South of the border

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Tomvanhouten
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Hello everyone,

South of the border drive was scheduled as a Newbie 10+ with support of intermediates and advance....
Not happening.... arriving at the meeting point and hearing the cryptic description of @presa during the briefing, it slowly sank in that we were going to have two convoys, two levels cool
@Daggerfall leading and me trying to be a second lead. Man, I have a lot to learn about that position! Really nice and good to do for my own development, but I feel sorry for the people behind me. Anyway, I guess everyone has to go through that and everything combined, it was such a nice experience, which I wish to repeat more and more to learn.

We drove from Sweihan to Nagra, in gracious lines, in soft sand (it really is getting soft now) with multiple second tries, two pop-outs and we were tired at the end. These are the ingredients, which prove we had an absolute blast!

Thank you marshals and advance!
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Sorin
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Good afternoon everyone,

Ramadan Mubarak 🌙

The special month begins with a special drive for me:

First time EVER in an FJ

Drove to the meeting point early together with my neighbor @brett and I was looking forward to a gentle introduction into the ways of the FJ via a 10+ newbie drive led by @presa

Little did I know that we would have a separate intermediate convoy led by @Daggerfall and I would have a much quicker learning curve or crest I should say :))

It honestly went much better than I expected, the car is much more understanding with me than I thought and to my surprise me & Leo (my car’s name because it’s got a lion on the side) clicked immediately and I started to enjoy the drive rather than worry about the new car.

Driving while fasting excused me from participating in rescues, appreciated guys, as we did have a moment or two where the shovels and compressors had to come out.

I was between @Laarni and @mpodroid in the convoy who both had 360 degrees view cameras mounted , so I’m really excited to see myself in the new car from all angles :))

We ended after playing a bit around Nagra and teamed up with the newbie convoy on the gatch road.

Great morning initiation drive and thanks to all involved.
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Sorin
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I was able to shoot about 10 minutes of footage, thanks to @brett and @PedroLeal for lending me the camera support devices:

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PedroLeal
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Hello Almosters,

I was having thoughts about this drive the entire week.
Afterall, it was about to be my first 10+ drive, so the expectations were high.

The meeting point required a 1,5h drive from dubai, so I left home early to be the first to reach the spot. (this time I knew the password to get in!)
This gave me plenty of time to deflate, put the flag on, brew and enjoy a cup of hot coffee while members started to arrive.

@presa called for the attendance and soon we got the information that we would be splitted in 2 convoys: 1 newbie and 1 intermediate.
I was part of the newbie convoy led by @presa, @ivantorrellas as 2nd lead, @Red Baron as sweeper, and @giorgio floating to keep everyone safe.
After a quick briefing, we hit the sand to soon realize how soft the sand was. Some cars were struggling so @presa called for a quick stop to check and lower the tire pressure to 8 psi.
As soon as the convoy started, I got crested a few dunes down the line. I took a bad approach angle trying do do a side crest when I should have done a straight approach. Lesson learnt!
Got recovered quickly (thanks @Red Baron !) and convoy was on the move again.
The flow wasn't constant due to some stucks or second tries, however this was still my best drive experience so far with the club!
@presa led us to a big dune where we had the chance to play around and have lots of fun.
A few dunes later we did another break to have some drinks and wait for @giorgio to self recover from a pop-out.
We were then preparing to head Nagrah dune when we were called on the radio to come back. @Red Baron car was not starting, which means no steering and no brakes and had to be towed out to the road.
It was the most amazing recovery I've ever seen in the desert.
What I saw happening there gave me the assurance that I took the best decision when I chose Almost 4x4 as my 2nd family.
A true team effort was prepared to bring that Xterra to the road.
@presa leading to find the best and smooth path, @brett towing from the front and @giorgio holding the car from the back to act as breaks.
The car was safely delivered to the road, where it got towed by the recovery truck later.
On our way to the exit, the Intermediates convoy merged with the newbies and we finished the drive all together.
We couldn't play in Nagrah dune, but this recovery experience was 10x more valuable in terms of club spirit: No one is left behind!

I'd like to thank @presa for allowing me to join this drive, and for all the advices given, as well as @giorgio for his advices and for keeping us all safe.

I'm eager to get in the sand for more 10+ drives to build up my experience and have lots of fun.

I hope to see you all soon in the sand.

Ramadan kareem to all my Almoster brothers!

