Almost4x4

A couple of pictures from today's drive. Enjoy!

Hi Almosters

The weather was "perfect" in the afternoon for a drive and only missing thing was the thunders and lightnings Psmiley

We had two convoys where one led by [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] and one by me and the supporting marshalls were [mention]Booy[/mention] and [mention]Rashidjass[/mention]

The purpose was to execute and practice many different techniques and go through different types of obstacles to improve our skills.

The rain and wet sand was not helpful but I cant say it caused us too much trouble brigade.baka-wolf.com . The pace was not fast as I expected due to the challenges we throw on our fresh newbies way but everyone did good in general and kept calm and drove safely even while doing several tries.

As "we didn't give any promise" the finishing time extended a "little bit" brigade.baka-wolf.com more than planned and we did a short night drive in a very technical area Psmiley at the last part of the drive.

Some Notes :

* Keeping right distance is important to avoid tricky situations and second tries on big climbs
* Good communication is important especially informing the second tries for the leading car and the car following you to avoid any risks!
* Make sure you have complete tools or troubles will find you XD

Thanks to all who supported and participated to this drive. Special thanks to our supporting team [mention]Kals[/mention] for second lead , [mention]Mabubaker[/mention] and [mention]Johanna[/mention] for many rescues brigade.baka-wolf.com and very special thanks to our "Guardian Angel" [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] for being hands on in every single situation during the drive.

Hope you guys enjoyed it and see you next time!

Regards

Petr wrote: Fri Mar 15, 2019 10:07 pm A couple of pictures from today's drive. Enjoy!

Nice Shots! Keep them coming!

thumbsup

I think when [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] organized this trip he had something else in mind. He wanted to teach us to drive in soft sand. Nature had a different agenda and decided to take over and teach us something else.

It was pouring rain since Friday morning. I was expecting the drive to be rescheduled. Rescheduling the drive makes sense, right? Who in their sane mind would drive in the desert in such conditions. But since the dusty Liwa trip I have realized this is no ordinary group. Whatever the weather conditions the ride is on.

So wet sand, a complete different driving style. Honestly I was bit scared. The sand was hard, you could not even dig your feet in the sand. There was almost no give, if you make a mistake the hard sand won’t forgive you.

You had to adapt your driving style, there were too many chances of bumper damage, pop outs or roll overs.

So we reached the meeting point and got divided into two convoys. I was put into shamsi’s convoy. Just 500m into the sand I had a 2nd try and another vehicle got stuck and needed to be recovered. Showing us the different nature of the sand here today.

[mention]Shamsi[/mention] took us through a good route and we had [mention]Booy[/mention] who was floating and keeping a watchful eye on us. We had a few stucks and 2nd tries but nothing major or any pop outs.

It was an interesting day and we learnt a different style of driving today. I think that since we didn’t achieve our initial objective there might be ‘Little bit of Technical IV’ .

On my way home I realised that there was some air leaking from one of my tires. I made a Stop at a tire shop and it seems I had sand wedges in between my rims. It’s seems I was close to a proper pop out. But my trusty BFG’s some how kept me going till the end of the ride.

As always thanks to [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] for organizing the trip [mention]Shamsi[/mention] and [mention]Booy[/mention] for looking out for us. And the other intermediates for the support & rescue.

Till next time!
--

And then I got stuck.

Before that, sailing through the dunes was thrilling and exciting. I had both my wife and son equally engroced in the terrain ahead of us, things were great and the pace felt perfect. That was until we lost sight of the car infront of us, but then, there it was again, just ahead of us, on the crest of the dune the blue FJ re-appeared. It was moving fast so we entered the same line when suddenly the FJ picked what appeared to be a fierce battle with the sand on the left slope and I decided to stop. Wrong move number two.

I decided to reverse slowly on exactly the same tracks right on top of that crest because I knew I would need more speed to get through that ploughed field ahead of me. Mistake number three!

Suddenly the sand on the sharp slope to our right just broke away whilst reversing and we were stuck in the most precarious position in what felt like a 30 degree angle plus to the right.

