Desert Gazing -The Soft Side

[Mark B]

This year has been so kind to us. Normally at this time of year it is so hot at night making sitting and talking uncomfortable. But not this Ramadan. Reasonable temperatures and clear air.. We started with two convoys, set 15 minutes apart. Each passed the other only once. Only for that brief 10 minutes were they in sight of each other. There were few tracks and the wind not only erased former paths, but deposited some extra dunes in our way (just to make things interesting). The track was down wind so traversing dunes was easier. [MENTION=27]alshamsi_m[/MENTION] was kind enough to put a killer drop on the route to wake those who might be sleepy due to the hour. Our destination was fossil Rock. The last third of the trip was pristine with almost no evidence of the passage of vehicles. Reminds me of Liwa, but scaled down dunes. We arrived 45 minutes late for our rendezvous with the other convoy. Some needed to exit early. Those who did.... Some did it quickly and some gave us in camp, entertainment on the radio. Sitting up top of Fossil Rock with friends capped a perfect evening.

Well it is too late to go to sleep, so I am heading for the shower and going to work. Till we meet again in the sand, good night.

Mark

[matts]

Good Morning All,

I had good fun yesterday, quite a few people who I haven’t seen in a while an added entertainment factor being the chased convoy and of course following a [MENTION=9155]Mark B[/MENTION] convoy for the first time. Firstly Mark did a great job of leading and of picking his way through the dunes, of course being the lead he found a few ditches [MENTION=27]alshamsi_m[/MENTION] had specially dug just for him but Mark called them fast so we were able to avoid them. Everybody drove well, a couple of second tries and only one little stuck (me!).

We had one incident where Red Baron got hung up on a rock at the bottom of the big drop, I hope the damage isn’t too bad, its one of those unfortunate things that night driving increases the risk of.

Sorry I couldn’t stay for more food and chit chat but drives on a school night mean ive got to be at work relatively early and I need my beauty sleep.

See you again soon guys.

Matt

[orlantsev]

Given that I am now mostly out of country every second week I need to make sure I grab every opportunity to drive when in Dubai. The previous week was a bit more generous with both newbie and intermediate drive, but still one drive a week is great. After watching the miserable Russia’s defeat at Euro 2016 I left home early and was one of the first to arrive at the meeting point at Nazwa shops which gave me sufficient time to organize the tools and tidy up the car. I was not clear until the last moment as to how the convoys would be organized, but it did not matter really. Contrary to my expectation that we would be drive towards Al Ain road the convoys moved towards Fossil Rock. I chose to be in the rescue convoy. It was moving well until we reached bigger dunes of Pink Rock and few cars at the back started to struggle – one with a stuck and another with a mechanical problem. I was instructed to bring the first half of the convoy together while Bu Salem went back to help. Sooner [MENTION=1633]Yoghybear[/MENTION] asked for the 2^nd recovery car and I started moving backwards. When I already could see the car lights I made a mistake and got stuck in quite a precarious position. The self-recovery failed and I had to wait for Bu Salem to return and pull me. Gladly the mechanical problem turned out not to be the problem at all and the convoy continued to move. Some exited at around mid-night. Upon reaching the top of the Fossil Rock at almost quarter to one, some (including myself) called it a day (or should I say a night). Few cars started to move down towards the power lines for the exit. With three Intermediate cars in front we apparently did not choose the right speed which caused few delays at the back. What also did not help was that since we came from different convoys we continued to use different radio frequencies. When we were already near the road [MENTION=10663]dLemma[/MENTION] reported he was lost. Upon leaving the Fossil Rock there was no count of who was leaving and as such it came a bit as surprise. Even we went to the high ground we could not see him and he could not see us either. We took his coordinates and it turned out that he was some 700 meters away straight line. Indeed for those staying at the top of the rock it must have been an entertaining observation of the search mission. Finally we got [MENTION=10663]dLemma[/MENTION] and started to drive back. Apologies if I made the track a bit hard as we had one stuck and several attempts at places, but most important we reached the exit safe and shook hands at 2 am after inflating. Thanks to [MENTION=5597]Defragmantor[/MENTION] for watching the back of our little night convoy and doing the recovery.