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giorgio
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South of the border:

A morning intermediate drive in Sweihan.
The participation of the 10+ was low with a high number of support so the Marshalls were kind enough to divide the drivers to two convoys which both drove in the same area.
The first convoy was led by @Daggerfall (intermediates) and the second convoy by @presa ( 10+)

With @presa on the lead and @ivantorrellas having the task of the second lead along with @Red Baron on rescue duty and me floating and supporting the convoy we started our drive.

This drive was one of those that had many interruptions, lack of flow, slow pace and an early withdrawal of the convoy as we had a car that was totally dead (no steering no brakes) and needed to be escorted to the tarmac.

Lessons learned from this drive:
a) keeping the appropriate distance from the car in front of you will enable you to have the correct momentum to overcome the upcoming obstacles
b) Invest in quality equipment. Cheap tools will only disappoint you when the time is for you to use them. In the desert 2 PSI can make a difference between moving or getting stuck. A false/cheap tire pressure gage will give you the desire tire pressure reading but not the driving results expected from that reading
c) Do not ever stop while you are on an angle on high or low dune. A moving car is a safe car. If you feel that you don't have enough momentum to complete and overcome the upcoming obstacle, then aboard the attempt. Turn down and keep moving until the car is on a vertical to the dune position. Stopping your car parallel to the dune will only result in the worst case scenario.

As I mentioned earlier, although it was not our best drive, we all got to experience a challenging rescue mission that provided all drivers with the opportunity of learning something new.

Special thank you to my fellow driver @brett which he did an amazing job completing successfully his rescue task. Job well done.

Big thank you to our marshal @presa for organizing the drive and bringing everyone out safe. Thank you also goes to @Red Baron for all his support till the point that bad luck struck and his car broke down ( I hope that the bill will not going to be a steep one)


Closing my report I would like to thank all the drivers for putting the time and the effort to join us and looking forward to seeing you all soon in the near future.
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presa
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Hi Almosters!

We had a great drive at Sweihan, introducing some of the fresh newbies 10+ to Sweihan and Abu Dhabi dunes.

Due to the large number of intermediates and few newbies we divided into two convoys, with the intermediates enjoying an unexpected morning drive.

As stated before the drive was not as smooth as expected, although the convoy was small with a total of 12 cars. Will take a couple drives for the fresh 10+ to get used to the flow at this level, but people were safe, so we are fine!
The old newbies did finely and could enjoy coming back to AD!

Improvement can be made on distance management and speed control, so you have enough momentum to overcame the challenges and manage your tire pressure.

That said we cover some nice dune chains and could enjoy nice bowls, climbs, always full of soft sand.

@giorgio was always there to help all the drivers and @Red Baron did some rescues, keeping the convoy always safe.

As said the intermediates were having fun on a small convoy with @Daggerfall and, from the reports, they enjoy it!

We finished 30min before reaching Nagra, with a total of ~30km, due to some mechanical problems in two cars, so I want to know if we should plan another 10+ in the area to reach Nagra?
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osman
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Hi,

This drive was enroll one get one free as a first day of Ramadan gift. Thanks to @presa and @Daggerfall for having a separate convoy for the intermediates, which we put our names for the supporting team for 10+ drive, and most of us also enrolled for the intermediate drive in the afternoon.

The briefing started @presa taking the attendance, splitting the convoys then explaining the drive, making sure the critical safety points to keep in mind, etc, etc. Then come @Daggerfall's briefing, which was very brief. "Lets have a relaxed drive". If you ever drive behind @Daggerfall, you immediately know that this is an oxymoron!

We started relaxed, then very quickly built up the level and when we finished, it was nowhere close being relaxed but making sure that you give your 100% attention to execute every single crest, climb, ridge ride, arch with precision and maximum enjoyment. Having a short convoy made the drive even more enjoyable and VIP class. Thanks @Daggerfall for the great lead and @orlantsev for your support. It was a great first half of an utterly enjoyable day in the desert. Thanks to @presa for organizing the drive and the great gift to us.
Warning: Sand is addictive... and also the sea salt.
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brett
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Dear Almosters,

I woke early as I wanted to allow plenty of time to reach the meeting point in case of fog !
lucky for me there was no fog on Saturday morning.

As arranged I met @Sorin at the front entrance of Akoya in his new "Leo" it is a very nice vehicle. We arrived at the meeting point in plenty of time finding @Pedro already deflating.