Well I tell you was my wife relieved when she was told to exit the vehicle with our son. As was I! This is when the most awesome rescue took place by the once again superbly experienced, fearlessly calm and cool Almost 4x4 marshals and crew.

With the counter weight of three dangling off my left running board, low range engaged and constant instructions and guidance, my beloved Jeep and its overjoyed driver (me!) were safely reversed down the dune and the day was saved!

What a humbling experience and what many lessons were learnt from this single event, for which we are extremely grateful!

Lesson number one: there could be more than one blue FJ on the drive.....this one belonged to @booy - We followed the wrong car!!! And yes of course we took the wrong line to start with! Keep your eyes open, make sure you are following the right car - duh!!

Lesson number two: combing a crest infront of you when the leading car is not done yet, don’t stop halfway, rather wait before entering the obstacle to start with or once in, pick another line to avoid the situation - keep moving but keep keep your eyes open so you always know an escape route!

Lesson number three: why would you even want to reverse ontop of a crest!? Its not like you are in Bur Dubai without any space to reverse or turn!? Look! Lots of open space all around you - keep checking the terrain, ....around you....,and keep moving. Preferably forward!

To all our Almost 4x4 marshals and crew, thank you all for the fantastic help and sharing of millions of grains of wisdom to make us newbies understand the peculiarities of the different desert terrains, come rain or shine or level of experience.

Much appreciated and looking forward to the next drive!

Regards,
Sven & Family

Fellow Almosters,

Since I'm a huge technical dunes fan, and afternoon drives that was a perfect fit for me.

I joined as a 2nd lead in Shamsi's convoy, started off nicely, and steady. The sand was wet, first layer was hard followed by softer layers underneath. We had a few second tries and stucks. Nothing major tho.

Then we stopped for a quick break with the other convoy led by Daggerfall.

The wise one, one & only Mr. Giorgio wanted to spice things up, so he went close to Shamsi and said: "Dahshan thinks this drive is boring" which I didn't say for sure, since I don't have a life insurance yet

Of course Shamsi heard that and started smiling biggly "there's no such a word in English, but expresses his smile"

Then he said, "Change in plans" and shifted some drivers from our convoy ti the other and vice versa.

Quickly whistled, and said "Drivers get in your cars, we will move now"

I, as a 2nd lead got worried then Giorgio came to me all smiley and happy and said "Dahshan, the drive starts now Habibi" followed by a nonstop uncontrollable laughter

I got in my car, heard Shamsi on the radio warning the drivers that the drive will get faster now, buckle up and get ready for some action.

Immediately Giorgio replied on the radio "Dahshan is not gonna need it, he will be too busy holding to the wheel "

We carried on fast, I had to hit the throttle harder to keep up, first time to hear my engine revving on that day

A few minutes later, I got stuck I called it in, we stopped the convoy, I could feel the sarcasm in the air, I tried to self recover by engaging 4-lo diff lock and all, but I was on the belly.

Then I heard Giorgio on the radio telling me that I'm belly dancing and it needs a pull

I went out grabbed the Viking rope and soft shackles, Mr. Giorgio did the rescue.

Shamsi said it on the radio: getting stuck is better than flying and breaking something. That restored my confidence for sure.

There's absolutely no shame in getting stuck, part of the sport. I know that for sure. But I won't stop making fun of Kareem and Kals when they do it tho so they should enjoy my stuck for now.

The drive continued nicely all the way to the end. Was absolutely fun. Special thanks to Shamsi for leading, Booy and Giorgio for support.

And till we meet again in the sand ❤

Little bit of Technical III

That was my second drive in that day. coming back from a 10+ morning drive i was sure than the 10- will be relaxing and i would no need to put any effords.

We arrived at the meeting point were the rain and the wind were present waiting for us.

We did all the preparation under a soft rain and after we took attendance and the crowed was divided in two convoys (one led by [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] and the other one by [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] ) we started the drive.

