18-01-2013 – Newbie & Intermediate Morning Drive

Excellent guys newbee & intermediate convoy, hope all enjoyed the drive yesterday.
I really agree with Asharf in regards to the drive time, we have discussed this many time but still as a courtesy to other members we keep waiting & other members suffer.

I wud appreciate if we be little tough in regards to start of the drive, can give a grace of 5-10 minutes not more than that.

anyways yesterday was an absolute fun for DO we did 2 drives without any break , hats off to all the member participated at both the drives and thanks to patience of our Marshals & rescue, sweep marhals. specially the kind gesture of DO in rescuing the buggy kid by Saif, Kumar, Ganesh & Musbah. Toyota Prado of a local guy stuck on the ridge rescued by Thanseer & Firoz.

:ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause:

:thanks: to all & :drive: safe

I agree 100% – if the drive is supposed to start at 0830 it should start at 0830. Most of the drives are posted with at least 4 or 5 days notice so there is no excuse.

I’m quite happy to wait 10 or 15 minutes (we can all be held up sometimes) – but a line has to drawn somewhere, its only fair to those who do turn up on time (and who may have plans for later in the day). I think that if someone knows they are going to be more than 10 minutes late they should phone a marshall and apologise then turn round and go home.

Kumar is right with his post – offroading is an adventure sport (with its own unique challenges) – turning up late = rushing around = mistakes = more time wasted etc etc.

Lets be on time from now on guys – there’s no point spoiling the fun before it even starts! 😉

Sorry Guyz for making all of you dis comfort.
Jus FYI I was @ the meeting point around 08:45hrs for deflation, later lost the way to starting point, which made the convey wait.
And if I recollect dis was my first time making convey wait, and assure tat it will be last time..:)
Cheers guyz..

:thanks: SIR, excellent drive report, actually i was looking forward to see the trip report from the drivers but its a surprise that our Lead Marshal has posted the trip report, anyways thanks for the kind words of appreciation to all the drive members

Dear members please try to put your views, experience so we can improve if we are lacking behind anything.

Thanks all & special :thanks: to Thanseer for leading both (morning & evening ) drives. :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause:

Now its my turn for the drive report of Intermediate convoy 🙂 🙂 🙂

The drive started quite late than as scheduled due to reasons explained in the previous posts. Point made – start the drives as per schedule respecting the members who took the efforts to reach the meeting point in time. Maximum 10 minutes grace shall be considered, if anybody requests the lead marshal for the same. After to that, strictly hold the concept – “If late, miss the bus”. Hope all members will understand it in its true spirit as discipline is a very key factor for our risky business :-BD

Thank you very much Roshan for your very kind gesture to get breakfast packs for all participants and passengers. Infact, we had few packets in surplus which I later distributed to the Newbie convoy in the afternoon. It was a birthday treat from Roshan and we all once again wish you many many happy return of the day 🙂

Area 53 was the drive route for Intermediate convoy, started by 9.15am from Tawi to Pyramids to Iftar Bowl comprising Ashok, Imran, Roshan, Firoz, Khadi, Wassi, Andy and myself. Imran, Wassi and Roshan were included in the intermediate convoy to experience next level adventure, considering the number of drives they all did already with us. I gave the lead to Ashok and remained as second lead. Ashok did his lead task very nicely, carved perfect route keeping in mind the following convoy cars and drivers :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause: As usual, Andy was in complete control of the convoy at sweep supported by senior members – Firoz and Khadi.

During the drive to Pyramids, we joined the newbee convoy and Roshan joined them as he was finding it hard to tackle short dunes and ridge crossing. Dont worry mate, you will be very soon in next level, remain focused and keep learning. I really appreciate your openness to change to newbee convoy when you found it hard :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause: Thanks to Thanseer for waiting for us, stucked himself at top of a dune for Ashok to spot him easily. 😀 Also thanking the newbee convoy for their short wait for us to join them :thanks: :thanks: :thanks:

At this point lead and sweep were swapped with Andy at the lead and Ashok in sweep. Andy navigated very nicely through the soft sand dunes to the Pyramids choosing safe route with proper approach. Nice work Andy :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause: Actually, I remained at second lead position to change the route, if required. But both Ashok and Andy did a great job not giving a me a chance to do anything and I had to just follow their track 🙁 😀 😀 😀 Good job guys :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause:

On top of pyramids Imran had a pop out. We had to fix the pop out at the top of the dune itself as it was very steep all around and no plain terrain was easily accessible. I think it was my top high altitude pop out fixing :)) :)) :)) But the issue was not fixed completely as air was still leaking from the valves. Therefore we inflated the tire upto 20 psi and brought the car safely down the dunes to a safe area and replaced it with spare tire. Thanks for the support from Ashok, Andy, Firoz and Khadi 🙂 We completed the task quite fast and Andy continued his lead exploring Pyramids to Iftar Bowl.

