Dancing with the dunes

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Tomvanhouten
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Hello everyone,

This trip, we went dancing, instead of head banging (like last week)!

The area for this drive was from Nahil to Sweihan road and some might say that this would be an easy trip after Al Qua. Nothing is less true, I had an absolute blast!
Having to second lead @alshamsi_m is always great, but this time he went bazinga on us. He threw the car everywhere on the crest, off the crest, in the ditch and out again, high speed uphill and even faster down.... man, this was great great fun!!

All it proves to me; no matter how high the dunes, how famous an area, with the right ingredients any area can be fantastic!

Thank you very much @giorgio for the organization and @alshamsi_m for the lead, it was really brilliant!
Lenny
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Thanks to Giorgio for putting together a fantastic drive & Mahmoodyasin for keeping a watchful eye out for us, always throwing in pointers when required and giving advice and caution when necessary.
We were off to a late start due to foggy weather in Nahil & as soon as visibility improved we were on our way.
Giorgio took the fresh inters & Shamsi the old inters.
Giorgio gave us a nice warm up and gradually built up the pace and in the final hours of the drive we were flying from crest to crest with some really nice quick transitions
On one instance we did loose the convoy after a nice climb but were quickly connected by Giorgio.
We had one pop out and a stuck that were dealt with in no time and a couple of self recoveries.
It is really amazing to drive at this level.
Thank you almost 4×4. thumbsup
We ended the drive on time as promised at midday.
See u all very soon
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CARLOSS
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Hi everyone!

I have noticed something different in the last couple of drives: Meeting points are not any more a nice place to catch up, deflate and chit chat…nope, now reaching the meeting point is part of the challenge! OSMILEY In heads will roll we needed to drive at night crossing nice dunes and in Dancing with the dunes there was not a direct entrance and needed to find an open gate (it was fenced) and then made our way in…interesting approach! thumbsup

As indicated in the drive’s description, we went to Nahil hoping that its beautiful dunes were fully recovered but it was not the case, at least in the first chain of dunes which was plenty of trenches, cables…a mess patapon . Still Giorgio managed to make it fun & challenging and the most important considering the situation, very safe. Then, he decided to move to the next one which was a different story and we started there the good fun!

Very nice pace with normal interruptions for second tries, a few stucks and a pop out. I was honored to be the second lead and this is when you realize how much you have still to learn when watching the Marshal in front of you making effortless beautiful lines and you look at yourself going sometimes zig zag after him trying not to make too much mess for the cars following you whut . I could have done it better but at least I did not do any stupid thing jeopardizing the fun and safety of the others. I will try to improve for my next second lead…hopefully coming soon. playingsmiley

I still have adrenaline in my veins from the last part of the drive: amazing track selection, medium but challenging size dunes and very nice pace…that was a blast! serious business

We covered around 65km, 4 hours sharp, and only 1:21min stopped including breaks and the rest of stuff. And the best of all, my car consumed less than ¼ fuel tank (around 30 litters I would say) which represents around 45 litters / 100 km which is quite low therefore, I would propose to the Top Management of Almost 4x4 to appoint @giorgio as the first “EcoMarshal” cool of the Almost’s history! In line with leading countries’ visions and respectful with driver’s wallets.

Finally, I would like to thank @giorgio for the amazing lead and for giving me the chance to be his second lead, @Mahmoodyasin for taking care of us with his wise advices and recommendations and the rest of the drivers for doing a great job with special mention to @Laarni …lovely performance. And @alshamsi_m for taking care of the Senior Interm and allowing us to keep on improving our skills in an “easier” convoy.

See you soon
Carlos
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alshamsi_m
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Hello everyone

We had 3 morning surprises for this drive, FOG ,Oil survey team and the old tranches for the area. So you have to drive carefully on the road to reach, drive carefully on the crest not to land on someone or the floor cables and be careful of the ditches you're kidding, right

The second part of the drive was more enjoyable once we reached Nagrah dune, a little bit of traffic here and there but nothing that I can complain of.

We had a perfect drive accept two stucks, I was one of them :;^^: otherwise the whole team extremely well.

Thanks @giorgio for organising this drive and looking forward to see you in afternoon drives grin

Till next time, Stay tuned for the Ramadan drives

Cheers
Shamsi
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giorgio
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Dancing with the dunes:

This intermediate drive took place in Nahil AD. The drivers were split into two convoys. First convoy were the drivers with less than 10 intermediate drives and the second one, drivers with more than 10 drives.

I was to lead the first convoy with @Mahmoodyasin as floating support and @Carlos as a second lead.

The foggy morning gave us the opportunity to have a nice social quality gathering till the fog was cleared.

This drive was divided into two parts separated from the Sabkha.  As it was mentioned in earlier reports the first part had destructions and limited fun making it more difficult for the lead car to navigate a safe track but it worked to the advantage of the drivers that had a prolonged warm up.

Moving to the next part of the drive, there were no more excuses for the lead car and the rest of the convoy. The pace increased gradually as we were moving closer to Nagra dune. The convoy overall had minor interruptions with few stacks ( including 2 of my own thank you @Mahmoodyasin for helping me out)  one pop out and few second tries.  

