Team DO Desert Skies Challenge 2016 Trip Report

The Desert Skies Challenge 2016 descended on the mammoth dunes of UAE’s Liwa oasis over the weekend :yesss: . It was a two-day event that had approximately 75 cars and 120+ people in total 😮 , which consisted of 15 teams of 4 cars each and several sweep and event organizer cars. The objective of the event was to drive the straightest line from point A to point B, which was approximately 150kms away 😕 . The terrain was extreme and very challenging at times with deep bowls, high crests, tall dunes, and of course, Liwa’s infamous super soft golden sand :-ss .

Team Dubai Offroaders was represented by four cars each with a co-pilot/navigator. @Ahmad Pervez led our team with @Faateh Ahmad as his navigator, @anilberry was second lead with @Hamza Ahmad as his navigator, I was third with @Avinash Sudheer as my navigator, and @Desert Dragon was our sweep with Kamal as his navigator. We met at the Emarat petrol station off of Sheikh Zayed Road near Jabal Ali by 1700 on Thursday afternoon and set off on our 4 hour tarmac drive to reach the meeting/camping spot for the evening. We reached the entry point by about 2230 after stopping in the small town of Madinat Zayed for a nice Pakistani dinner of chicken and mutton kadai to fuel us up for the weekend :-BD . After check-in and an event overview by the event organizer, Marina Bruce (the Desert Diva), we set off to find our camp spot for the evening. After a few tries and the Liwa sand making us fully aware of how easily she can grab your wheels and not let you go :(( , we found our spot and set up camp. The night was cold so we made a fire to sit and enjoy some drinks and social chat. I was sitting around a very seasoned and experienced offroad crew so there were many great stories to share of past adventures ^:)^ ^:)^ .

We woke early in the morning around 0600 (-| to an extremely thick blanket of fog with very low visibility preventing us from departing at 0630 as planned X( . The fog did not lift until shortly before 1000 so we enjoyed a hearty breakfast ~O) and did our last minute preps for the journey. By 1030 we had received our final brief and Team DO’s wheels rolled past the start gate :ymparty: :yesss: . Ahmad led us up a few easy dunes and tracks to get our feet wet (or should I say to get our wheels dried =)) =)) ) in the sand and let the team find its rhythm. Within short order we were dancing and snaking up, down, and around the dunes. The sun was shining in its full glory and the temps were a very pleasant 20-22 degrees. Team DO was zipping along in its groove :ymapplause: ! We had a very consistent and smooth ride but the challenge was definitely there. The dunes were tall, the bowls were deep, and if you did not keep your momentum and revs up you would lose the battle with the sand. We crisscrossed paths with the other teams from time to time and saw a few camel farms but other than this, we were on our own crossing a very remote area or the Empty Quarter; this was a great and very surreal feeling \M/ :-BD !

On Friday, we covered 110kms of the 94kms direct track. So we deviated only 16kms from the straightest line possible :yesss: . We did this in 5 hours and 20 minutes with an average speed of 15km/hour and a max speed of 87km/hour. Needless to say, we maintained a very quick pace and “zipped” through the Empty Quarter. We arrived at our campsite by 1700 Friday evening and found our perfect spot for setting up camp. There was a quiz organized for all event participants, which was a nice gathering of everyone to test their general knowledge of UAE, offroading, navigation, geography, and celestial topics. Avinash prepared a magnificent lamb biriyani feast for the whole team, which was a very pleasant gastronomical experience :thanks: :thanks: . Eating collectively as a convoy/team really pulls everyone together and adds the extra glue to gel everyone :ymhug: !

On Saturday morning we woke up a bit later by 0700 (-| and were able to enjoy a breakfast buffet together before setting off for the second leg. We departed camp by about 1000 to tackle the last 44Km of the trip. The sun was already shining on us and we wasted no time in picking up where we left off the day before \M/ . We cruised effortlessly (relatively speaking off course 😕 ) through the dunes. As always, Ahmad was impeccable at not only finding the perfect line up and over the dunes but also maintain us as close as possible on the straight track line. We ran through the first 30kms in about 1.5 hours. During one of our breaks, we sadly realized our trip would soon be over :(( . We briefly contemplated back-tracking to our original starting point on Friday morning after hitting the finish gates. This was short-lived though as the we knew we would have to exit and drive back on tarmac sooner or later X( . At approximately 12:30 we hit the finish gate having covered the 44kms straight-line track in 49kms so only a slight deviation of 5km :yesss: . we did this in 2 hours and 15 minutes with an average speed of 22km/hour and a max speed of 60km/hour. To give you an idea of the momentum and high revs that we had to consistently maintain, this 50kms that we drove consumed 150kms of tarmac range fuel from my petrol reserves, i.e., 3x as much petrol consumed for this distance compared to if we were driving on the tarmac….but it was fun burning the fuel 😀 :drive: 😀 !!

By 1300 we had exited the sand and were back on the tarmac. A quick stop at the petrol station to re-fuel and fill the tires for our 400 km/4hour drive back to Dubai. We had a fantastic trip with the whole team driving seamlessly with each other :ymapplause: :ymapplause: . It was an experience that we will all carry with us forever 😀 !

A big thanks to Marina Bruce, the Desert Diva :thanks: , for organizing it and the great leadership and comradery of everyone on the DO DSC 2016 team :thanks: :ymhug: 😀 !!

Very much looking forward to Desert Skies Challenge 2017 (or 2016 part 2 if it happens) :ymparty: :ymparty: .