Big Red to Iftaar Bowl to Ghost Town on 21st of June 2013.

Well I for one am very much looking forward to tomorrow’s outing.

Great dunes and soft sands.

And hopefully we can find a nice dune where we can stop for a play/expression time for those who want to!

See you in the sands……………….

Hi DOs

Insaallh i will be in, I have conferanc if its finish on time i will came.

Thanks

A very eventful trip, for a select few of us!

The afternoon started unassumingly enough, with everyone meeting at the Badayer shops, in the usual general good humor and anticipation of the drive that lay ahead. The drive started a bit late, with an additional tag along, and with Marshal Ahmed deciding to let Ashraf in his Prado take the lead to Iftar Bowl.

We set off in a convoy, with Duncan as second lead and Razik and Marshal Ahmed as Sweeps. We had quite a few newbies in this drive, and in addition to the sand being EXTREMELY soft, the pace was slow, with a number of recoveries and quite a few hiccups in between. I tried to help out wherever I could, and was called to assist with recoveries a few times.

Unfortunately, due to the slow pace of the drive, and the fact that we were losing out on daylight, Marshal Ahmed decided to switch positions with Ashraf, and lead the convoy on a route with more sure footing and tracks.

As dusk fell, Marshal Ahmed led us out, back to Badayer. Razik had requested that I follow the convoy as sweep, while he stayed back with Ashraf to assist Dennis with his pop out. Glad to oblige, I followed the convoy half way out, with the three of them catching up soon after. Little did I know the adventure that lay before us…

With the convoy almost out, I crossed a very small ridge, to land in a small pocket at an awkward angle. The angle of the vehicle and the very soft sand, had me buried in the dune all the way up to the chassis. With no space to reverse or traction to move forward, I was stuck fast. Recovery with a tow was also not a very easy option, as a few meters ahead of me was a drop down the dune. Razik attempted first, but to no avail, as the Patrol was too heavy, and stuck hard. Razik was now angled down the slope of the dune, with the tow rope stretched taught. Not being in a position to reverse, or move forward due to the tow rope, Ashraf then attempted to snatch me out with a second tow rope. Unfortunately, the same thing happened, and we now had 2 cars angled down a slope, attached to the Patrol, which had still not budged!

What happened then, for the next one hour, as we tried to detach the tow ropes, deflate the tires, dig the vehicle out, and other forms of recovery can only stand a s a testament to the friendliness, helpfulness and good natured dispositions of Razik and his companions, Dennis and Ashraf. Razik managed to detach the shackles, while all off us held on to the ropes to keep it taut (a recovery technique I would not suggest ANYONE without any sort of previous experience to attempt).

Once both cars were free, Ashraf hit upon the idea of dragging the back end of the car out, giving me a little room to move. This ploy worked, though after 2 snatches, and finally I was free! At around 8:30 pm, in absolute darkness, we were free to move, and Ashraf lead us out, although not uneventfully. Dennis crested on a ridge, but was recovered by me, and Razik had an errant tree stump wedged between his wheel and chassis, but recovered from that as well. What a welcome sight Badayer was, when we finally reached!

Although I would hope to never be stuck again in the same way that I was, I can only hope if I ever am, it would be with the same group of people again! Razik and companions, Dennis and Ashraf, thank you so much for your help, and the exciting post drive!!!

Till next week!

That’s a very good compliment :ymapplause: :ymapplause:

and that show the spirit of our team. Missed the fun 🙁 and happy to know that all enjoyed 🙂 :yesss:

Great day of offroading in totality :yesss:
The chief’s dynamic personality had some more to offer us that afternoon. He threw the challenge on 3 (Duncan, Ashraf & I) of us to lead till Iftar bowl 😮 circa 7 kms from Badayer shops 😮 😮 😮
Ashraf was brave to accept the invite & off he went leading a convoy of 10 cars with the veteran himself at the sweep. I can imagine the pleasure you had Ashraf & I envy you for that 😉
But certainly you were the better one & did extremely well right till the end. To me you were the star of the day :ymapplause: :ymapplause:
Rakesh – you were fantastic with your new beast, :yesss: she is still new 😉 :thanks: for the usual support . As about the incident, it can happen to any one of us. Not long ago I was literally rescued & escorted safely from a horrific situation by a bunch of DO’ers & their family. It didn’t end there…they even kept in touch till things got back to normal. They are now my very good friends :yesss: 🙂 well, to cut the long story short “collaboration & solidarity is simply DO culture & its values :yesss:
All – :thanks: for joining us for the drive…you all drove well :ymapplause: :ymapplause:

PS: if you haven’t yet grabbed your kinetic rope now is the time to place your order 😉 well, you may be wondering what’s the relevance here 😀 both the ropes that were put to excercise during this rescue were kinetic ropes…the result of which was beyond fulfilling. Read Rakesh’s narration of the rescue to picture the scenario 😉