Emirates Desert Championship Round 2

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Dave
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This was my second time participating as a marshal in support of the Almost4x4 club to help out with this rally. The meeting point was just a few km to the South East of Lehbab town just off the E44 (Hatta Road). I arrived just before 6.30am where I found Al Khatib and few campers from the night before waking up in readiness for the busy morning ahead. Another wonderful sunrise over the distant Hajar mountains with a couple of hot air balloons rising up along with the sun. Beautiful start to the day!

Once everyone arrived (some people are better time keepers then others!) we had a group brief of our positions and a brief idea in which direction we should set off along with the coordinates of our post. We were split into Moto (motorbikes and quads) and Auto (4X4 and big buggies I believe) check points. Myself and Mark B were teamed together and given the most distant Moto 3 check point over 7km into the desert.

It was a nice and somewhat challenging drive out (Thank you Al Shamsi for trusting we would make it out alone!) but scenic and I got to see some gazelle's also which was a bonus. We meet up with Gosia who we were to assist for the morning, basically noting down all the bikes and quads that passed through our check point. There were 115 riders running over 2 hours of endurance laps. The race started at 9am and already the temperature was at the hot side of 30 degrees C.

It was clear to see there were a few issues that need addressing before the next rally. Straight away I was aware that the EMSF frequency was quiet as Gosia's radio provided by the organisers was not working correctly. Thankfully she had a back up radio attached to her car which we could use in an emergency.

We had two issues on the Almost frequency. Firstly the range of our hand held radio's did not have a range large enough to be heard by all. This is understandable as its a big race course. I believe it was Sambhu who was at Moto 2 that relayed some of our messages. Thank you for that. To compound this many on the radio had very poor communicational skills. Lots of ''radio check'' and nothing more. Who are you? Lots of ''roger'' and ''copy'' when confirmation of the messaged being passed was received correctly. Please give a read back so its clear what was sent was understood. I know a lot are new to radio communication so maybe a short brief before the next Newbie drive would help in clearing this up. There was no big emergency today and we did have mobile phone coverage but this may not always be the case.

These next points are more observations not under our responsibility but could be improved. The race has ''sweepers'' who drive adjacent to the track to check on riders during the race. These are not Almost4x4 drivers but part of the EMSF team. On Rally round one we saw these guys many times as expected. If someone comes off a bike between check points you would expect to see back up after not too long. Not once during the race did we see this team. Only at the start. Some poor rider broke down a few minutes into the race and it was over two hours before she was picked up. I believe she was not best pleased!! These sweeps need to be more frequent.

After the race had ended we were asked to pick up cones and markers on the way back so the 3 of us did that. I was surprised to see how many bikes lay abandoned. Some for technical reasons but many for the simple reason of running out of fuel! I was asked more than once did I have a fuel can with me. Again, if one was carried by the sweepers the bikes could be driven back to camp rather than waiting a long time till a rescue truck comes along.

We were stopped by some guys just out riding for the weekend and they directed us to an exhausted rider whom Gosia took into her car and took him back to camp. He had walked away from his bike and was obviously exhausted and extremely hot. We left another hot and tired rider a large bottle of water as he too was out of fuel but needed to wait for recovery. Simply because spare fuel wasn't carried all these guys were stranded.

When we did finally arrive back to camp no one from Almost4x4 had waited around. This was the second time in two races this has been the case. Thankfully Mark and myself were fine but we did feel somewhat forgotten about!

Anyhow, some lessons to be learnt but overall I imagine we as a team helped out the EMSF rally and most of the weak points I mentioned were not part of our responsibility. But I do feel from what I saw today some improvements could be made to this rally.
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Defragmantor
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[quote=Dave;39055]This was my second time participating as a marshal in support of the Almost4x4 club to help out with this rally. The meeting point was just a few km to the South East of Lehbab town just off the E44 (Hatta Road). I arrived just before 6.30am where I found Al Khatib and few campers from the night before waking up in readiness for the busy morning ahead. Another wonderful sunrise over the distant Hajar mountains with a couple of hot air balloons rising up along with the sun. Beautiful start to the day!

Once everyone arrived (some people are better time keepers then others!) we had a group brief of our positions and a brief idea in which direction we should set off along with the coordinates of our post. We were split into Moto (motorbikes and quads) and Auto (4X4 and big buggies I believe) check points. Myself and Mark B were teamed together and given the most distant Moto 3 check point over 7km into the desert.

It was a nice and somewhat challenging drive out (Thank you Al Shamsi for trusting we would make it out alone!) but scenic and I got to see some gazelle's also which was a bonus. We meet up with Gosia who we were to assist for the morning, basically noting down all the bikes and quads that passed through our check point. There were 115 riders running over 2 hours of endurance laps. The race started at 9am and already the temperature was at the hot side of 30 degrees C.