[dLemma]

Hi all,
it was my first night drive, and I loved it very much.
I was part of the convoy led by [MENTION=27]alshamsi_m[/MENTION], sweeped by [MENTION=10413]Booy[/MENTION] and [MENTION=1633]Yoghybear[/MENTION] was a free marshall.

The drive was nice, we had a couple of stucks in the back of the convoy but apart from that we were moving ok.
I had a problem with the connector of the roof light, which was unreliable. Just when I went out of the car to cut it and directly joint the cables, all malfunctions ceased :)

Once we arrived at Fossil Rock, most people stopped for chit chat and food, a few decided to return home. I was part of the latter.

Unfortunately I left about 2 mins after the mini convoy led by [MENTION=9649]matts[/MENTION], and I was aiming at catching them and driving together till the main road. Well, it didn't go exactly like planned :-)
After a couple of minutes drive, the convoy was out of my sight and suddenly their tracks split in 3 different directions (well, obviously it was not only all their tracks).

I clearly chose the wrong track to follow, as I found myself lost, with no sight of the other cars (but still could see the lights of our friends on Fossil Rock).

I had a GPS and I was planning to go by myself, although that would have meant to find a new path during night and driving solo, which was far from ideal given my poor/no knowledge of the area (not to mention the lack of security for driving alone in case something happened).

I decided to call for help on the radio to see if people had it still on. After an initial silence I got a response. It was [MENTION=9008]orlantsev[/MENTION], who was in the mini convoy I was trying to reach. Apparently some of the people were using the radio frequency of the other convoy, so not everyone was initially able to hear me.
Since I couldn't see their lights and they couldn't see mine, I gave [MENTION=9008]orlantsev[/MENTION] my GPS coordinates and stopped there waiting for him to come. I was enjoying the view of the moon and the sky, it was very nice.

In the meantime, from Fossil Rock the guys were also contacting me (I think it was [MENTION=10839]TimuR[/MENTION]) and they confirmed they could see both me and the rescue convoy.

A few minutes later [MENTION=10036]Red Baron[/MENTION], who was also leaving toward home, reached me and we waited a couple of more minutes until [MENTION=9008]orlantsev[/MENTION] and the other folks [MENTION=5597]Defragmantor[/MENTION] and [MENTION=2235]Alok708[/MENTION]) joined us.
We then created a new mini convoy of 5 cars, led by [MENTION=9008]orlantsev[/MENTION] and swept by [MENTION=5597]Defragmantor[/MENTION] and we headed toward the main road.

Well, it was additional fun, as the route chosen by [MENTION=9008]orlantsev[/MENTION] was a bit tricky in some parts and I heard someone on the radio (not sure if it was [MENTION=2235]Alok708[/MENTION] or [MENTION=10036]Red Baron[/MENTION]) saying that this part of the drive was really fun added to the fun of the previous drive ;-)
But no worries guys, I won't ask you any money for this additional fun I provided you with :-)

Almost4x4 proved once more to be truly a family, looking after each other and not leaving anyone behind.

Thanks to everyone for organizing the trip, being part of it and having fun together! Looking forward to the next drive....

[Arminjune]

sorry I couldn't make it, I was really looking forward to this trip.
I went to garage in afternoon to buy fuse for light bar, and lucky me right there car started making worst noise, had to change some parts, I think back Shaft. was forced to leave it right there. and Taxi home. better car brake down by garage than middle of desert :o
Glad you all had awesome time

[mahesh_bmj]

Another grate event organized by almost team with full of adventure , fun and learning experience.

I had my first stuck after joining the club. It was in a bowl with soft sand and in a bad angle. I didn’t kept enough space from car before me to get enough momentum to climb and ended up sliding in to a bowl. Had to use 2 tow ropes to pull the car out.

Big thank to our marshalls, advanced and intermediate drivers for support and rescuing us, and thanks to all members for grate food and company.
Cant wait for next drive.