Once everyone arrived @presa took attendance and announced the format of the days drive. Of course I was with the Newbies, led by @presa and supported by @Red Baron and @giorgio floating. I positioned myself towards the back of the convoy and off we went.

As mentioned by the others in the reports above, we struggled a little to find a decent rhythm due to soft sand and unfamiliar terrain for many of the drivers. We had a number of stuck on the crest scenarios that were quickly recovered.
But we had far too many incidents of drivers still trying to fight gravity which is compounded when drivers are following too close and also having to abort the side arch. I found on one arch I had not allowed enough distance from the driver in front of me (miscalculated) only to find the car in front had followed far too close to the driver in front of them - to cut a long story short both cars in front of me aborted the arch at the same time, I was rocketing in tho the arch and saw them peeling down to the left - not wanting to encounter the same fate with the risk if running into them during an aborted arch I FLOORED it to ensure I wasnt going to fight gravity - this resulted in my literally "Flying" around the arch bouncing like a Kangaroo - something I have been guilty of before - this time I knew what I was doing and I was able to exist the arch without any incident.

@presa and @giorgio stopped for a refresher briefing on a couple of occasions to remind the drivers of the very basics of offroading.

At times we were able to maintain a nice pace and rhythm, I was looking forward to the later section of the drive that promised more pace and some higher dunes. Unfortunately while we stopped and waited for @giorgio to unselfishly fix a pop out solo. The @Red Baron Xterra decided it didn't want to play anymore and refused to start !.

A plan was hatched to get the stricken Baron out to the road. Due to the Intermediates being out in a different convoy it was decided that the Wasp would tow the Red Baron out to the road, with no power steering and no brakes to speak of a rope was then attached from behind to @giorgio to act and an anchor. so with everything attached I experienced my first ever recovery operation - The Wasp did extremely well in the conditions - soft sand and towing the Red Baron over a number of small dunes with my "Anchorman" helping with radio advice on my speed etc. At one point I managed to get crested on a small dune due to lack of momentum, soft sand and the weight I was towing behind. After a quick tug from the front by @presa I was soon moving again with the train being pulled behind me.
The ability of the Wasp amazed me - the temperature gauge did not move at all even with the additional strain, weight and high revs to keep everything moving.

No one gets left behind EVER !

Thank you to @presa and @giorgio for having faith in me to tackle the challenge !

Every drive is a learning experience
Until the next Adventure

Brett
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dear almost family....
its a great day to start an unexpected fantastic drive...i register myself as a support but instead got rewarded by such a nice drive..thank you daggerfall and everyone!!


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piotr
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We had a nice drive in the fantastic area of Sweihan last Saturday morning, a 1.5h drive from Dubai that is well worth the extra effort to get to! Big thanks to @presa for organizing and leading the newbie convoy, there are always so many things to learn from you! Support team had a bit of work this time, thank you @Red Baron, @giorgio and @ivantorrellas for your assistance!

For this drive I had 2 passengers in the car, fortunately no need for "technical breaks" despite getting close to it at times ;)

Despite the convoy being relatively short, there was quite a lot of stop-and-go throughout as we all adjusted to soft sand and much taller dunes. There were plenty of high arches to climb, a number of side crests, some really fast stretches and a few more technical areas. Sadly the drive finished rather unexpectedly with @Red Baron 's car refusing to go any further - bravely rescued by @brett and @giorgio. Noone is left behind in Almost 4x4 family!

Despite enjoying the drive, I was somewhat struggling with momentum this time round, maybe being a little rusty from sporadic driving recently, or maybe due to fighting the chewed track at the end of the convoy (guess it was not due to passengers, got rid of them for a moment in the play area, but that did not help me get any higher on the dune ;) ).

Reward for probably the stupidest mistake goes to my account, getting stuck on a slope at a very wrong angle - with insufficient momentum to complete the whole climb, took a wrong decision to arch down too late, getting stuck half-way. Should have simply stopped and reversed back - don't fight gravity and don't ever lose focus. Fortunately managed to slowly complete the arch and get down the dune safely.

One thing to work on would probably be the radio communication - there were a few cases where 2nd tries were not announced, or clears not given - quick comms are essential to keep the convoy safe.

Overall we covered 39km and drove for 3h

Apologies for this report coming a little later than planned, family visiting... ;)
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