It was clear to see there were a few issues that need addressing before the next rally. Straight away I was aware that the EMSF frequency was quiet as Gosia's radio provided by the organisers was not working correctly. Thankfully she had a back up radio attached to her car which we could use in an emergency.

We had two issues on the Almost frequency. Firstly the range of our hand held radio's did not have a range large enough to be heard by all. This is understandable as its a big race course. I believe it was Sambhu who was at Moto 2 that relayed some of our messages. Thank you for that. To compound this many on the radio had very poor communicational skills. Lots of ''radio check'' and nothing more. Who are you? Lots of ''roger'' and ''copy'' when confirmation of the messaged being passed was received correctly. Please give a read back so its clear what was sent was understood. I know a lot are new to radio communication so maybe a short brief before the next Newbie drive would help in clearing this up. There was no big emergency today and we did have mobile phone coverage but this may not always be the case.

These next points are more observations not under our responsibility but could be improved. The race has ''sweepers'' who drive adjacent to the track to check on riders during the race. These are not Almost4x4 drivers but part of the EMSF team. On Rally round one we saw these guys many times as expected. If someone comes off a bike between check points you would expect to see back up after not too long. Not once during the race did we see this team. Only at the start. Some poor rider broke down a few minutes into the race and it was over two hours before she was picked up. I believe she was not best pleased!! These sweeps need to be more frequent.

After the race had ended we were asked to pick up cones and markers on the way back so the 3 of us did that. I was surprised to see how many bikes lay abandoned. Some for technical reasons but many for the simple reason of running out of fuel! I was asked more than once did I have a fuel can with me. Again, if one was carried by the sweepers the bikes could be driven back to camp rather than waiting a long time till a rescue truck comes along.

We were stopped by some guys just out riding for the weekend and they directed us to an exhausted rider whom Gosia took into her car and took him back to camp. He had walked away from his bike and was obviously exhausted and extremely hot. We left another hot and tired rider a large bottle of water as he too was out of fuel but needed to wait for recovery. Simply because spare fuel wasn't carried all these guys were stranded.

When we did finally arrive back to camp no one from Almost4x4 had waited around. This was the second time in two races this has been the case. Thankfully Mark and myself were fine but we did feel somewhat forgotten about!

Anyhow, some lessons to be learnt but overall I imagine we as a team helped out the EMSF rally and most of the weak points I mentioned were not part of our responsibility. But I do feel from what I saw today some improvements could be made to this rally.[/quote]
before leaving I did speak on both frequencies to check wether anyone hadn't come yet but I got nothing on both of em so I thought most Almosters lefts looks like that wasn't the case so sorry I had no clue that all the peeps weren't out
orlantsev
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After 3 weeks of no driving I was desperate for some action – be at camp, rally or anything else. So I immediately signed up for the camp and rally as soon as I saw it announced. I left home on Thursday night in a bit of a rush and remembered how many camping items I forgot when I was already near Dragon Mart. The most important of it was the folding chair. Return was not an option given Thursday evening traffic at Dubai Mall.

Reached the meeting point at Lehbab petrol station and after a very short drive from there we turned into a desert and stopped immediately next to the rally starting point. Some of us were not particularly pleased with the idea of sleeping on a rocky surface so close to the road, but the consensus was found – camp first, and those who wish will move into the desert later. Marshalls announced the plan for the rally and who will be in which group. After the usual tea ceremony few of us headed a bit into the desert around 1 am. Many thanks to Kimoz for the chair and alshamsi_m for the extra mat – you made my night more comfortable. It is already quite cool in the desert at night, so I really enjoyed the company of my sleeping bag rated to -8 C. It was indeed a good sleep so I felt angry at my alarm which went off at 6.15, but we needed to be at the rally meeting point at 7 am. I have been waiting for the guys to finish packing and started driving without finishing the text and with my eyes still on the phone I hit the piece of wood (remains of some old tree). Luckily no damage. Do not text and drive!

It was my first rally experience so everything was new and interesting! I was in Auto point 1 with Rashidjass and Yasser. I really enjoyed the time and company of these guys. In three hours we discussed many topics from Yasser’s recent 1st diving experience to the global political order. At first we were really making notes of the vehicle passing by, but as the rally progressed our level of discipline dropped. Overall, I agree with earlier Dave’s comments – I also have many questions about the organization. Radio was mostly silent – we even wondered if ours was working and set up to the correct frequency. Several times we saw other cars near to the track. Some turned out to be organizer’s cars, but they did not have any sign. Then we did not really know what to do – we scare them off, but how far they need to be away? Do we report on radio? As the race progressed and some of the vehicles dropped out of the race we did not know if organizers’ knew about their faith because there was no communication, or we needed to report our observations. What could have made our time better if we were given the list of participants, maybe with some brief statistics, names etc. I do not even know who won in the end :have a nice day:

