Friday Morning Drive on Soft HIgh dunes 4.04.2014
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Guys,
Friday Morning Meeting Point send to the selected participants. Should you have not received the meeting point coordinates, pls be informed that it has been done for your own safety.
We will have more drives in future and will be happy to take all..
See you there Friday mrng :thanks:
Lightning, thunder, hailstones and rain in the night greeted us to a beautiful rare rainy morning across the length and breadth of the UAE π . It did cross my mind that the drive might be cancelled due to the incessant rains but I was just happy to be out and about in this weather π Off-road drive or not, I was enjoying the journey to the meeting point while it was pouring cats and dogs.
I wasn’t sure about the last filling station so stopped by at the Al Faqa’a Adnoc to fuel up and happened to bump into some friends there. After exchanging pleasantries and stocking up on goodies, I continued my journey to the meeting point. It turned out to be a good decision in hindsight as there was no other gas station enroute to the start point which was a further 65 kms ahead #:-s
A good number of members had gathered close to the Alain Airport chatting away in the drizzle while some members went about looking for a gas station in the vicinity to fuel up :-w . This delayed the start by half an hour.
The lead marshal formed two convoys.The first one to roll-out had Duncan, Faheem, Baher, Duck Commander, a TJ(unfortunately I didn’t get a chance to meet him) with Fida in the lead and Khaled Sahab as the designated sweep. A stellar line-up for sure :ymcowboy: . The second convoy had the lead marshal and quick gun, Humayun in the lead followed by yours truly, Jassim, Niclas, Denis, Saif, Ashraf and Firoz as the sweep in-charge.It’s always reassuring to have Saif and Firoz in your convoy for the sense of calm and experience that they bring onboard B-) .
The downpour required us to prepare accordingly to the conditions with the psi going up and side sloping and side cresting to be kept to a minimum considering the size of the dunes we were planning to take on.The logic of starting from Alain as explained by Humayun was to go with the sun towards Sweihan/Nahel but the overcast conditions didn’t really offer us that benefit which would have been fruitful on a sunny day. The sand was very hard as expected and very easy to drive on but as the two convoys were intersecting each other frequently, the latter convoy had a bit of a task to traverse through the dug-up wet sand which caused the rigs to slide down on slight misjudgement. Having said that, it’s a different feeling to be in the desert in the rains and we continued on our route in the drizzle.
Humayun was back in his playground after the Liwa expedition and was in a rush to zoom across as many vantage points as possible :ymcowboy: . It was quite a fast moving convoy and we quickly arrived to the beautiful Old Lady dunes where I offered a nice Kodak moment and was crested at the very top of the Old Lady =)) in my attempt to side crest over to the other side. The precarious position of my rig deterred some members to try this and they took an alternative route. Niclas gave me a tug and I managed to side crest over and we proceeded to our next destination. While on our way, Humayun asked us if we wanted to visit the pond. On getting a unanimous positive reply, he headed towards our next landmark. We took a break and photo session while Niclas tried to have some fun in the water :ymparty: after which the Sand Mountain was calling us.
Now the route to Sand Mountain from the Old Lady or the Pond required us to pass by small and technical dunes which meant side cresting was unavoidable. This required very focused and vocational form of driving and resulted in a few crestings, following which we reached the Sand Mountain and played to our hearts content. We also visited the burnt car lying around there for so long as a reminder of how fatal our sand passion can be if not taken seriously π .
The other convoy had already done their bit at the Sand Mountain and was waiting for us to officially bring an end to the day. We inflated and said our goodbyes.
Thank you Humayun for another beautiful day in the sands. Thank you Firoz for your sweep duties :thanks: :thanks:
Saj..Thats a Fantastic Report on an exciting drive…could not be better…
Thank You Humayoon for a wonderful Lead and Feroz & Saif for the great support in Sweep and rescue and All Other fellow drivers for such a nice company…
I have enjoyed it to the max…Trust you all will have the same opinion…Though I didnt get much time to take pics..have got few..may be not the best actions..as I too was enjoying the action ..so missed to get those actions covered… π
However few pics I got have been posted in our Fb page…https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=642541002450249&set=oa.10152302396552356&type=1&theater
See you all soon for the next drive Insha Allah..
Drive Safe…Have Fun…
April 6, 2014 at 5:17 am #29646:ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause:
Nice Drive!!!!
Nice report too!!!
:ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause:Wow..Itβs a beautiful report from Saj as usual which portrays every single bit of the incidentβ¦ :thanks:
Once again it has been proved by the turnover of 15 cars near Al Ain Airport early morning shows that whether it may be rain or thunderstorm or Sand Storm, Dubai Off roaders and the off roading enthusiast never stop :drive: :drive: :drive:
I donβt have any much to add in this report as the whole story was portrayed nicely in Saj Report.
All the cars which made to the meeting point are the leaders in short pathfinders for the future offroaders and my hearty thanks :thanks: :thanks: to one and all for joining this drive.
Having said this I would like to say few of my observations which came to my mind.
As this drive was clearly classified as Intermediate Drive, it is every individual responsibility to do a bit of homework, be equipped and arrive at the meeting point on time. Of Couse there can always be a grace time of 10 or 15min but it has been noted that few of members arriving late and then without fuel which shows poor planning/lack of commitment or discipline which needs to be avoided or rectified going forward.
I donβt want to go in detail much about this and hope all took this positively.
:thanks: :thanks: :thanks: Thanks once again for joining this drive and look forward to many more drives :drive: :drive: :drive: in future.
April 6, 2014 at 3:17 pm #29650:thanks: Humayun for organising such a magnificent drive, as far as the late comers and lack of planning in concern, I totally agree with your point of view.
Guys ! Please do not repeat such an obnoxious mistake. O:-)
Log-ing after a short break… π
It was indeed a very nice drive…nothing much to add, as Saj has covered each and every point.
Same like our “official sweep” razik, we should now make saj the “official reporter” π π , thanks dear, appreciate your efforts and time.
And Kudos to our ‘Liwa Legend” Humayun :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause:
Thanks niclas, Denis and friend, saif, Asharf, Jasim for the wonderful company :thanks:
So Humayun, when is the next roller coaster?? :-w :-w :-ss
quote firoztv:Log-ing after a short break… πIt was indeed a very nice drive…nothing much to add, as Saj has covered each and every point.
Same like our “official sweep” razik, we should now make saj the “official reporter” π π , thanks dear, appreciate your efforts and time.
And Kudos to our ‘Liwa Legend” Humayun :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause:
Thanks niclas, Denis and friend, saif, Asharf, Jasim for the wonderful company :thanks:
So Humayun, when is the next roller coaster?? :-w :-w :-ss
Coming Soon one more full day Exploration drive before the summer comes into peak π π
quote khshareef:quote firoztv:Log-ing after a short break… πIt was indeed a very nice drive…nothing much to add, as Saj has covered each and every point.
Same like our “official sweep” razik, we should now make saj the “official reporter” π π , thanks dear, appreciate your efforts and time.
And Kudos to our ‘Liwa Legend” Humayun :ymapplause: :ymapplause: :ymapplause:
Thanks niclas, Denis and friend, saif, Asharf, Jasim for the wonderful company :thanks:
So Humayun, when is the next roller coaster?? :-w :-w :-ss
Coming Soon one more full day Exploration drive before the summer comes into peak π π
Waiting for that Day..
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