We have been progressing nicely, heading to Iftar Bowl and then received Wassi’s request than he needs to finish the drive in next 10 minutes to go home for prayers. Here I had to take the call to divert the convoy to Badayer instead of our original destination. I am aware that this change in plan was not a happy news to most of the convoy members. Considering the challenging route ahead, I felt its not safe and proper to continue the drive as per the original plan, with a member in the convoy, who was not willing and happy to do it.

I hope you will agree with me that one of the key requisite of offroading is to tackle effectively the unexpected. :-BD We need to be fully prepared mentally & physically and remain focused all the time. It will certainly have a good impact on one’s performance and safety. Therefore be free and relaxed from all other thoughts to enjoy this game for good fun. If any such issues are haunting you, you may lose your concentration, inviting trouble. I will advice to stay away from drive, if its the case.

Since the convoy was returning to Badayer, I took the lead from Andy and headed to the top of high dunes inorder to make the remaining part more challenging & interesting. But the pace of the convoy got arrested due to some interesting bowl games 😀 Imran and Wassi found very hard to overcome a tricky bowl. Khadi offered help to Imran, took control of the wheel. The powerful machine in hands of an experienced offroader! – it flew out of the bowl 😮 It was nice watching the quick transformation of the car with the change in experience and skill of the handler :-BD 🙂 Very nicely done Khadi :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause:

Wassi in his attempt to overcome the bowl initially had a minor stuck. Sweep marshal Ashok radioed him to remain at the same position for an easy recovery. May be because Wassi was running out of time, couldn’t keep himself idle, tried himself to come out of the stuck ending up in a very bad stuck in a dangerous situation with one side wheels in air. Pulling out was not an option due very bad angle of the car. I had to walk down the bowl to take control of the wheel and we could self recover the car with little showel work. Rest of the convoy were at top the bowl witnessing the whole event as a live show :)) :)) :))

We reached safely Badayer shops by 12.30pm and I was lazy to inflate as the shops were getting closed for prayers. Took the offroad route to Tawi, had lunch and waited for the afternoon drive members to arrive. Later I was joined at Tawi by Thanseer and Amjed after their successful newbie drive to take charge of afternoon fewbee convoy :-BD 🙂

I was accompanied by my family and two guests for the whole day events. They were really happy for both the drives and so i am 😉 Thank you all for joining this drive and hope you had fun 🙂 Look forward to drive with you all again, very soon. Probably next week, as this weekend most of us are going to conquer Liwa dunes as we do need a recharging once in a while 😀

Equally good work both at lead and sweep by Andy and Ashok :ymapplause: Controlled and confident driving from Imran :-BD, Nice convoy support at middle by the very experienced Firoz & Co. 😀 :ymapplause: Khadi was just flying around 😉 Thank you very much Khadi for all your support to the convoy and appreciates your sincerity and enthusiasm :-BD :ymapplause: Wassi, good attempt stay focused and keep learning :-BD :ymapplause:

Drive Details:-
Name: Intermediate Convoy – 18/01/13 – Tawi – Pyramids – Badayer
Date: Jan 18, 2013 08:54 am
Distance: 34.4 kilometers
Elapsed Time: 1:28:33
Average Speed: 23.3 km/h
Max Speed: 67.6 km/h
Average Pace: 2′ 34″ per km
Min Altitude: 139 m
Max Altitude: 224 m
View Map:- http://goo.gl/maps/VRxnH

:thanks: to you guys for wonderful drive and including me (as i was unregistered/listed member). Excellent and very encouraging report. Roshan good job for snacks, I really like it. Ashraf love you man as you are my mentor and thanks for taking me offroad (from onroads :drive:
Thanseer perfect job keep it up. Rob you were fantastic really impressed with your effort. Amjad good job and rest of memebers good dirve. Keep it up

Regards

Mumtaz

Hi all!

It was a beautiful drive, nice dunes, as promised it was easy and tricky at the same time. Perfect for a first/second time!

Special thanks to:

Thanseer – for an exceptional track and very confident lead (also for the comment on my driving hehe)
Amjed – for the rescue, your car is like ready to go anywhere with you at the wheel
Roshan – for the yummy breakfast it was great ( a late Happy Birthday!!!)
Rob – for the radio, it helped a lot, will make sure to have mine working next time
Fellow newbies – for good team spirit, for the good time and not least for the stucks – it was really fun 🙂
My car – for not letting me down.

See you all soon and once again let’s start on time, reach destination, stay safe and have fun!!! Cause I did indeed!!!
Cheers,
Denis. (Black G.Cherokee)
PS: if anybody has pics of me/my car please send to [email protected] – will appreciate a lot!!!

Thanks Amjed!

By the way, not sure how will this be interpreted (good/bad) but caught myself driving with “hand brake on” around 3 times 5-10 min each 😀

And how can I get my number of drives updated in the profile? I was already 2 times with DO, but still showing zero… 🙁