Safety is our first priority in all of our drives and although overall was a safe drive, we did have a couple of instances that some drivers fell short of being safe.

DONT FIGHT GRACITY AND DONT TRY TO DO THE CREST IF YOU DONT HAVE THE CORRECT MOMENTUM. These two fundamentals are the  bread and butter of a safe drive. Second and third attempt to conquer an obstacle is the secret to success.  Ego will never make you a good driver. Understanding your weakness and working towards improving it, is the key to success.

At the end of the drive the pace was increased more with the convoy now flying from one crest to the other under total radio silence and the drivers swallowing the desert meter by meter.

Closing my report I would like to thank @alshamsi_m as a support marshal , @Mahmoodyasin for his invaluable support and @Carlos for his amazing second lead particularly in the first part of the drive.

I am looking forward to seeing you all soon in the upcoming drives. Until then drive safely. 
The Wolf is not concerned with the opinion of the sheep
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osman
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Hi,

The clock was set an earlier time as the meeting point is a bit far from Dubai. The fog on the road eat-up some time, then when I got close to tens of meters away from the meeting point, there was a fence in between and there was no visible car or any sound at the other side. Then driving along the fence up and down, found an entry point then drove to the meeting point. Along the way, I thought this was the trick @giorgio had in mind. Nice! But when I was on top of the given point, still there is no car around, rechecked the messages, make sure I am at the right point, yes I am the first car but only 15-20 mins before the meeting time, very strange. I thought first thing I should is deflate and by that time if no-one around, make a phone call if there is a reception!. My message on telegram did not go through. Shortly after while deflating Giorgio appeared saying the team gathered at the other entry point and will bring them.

After the fog is cleared, group is divided into two convoys and I was with @giorgio's convoy with @Mahmoodyasin very valuable floating support. Starting area was not very smooth with lots of humps and bumps, hence the overall flow was not continuous or consistent as compared with some other drives. We had to adjust the speed and distance all the time. I still had some Jeep habits for its quick acceleration which I had to keep in mind to build the momentum for FJ. When we arrived the Nagrah dune, we passed to the back side and then continue driving with higher pace.

We had yet another great drive, thanks to @giorgio for the lead and @Mahmoodyasin for the support.
Warning: Sand is addictive... and also the sea salt.
Laarni
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Hi everybody. hope everyone is well and good.
about.this drive...dancing with the dunes..i think the best way to describe it is." i really have fun while learning more about offroading. i really appreciate all the marshal and support and to all the participants

thank you all very much
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Jasper
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Hello everyone!

We had a fantastic drive lead by our founder @alshamsi_m with the older intermediate drivers, while @giorgio took the younger drivers 😊 The drive started late due to the fog but when it was clear to go we were off. We were in a bit of a slow start due to the trenches and surveys being done but our leader still manage to give us some good challenges. When we left that area fun began and we were dancing on each crest going round and round attacking from different angles. 2nd tries were there due to tire pressure and we have to reduce it again few times to be able to climb the soft dunes. Full concentration is required for the correct speed and angle to do the crest safely. On the 2nd half the speed was fast! A lot of tracks were in the Nagrah area and the ride is very bumpy! The skid plates did very well. I know there are times we have to jump “a little bit” just to make the climb 😊

Thanks to our founder @alshamsi_m for treating us to this fantastic drive and to @giorgio for organizing it and to my fellow intermediate drivers for an amazing drive.

See you all again soon and take care!
Jasper
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Rathica
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Dancing with the dunes.
The Start of the journey to Sweihan Was slow and torturous as fog Covered the road for most part of the journey. It was nice seeing our fellow inters - old and new. Once attendance was taken, We quickly were divided into two groups: One led by Gorgior And the other led by Alshamsi. As we journeyed across the dunes, we crossed paths with Our fellow Inter convoy From time to time.

This drive certainly did not disappoint. It lived up to its name. We started off in a technical area with small to medium dunes. Very soon, we came across our first ditch With many yet to follow. Lucky we had a sharp reacting, quick thinking, Marshall who navigated us safely out of all the ditches and helped us to avoid them.

The sand was very soft and there were pockets in certain places. So there was a spattering off Second tries And stucks Which will quickly and easily. Recovered.

It wasn't long until we were sailing around to Niagara. Shamsi didn't waste time in The tall dunes. Before we knew it, we were dancing up and down, around and in every direction of Niagara. That was just the start of the excitement. As we move from train to train. Dancing we were. Up and down and around. Until there were no bowls or junes or crests. Left. Next paragraph.
Thank you Shamsi for an amazing lead. Thank you to my fellow interns. You made today.
So much fun.
See you soon in the sands.
Join me drawing in the sand
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Ehab
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Nice area and nice track followed by Giorgio.
The trip started with a challenge to find the entrance where we had to deflate to make sure we avoid nasty situations early in the morning. We also has to find our own route in heavy fog, no casualties and all arrived safe and in one piece.
I was assigned to handle sweep position in addition to media and I was honored to have my media colleague Nidal who was amazed by the difference between newbie and intermediate trips. He took many clips, i cannot wait for his final video.

Thanks to @giorgio for the nice trip and @Mahmoodyasin for the support

Enjoy watching:

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