As i had predicted the drive was smooth and slow some drivers were performing better than others and we were all enjoying the drive.

At one point we caught up with the second convoy and we all had a short break. This is were all the magic happened. The Illuminati's had a meeting [mention]Booy[/mention] [mention]alshamsi[/mention] and [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] got together they agreed on exchanging some drivers around and there you go.
[mention]Mohamadahshan[/mention] may believe that i was the reason of the game changing but all i did is stating what i could read in his phase.

When the drive started again it was a totally different game. No more relaxing. The drive became aggressive fast and technical, including even some side cresting. The new composition of drivers now was of a higher level and they were pushing hard with no major issues.

During this fast drive we were lucky to see some gazelles and close to the end we hit an area with safari convoys all around us. The area suddenly became very crowded and it took the lead car more than few minutes to find an escape route out of that mess but once we were out we took off again with pedal to the metal.

A nice afternoon drive that made all of us smile and enjoy the rainy day.

Thank you all for the wonderful afternoon on the sand special thank to the organizer
[mention]Daggerfall[/mention] second convoy leader [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] and support team and drivers..

Till next time stay safe

Good morning all,

after an amazing inter drive in the morning, I was in really good mood Psmiley

I joined [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] convoy as a sweeper, [mention]Kals[/mention] was assigned 2. lead and [mention]Mabubaker[/mention] and [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] were floating around.

You might think the sand is wet and therefore hard- but careful, could be a trap! Below the wet layer it was soft at some places and that was my chance to practise some rescue cool

Our newbies were thrown into a few challenges, some of the climbs were a bit tricky, so even the intermediate drivers got stuck and needed rescue, so it happens in all levels.

We had some good fun and the drivers did well, just a few things to keep in mind:

- always inform the convoy immediately when you have a second try, so the leading car can hold the convoy and the car behind you is warned
- if you cannot make a climb, turn down straight. If you cannot make a high arch, make it shorter. So never fight gravity, I am talking from experience here.

So I definitely learned some new things this drive, hope you all had a great time too.

Have a great week, see you all soon in the sand. have a nice day

First off, the great big thanks to [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] , [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] , [mention]Johanna[/mention] , [mention]Kals[/mention] and [mention]Mabubaker[/mention] for the great drive and all the help and support during this interesting rain filled drive.

I enjoyed the drive thoroughly and had an instance of getting crested (lengthwise) on a dune because I lost focus (wasn't sure where I'm supposed to go). Thanks to [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] who evaluated the best way and angle out and to [mention]Mabubaker[/mention] who pulled me out.

Half-way during the drive, air was leaking out of my front right tyre in several places (between rim and tyre). This is one of those moments when a pop-out could be a blessing. The marshals investigated and decided that a tyre change would be the safest option instead of inducing a pop-out. I almost fainted! A tyre change in the middle of no where! But the teamwork was amaaaazing.... [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] , [mention]Kals[/mention] and [mention]Mabubaker[/mention] and I did the tyre change under the watchful supervision of [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] . Thanks guys from the bottom of my heart for your help in the tyre change, i have no idea how I would do all of that had I been alone. Your helpfulness and coordination really touched my heart. Thank you again.

One small secret did get revealed during all of this... the fact that I did not have a wooden base plate for my jack OSMILEY . [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] , [mention]Kals[/mention] , [mention]Mabubaker[/mention] all looked at me in shock... and [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] said "things like this happen when you don't have all your basic tools". I was negotiating with them if this little blunder could remain between us, and [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] immediately said "Nooooooooooooooo" and as luck would have it, [mention]alshamsi[/mention] stopped by at that very moment with his convoy. BUSTED!!! Thank you [mention]Kals[/mention] for allowing me to borrow your base plate.

On the whole, it was a very enjoyable drive, challenging with the rain soaked sand (hard on the outside, soft and dry on the inside). Enjoyed every bit of it and learned a lot. Also enjoyed the bit of night drive at the end. I realised that my stock lights are horrible for night drives lol.

Some photos from [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] convoy...