Desert Gazing - The Dark Side

[Mark B]

Interesting drive. The dunes were not technical, but the issues were. Stucks, crests, pop outs, valve replacements. It seemed the good Lord was going to have us at the inflation point after sun up, but..... It still was a great drive. [MENTION=1633]Yoghybear[/MENTION], our leader, cut us a clean path through the tight Al Quadra dunes. Al Quadra presents it's own challenges with small, but challenging holes, ditches and soft sand. Only 20 KM, but at night....... Just saying..... @Adam was the rescuer of the day. Our intermediates guided our newbies well. Truly a demonstration of how well our club works together. Go team!

So... Looking forward to our next drive together.

Mark

[Mark B]

[MENTION=1687]Arminjune[/MENTION] and [MENTION=1593]Melfi[/MENTION]. Love driving with you all. We have to drive together more often.

Mark

[Mohanad]

What a night !

After i got crested i was trying not to get crested again so i went fast on a crest and i fell in a ditch ... unfortunately my wife wasn't wearing the safe belt properly and she hit her forehead. She started getting neck pain so i called the marshal and told him that i have to leave. Luckely we were close to the main road and i left.

When i reached the meeting point, i wanted to inflate the tyres but the compressor did not work !!!

I drove 20km on 60km soeed till i reached the nearest petrol station. I started filling the tyres with air but the left front tyre kept giving error. I had to remove the pin and replace it and then the problem got solved.

I drove to RAK and took my wife to the hospital, she had and xray and thanks god she has nothing serious.

She apologized to me for not putting the safe belt in the proper way and we reached home just now.

Morals of the story: we should not take things for granted out there in the desert. And safe belts are made for a very valid reason.

Thank you yoghybear and Mark b for your support.

[matts]

Good Morning Everyone,

I really enjoyed the driving parts of the drive. Usually when I drive al qudra i go out past the lakes and the right along that dune chain towards the abandoned camp & land rover or straight towards al Faqa if I have time. So to head to Lisali made a really nice change. We had a couple of really good sections of driving with everybody doing well and then we had all the issues come at the same time which was pretty painful. I'd like to put a couple of reminders in here for everyone on things I felt could have been done better:

1. Radio Comms - remember to call your name when you make a second round (I havent learned the sound of everyones voice yet)
2. Distance - we had a couple of large gaps which took a while to close - especially in the dark it is really useful to see how the car or two cars infront go over a crest so you can judge your pace
3. Try to stay on the original line even if the person infront of you got stuck. (As [MENTION=9783]Daggerfall[/MENTION] observed) this caused one of the popouts as the line got higher and higher and became more aggressive into a ditch.

I still had a great drive, that i'll probably repeat in the future, and an enjoyable evening. Cheers all.

[Daggerfall]

Hello Everyone,

I don't have much to add to the previous comments. It was another fun drive with Almost family members. We experienced different type of challenges and overcame them with good team work.

1. The correct lighting is crucial. It was a good opportunity to observe the weak points of my car so I can improve it.

[CENTER][video=youtube;F0YOItyKioE][/video][/CENTER]

2. As mentioned by Matts I saw people go higher and higher to avoid a V type ditch which end up with giving trouble (pop out) to the car coming from their behind as I expected. Don't change the track

Looking forward to see you guys again.

Thanks to Chief and all participated and supported.

Regards

[wasimb2]

Really it was an action night
Sticks crests pop outs minor damages rescues every where it was a big workshop [MENTION=1633]Yoghybear[/MENTION] as a chief marshal start leading the convoy with high responsibility and all the advanced and intermediate drivers doing all the rescues as a pro team
the dunes was compact and sharp lots of V ditch but it was a nice place to improve skills
finally i would like to thank [MENTION=1633]Yoghybear[/MENTION] and all the team for the nice event

[Adam]

Good morning! @Mark_B...do you ever sleep or do you prefer to post your write-ups at 3.30 in the morning? :D

