and Oggy initially. By 7.30 there must have been over 30 4x4's parked up at Nazwa shops. Maybe due to the larger group and a little catching up amongst everyone we (Convoy 2) were quite late setting off. Compounded by the fact we then drove on deflated tires up to Al Badayer it was almost 8.30am when we finally hit the sad.

There after however things really picked up. Faisal took the lead with Al Shamsi and Strawb sweeping. A very fast pace which to my surprise worked really well. The dunes were small, yet technical in places. We had a couple of ''go-arounds'' and one or two minor stucks but no pop outs and no major delays. One car had a little cooling problem due air in the system but was taken back to safe ground by Al Shamsi.

All in all, a great day out again enjoyed by everyone. As usual, once we were on our way time management was fantastic. I needed to be home for work by midday and like clockwork we were back on the road by 10.30am. To manage that task with all that can go wrong every drive is very impressive! So a big thanks to the Marshals and Founders for keeping us safe and to all the Newbies, Intermediates and Advanced drivers who kept it friendly and social.

Working every Friday for the rest of November so will miss my early Friday morning starts with the club but looking forward to December already!

[Green Giant]

[quote=Green Giant;29900] I have a couple of videos which I am finishing off and will post them soon. See you in the sand.[/quote]

Here are the videos and a pic of route Convoy two took. Chief I am trying to get the data that you get from your Montana but it only gives elapsed time for me, not stopped and moving times? I will persevere and get it sorted for next time out!!

Part 1: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMlyaw3M8_I
Part 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i91yPcH4l_Q

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Enjoy and see you all in the Sand soon.

[strawb]

It was a good day out for the newbies ....... i have observed that a good number of newbies have improved and are very much responsible convoy drivers however, sadly i cannot say that it applies to everyone ....... we are all here to have fun and it is best to have fun when we are all accident free ....... safety is our goal and this is what we should all strive to achieve ......

with that said ...... i applied the copy and paste technlogy to DL's trip report from last week .....

Know your car:

1. Rear tires can have lower pressure than front tires. You need to know the safe lower pressure limits of your specific tire. Cooper STTs are heavy but offer excellent traction.
2. Understand your car’s response to acceleration, braking and turning. Response time and intensity will differ depending on your engine, gear and throttle characteristics, tire size and pressure, gearing etc. Handling will depend on suspension and lift and tire size and pressure (again). Some cars are better suited to off-roading than others.

Driving in Convoy

1. Follow the track: The leader chooses the track most suitable for the convoy level.
2. Second lead has the responsibility to save the convoy if the leader meets an un-expected surprise
3. Keep distance between you and the car ahead, it allows you time to react: speed up to climb, brake if there is a stop and you can observe the track too
4. The last car has the hardest time because the sand gets churned and becomes softer
5. Keep an eye on the car in front of you, and the cars before it, so you can anticipate if the convoy is going to slow down and spot trouble early
6. If you’re in trouble, communicate clearly and concisely

Driving Technique

1. Driving skills are more important than car power.
2. There are different driving skills for different terrain, safari style and small edgy dunes require different handling: generally the less smooth the terrain, the lower the gear you need to use
3. When the car is jumping, you better keep the front wheels as straight as possible to avoid a pop out.
4. When the car is sliding downward because of gravity, don’t steer upward, rather try to get momentum and smooth your way up.
5. When you stop, take your personal safety first and always stop in the safest position or as close to it as possible: car engine pointing straight down

Rescue and Recovery

1. Make sure your basic equipment is proper and complete
2. When being pulled assist the person pulling you by either being in Drive or Reverse in the direction of the pull, but never in Neutral or Park.
3. Point your front wheel in the proper direction when your being pulled: Know which is right and which is left and listen to the Marshal
4. Carry a spare tire valve pin, you never know when you need to replace it.

There is one thing you will hear all the time when driving offroad .............. it is to "KEEP DISTANCE" ..........

Dont worry of getting left behind as there are experienced marshals who will re-connect you to the convoy if you do get lost ......

with all that said

keep the sand flying and see you this coming weekend

cheers

[Mubz]

Apologies Guys for the delayed report was occupied by so many things so here is the summary

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Well Trip started with awesome Feast by Al Khatib ( Thanks alot it was yummmmmyyyy :Psmiley:)

In the morning I was up before the Chief had a chance to blow the whistle, we moved from camp site to the Meeting point, and were quickly divided into two convoys ( Newbie 5- ) and the rest :)

I was in Convoy 2 and since Bu Salem said anyone can take any position in the convoy, I found my self as 2nd lead, lead by Faisal, and the moment we hit sand and Faisal had good to go call from Bu Salem its was start of the roller coaster, the first leg of the journey was fast paced, technical high dunes and cresting and everything, and then we had to stop for a while to re group the convoy, then we started off again and the fun started to increase, it was simply awesome to follow Faisal :like: it was amazing drive.

We had a number of stops but that was needed as we wanted to have chit chat and let the engines take breath as well :)

Over all it was simply amazing.

Thanks Alot Faisal for awesome lead
Thanks Alot Strawb , Al Khatib, and Bu Salem for support and sweeping
Thanks Alot everyone in the convoy, it was simply amazing driving with you guys

See you all v.soon in sands.