When the race finished, we drove back to the start. The track almost compensated for the lack of the regular Friday drive. All in all I liked my 1st experience of rally marshalling! Cheers.
Sambhu
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Yes
This was my First Round and it was really amazing .
Dave i hope all your messages was passed to the rally check point. Great support from my co partner Biju.
Thanks to all organiser from Almost 4 x 4 for this new experience
Arun Pandyat
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This was my second time in this championship. Me and @MarkB reached the meeting point at 06:02 hrs and found our Marshal are getting ready.
Our group was divided in to two Moto and Auto. Myself, @RedShark and @FJX4 was in point Moto 6 near to finishing point.
There was some problems as @Dave mentioned. The EMSF frequency was always dead. @alshamsi was repeating "The race was over and come back to meeting point" @Dave after the rally most of all Almosters were at the meeting point for long time. I saw you near the caravan and wish to talk to you.
But I was busy doing something and after that i couldn't see you. In the event we were able to hear only from @Sambhu, @Biju, @Solmaz and @alshamsi.

All in all it was a good experience.
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Dear Members

I like what observation I got from you to help us to improve our work. Now let me explain to you how we manage the rally which can be verified by members who joined us in last season rallies.


1. Brefing & information

We provide a document has the following :
A. Marshals Duties.
B. Naming covention & code to each marshal.
C. Group leader
D. Frequency
E.Site map
F. Other needed information

2. Patching & dispatching procedure
We give a briefing to all members about their responsibilities and the information they need during the event.


3. Rally beginning
Either the marshals will drive to their check points or the group leader will take his teamand drive a convoy to dispatch them then take his place as control of that team only.

4. Communication procedure
A. Each marshals GPS location & calling code is none to everyone.
B. Marshals report to team's leader on their own frequency.team's
C. Team leader report to control


5. Rally End
Marshals get informed about the end of the event so either they drive back or the group leader will take his team and drive a convoy to the gathering point.


6.Rescue teams & Marshals Stickers
All marshals have either event or marshals stickers on both sides so they can see each others. Officials or rescue teams will have different stickers but none to marshals too.'


Having mentioned the above you should know some facts :
1. Usually we run the show alone but this year we are working E.D.C team who is in charge of everything.
2. We have been instructed by EMSF to workwith EDC hand to hand.
3. They used new devices and a new channel this time and it was the major issue.
4. Our standard and procedures were rejected but we didn't fight back because our intention is not competition, we want the merge to succeed.


EDC has a very professional team and I am sure that we are going to benefit from eachothers. We just need to give them the time to know us and trust our work too.

See you in the next rally
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Agalon
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We missed the alarm and woke up like 5:45 or something like that. In a hurry as we picked up Duru from the bed running to the car we forgot to take her shoes :) Somehow we made it to the meeting point like 6:40. I hope i did not miss a radar on the way...
After deflating, me and @Solmaz were assigned to Moto4. As we came with one car @alshamsi_m requested @Abu Jimmy to accompany us to the point. We found our point and settled down. Solmaz parked Yoda in a clever way that all the event we got the benefit of the shade. I had a concern of my daughter that she might get bored and create problem but she was fantastic and enjoyed playing with sand all the time.
We were accompanied by Marina (Desert Diva if anybody knows her) and i don't remember the guys name (starting with A i think). Nice chitchat and collaboration so we managed our duty without any problems.
As mentioned before there were some issues that might have been carried out more professionally. Most important failure was the radio silence of the organization. They ran all the communication through mobile as it was working luckily. Thankfully we had the almost channel working so we could learn the race was over :). The response of the sweep and/or rescue teams felt a bit slow that there were a couple of bikes stopped around us and they waited for a long time.
Anyway it was a nice experience, we enjoyed participating and i guess we did our part well. Thanks to organizers for letting us to be a part of it. Let me add our names to the list and see you all next time.
AGALON
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bijubs
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Report :- Moto 2
it was a first time experience, Marshalling for a rally .. Thanks Shambhu for a nice company and not to scratch on head with my frequent question as you incharge as " do you have any instruction what exactly we should do ?" what is next course of action ? , after event do we need to pick cone ? where we need to report back ? etc.. etc... as no radio is sounding .. any ways our point Moto 2 rescued one driver after he hit a grass root luckily nothing happen to him, after pick the bike he sat and drive away , replacing cone by checking the oncoming bikes are really a task but me and shambhu did with our smart radio..

over all good experience , Thanks for accepting my EMSF application form .. thanks for Almost4x4 for this given opportunity.
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refad
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Sorry for the delay in Reporting.

Few snaps from the Point i was with Roberto, Zoroo and Dileep

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10152397202991776.1073741851.712601775&type=1&l=df3a32172d
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