Great track, nice long swooping turns (Thanks @Yoghybear). The pace was good but then was hampered by a couple of pop-outs, a damaged tire valve and some cresting. Evenings entertainment was in the form of @Booy and his sand wave machine (you should have seen how high his fj spewed up the sand) and if I'm not mistaken @TimuR, who's exhaust had had enough of his driving and decided that it would just hang loose. :)

Finally some details:

Name: Al Qudra
Activity type: driving
Description: -
Total distance: 34.45 km (21.4 mi)
Total time: 2:53:09
Moving time: 1:56:00
Average speed: 11.94 km/h (7.4 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 17.82 km/h (11.1 mi/h)
Max speed: 75.56 km/h (47.0 mi/h)
Average pace: 5:02 min/km (8:05 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 3:22 min/km (5:25 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 0:48 min/km (1:17 min/mi)
Max elevation: 166 m (544 ft)
Min elevation: 64 m (208 ft)
Elevation gain: 285 m (936 ft)
Max grade: 7 %
Min grade: -8 %
Recorded: 21/06/2016 9:51 p.m.

*Edit - I keep on tagging another Mark and it's driving me nuts. Mark B whats your tag?

[Booy]

Hi everyone,

Wow, this was certainly an eventful evening. The soft sand, ditches, small sharp crests and our eagerness to attempt to conquer all this at night, made for a very interesting and eventful evening. I believe it was a very good experience for all members who joined this trip, as it is in trips like these that we learn a lot and keep on improving our skills. And obviously the true colours of the club is shown in trips like these, where we all stand together to make sure everyone gets back to the road safely.

I want to echo [MENTION=9649]matts[/MENTION] point regarding radio communication. Let us remember what we have learned in our very first club member drive about radio communication. You are responsible to report about yourself, if any situation arises involving your car, by saying your forum name and stating the situation. For example: "This is Booy, I am stuck" Note, I do not shout over the radio, stop the convoy, or slow down marshal. No, you simply mention your name and situation, and then marshalls and rescue will communicate to make a decision as to how to handle the situation. Your second responsibility over radio communication is to communicate about the car BEHIND you, as you are responsible to always make sure you see the car behind you, and when you cannot see him/her, again: "This is Booy, I cannot see the pink Hummer who is supposed to be behind me." Again, don't give orders to stop the convoy or for people to overtake, or any other instruction for that matter. Only communicate the situation and marshalls will give the instructions. This is very important as we get into situations where everyone is talking at the same time, no one knows if the instruction is coming from a marshal or from a convoy member, and whether the instruction is a sound one based on experience, or another member giving his opinion. In short, don't give instructions, only state situations, and keep the channel clear for marshals/sweeper/rescue to give instructions.

Thanks Chief for the lead, and everyone else who joined. It was great driving with all of you, and I am looking forward to the next one.

Till next time....

[Adam]

[quote=Daggerfall;47804]Hello Everyone,

I don't have much to add to the previous comments. It was another fun drive with Almost family members. We experienced different type of challenges and overcame them with good team work.

1. The correct lighting is crucial. It was a good opportunity to observe the weak points of my car so I can improve it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F0YOItyKioE

2. As mentioned by Matts I saw people go higher and higher to avoid a V type ditch which end up with giving trouble (pop out) to the car coming from their behind as I expected. Don't change the track

Looking forward to see you guys again.

Thanks to Chief and all participated and supported.

Regards[/quote]
[MENTION=9783]Daggerfall[/MENTION], I think you bring up a very good point and that is to choose the right light for the situation. Being in the middle of the convoy, I doubt there is any need to switch on all the floodlights (useful when you're leading). In fact it's a bit detrimental to the driver in front.

Having watched the video you posted, I can say with certainty that it was the wide cornering zones that I need to have lights on. Good call on positing that vid

[Booy]

*Edit - I keep on tagging another Mark and it's driving me nuts. Mark B whats your tag?


@Adam Mark's tag is without the underscore - only a space between Mark and B ie. @Mark B