Almost4x4

Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Today’s Newbie Free Styler drive started differently. Firstly it was a Saturday drive, and second there was very dense fog on the way to Al Babayer (why do some people drive in fog with hazard warning lights on !)
Bu Salem led in MiniMe and we had a nice fast drive taking in most of the dunes to Area 53. Mainly incident free, and with some high dunes adding to the fun, a great day was had. Thanks Yoghy for the tow near the end- I thought we needed to add a 'stuck' to make the day complete!

Many thanks as always to all the organisers.

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It was great to be back on the sand with Almost 4x4, first of all I would like to apologize once again to all members because I was late today due to several reasons. Normally I’m one of the first to arrive to the meeting points, but today was not possible. I promise that is the first and last time.

The drive was restricted to newbie +5 and the plan from the beginning was Pop Out :you're kidding, rig. Mohamed Al Shamsi with Mini Me could be very difficult to follow without problems, Stucks or Pop Outs for the rest of the members on the convoy.

After The Last of Year drive, Mini Me was BANNED and got restricted to Intermediates and above by the marshals… but today we had the opportunity to follow Mini Me once again.

We start from Al Badayer Shops towards the Ifftar Bowl, the pace was adequate and the route great. We drove without major problems, maybe couple of stucks and second rounds but nothing significant. Maybe Mohamed was expecting more problems but the group did it great, so instead of Ifftar Bowl we discover the Super Bowl.

Very nice experience, we keep growing the skills and the feeling couldn’t be better. Provably today was one of the best routes I have ever done with Almost 4x4 up to now.

Mohamed, I believe that you can remove the restrictions on Mini Me with the Newbie +5. :grin:

Thank you very much to everybody involve, marshals and members to make the weekends unforgettable. And special thanks to our guardian angels today, alshamsi_m, Yoghybear and Zorro.

Hope to see you soon.

Well, I arrived at meeting point with one of my friends (as a passenger). Some of the drivers got slightly late due to dense fog. Infact while on way to meeting point I was quite unsure as to how are we going to drive in this thick for, or perhaps we may have to abandon the drive completely. And then I thought, I really donot need to worry about all this. If the dear marshals say go and we all go! As we chatted prior to briefing Al Shamsi kept everyone entertained and involved with his special brand of humour!!:like:

Then before the drive we had the planned tool check, which was an important exercise to rightly keep everyone on their toes.

The drive itself was amazing. While at the briefing itself Al Shamsi threatened all with stucks and pop-outs, but as we all know he didnot really mean it. He was kinda preparing all for a rather challengeing drive and in the end he would be standing tallest to see that there were really no pop-outs and very few stucks / second rounds.

Personally I was quite tentative, a little unsure in the beginning. Many reasons, for one I was driving in sand after almost 1.5 month. Secondly my car had just undergone some repairs and it was untested after the repair. Hence I had to take a second round on a high dune just few minutes into the drive. I guess thereafter I got into the groove and there were no further problems. The route itself was challenging and interesting. The super bowl was just 'SUPER'. Sometimes during the drive I had to remind my co-passenger to remember to continue breathing at all times :Psmiley: since he seemed so amazed (perhaps scared as well!) at times.

finally at the cost of being repetitive, I must once again thank Al Shamsi, Yoghy and all other co-drivers for the amazing drive. Look forward to driving with you all friends soon again.

I thought worth sharing my experience to this drive. First many thanks to Bu Salem for letting me in the passenger seat of his Minime, It was so fascinating as well as learning a bit on how to approach some dunes from passenger point of view, but honestly It's quite hard Bu Salem did it too fast specially at Super Bowl area.

I was amazed how MiniMe performed on chewed up dunes ( I wonder how much more it will perform on fresh dunes and intermediate drive) and coping up with Bu Salem's way of driving. :like:

Thanks again for the drive and the chitchat and to all the participants it was a great Saturday.

Addition: I thought I would be able to record a Video during the drive but it end up all my hands are in tight grip on anything I can hold-on inside MiniMe.

I come to the desert every week to learn serious stuff in a funny way. The program for this trip was to learn how to fix a pop out (as it was promised by the leader) and to try to stay at the back of the convoy ( I was told that it is a much more challenging place to be).

The drive wasn't that difficult and it seemed like Legend has her own vision about pop outs, roll overs e.c., that's why we completed our trip without any problems. We drove through a new type of a terrain full of high (for me) dunes with climbing, cresting and speedy descending :like:

The previous two nights, spent in the camp refreshing my boy-scout's skills, made me totally exhausted mentally. Here is the lesson I had learned yesterday.

Lesson 8. "Acquired driving skills and experience depend on the car's position in the convoy". (but not only!)
The first 4 cars of the convoy are the perfect place to learn driving technics in a proper way. If you're able to keep enough distance to see two or three cars in front and to copy the leading car movements, after a while you will automatically learn a lot of things without hearing a single word, just by watching.
As far as you go to the back, as much you will work on your own driving style, you will develop the sand reading skills and the ability to predict possible situations in front. No need to say that it requires to be highly concentrated!

Unfortunately I understood it too late. The moment, when I almost reached my physical and emotional limits, showed up suddenly on the second part of the trip, which was more advanced by the way! I couldn't succeed to get my car into the first 4 and I had to stay at the back until the end of the drive. Thanks God I had my coffee!.....but on the other hand: What doesn't kill us makes us stronger!

It was a fantastic drive! I wish I could enjoy it with a more fresh mind and I feel really sorry for my friends who weren't with us.

I want to thank Al Shamsi for this wonderful introduction of the new type of dunes, no one could do it better then he did. My deepest appreciation to our sweeper team Yoghy and Zorro for their patience to all of us. And of course, I would like to thank all my friends, who are growing up in the club together with me, for the energy you gave me yesterday :047:
We did a great job guys! Love you all and see you soon!

Just a short one from me (for a change), but suffice to say that the Drive was another great experience and pleasurable to realise that as Oxana Lu says above, we are growing up in the club together. I have grown greatly in confidence, following the lead of our fantastic Marshalls, listening to advice and watching (and making) mistakes. The most important thing is to learn from what you see, keep your concentration and be aware of your surroundings, and of others around you. I had one second round this week due to a momentary lapse of concentration and MDG taking hold; I quickly recovered and identified a recovery route to rejoin the convoy without the need for slowing. This was a great step for me as in the past newbie panic was present, but not this week. Thanks Very much again to a brilliant and professional lead by Al Shamsi and Mini-Me, and to Yoghybear and Zorro for the enduring support at the back. One other observation - my Dad was passenger this week - 78 years old and he didn't use the grab handles once - when I asked him why, he said he had complete confidence in me and didn't need them!! Whether he said that just cos he's my Dad I don't know, but a complement indeed from someone who I learnt my driving skills from all those years ago!

My first experience of Super Bowl too - can't wait to return soon. See you in the sand. (OK so it wasn't that short either :secret laugh:)

It was an amazing drive lead by MINI ME :like: and sweep by Yogy & Zorro...

Already my Co-drivers above explained quite well..No more comments to add..

Here are some pics fore the drive:-

https://www.facebook.com/nibu.varghese. ... 409&type=1

Thanks to Al shamsi, Yoghy and rest of the drivers..

See u soon...

Addition to my Trip Report - see Video link!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10152223765817415
enjoy!!