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[Johanna]

Hello everyone,

this was one of the best drives I ever had!
We met early morning at 7:00 in Sweihan and it was amazing to see all the guys in a good mood ready for action.
We got divided in 3 convoys, I joined the one led by [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] as the third car in the convoy.
In the briefing Rashid explained that Sweihan is different from our usual driving spots with higher dunes, sharp crests and soft sand and we got warned not to fight gravity and to turn down immediately if we cannot make it up.
And this place is different! On rank no 3 of my favorite driving areas in this country (no 1 is Liwa, no 2 the starfish dunes)
With high dunes this drive was less technical, although we passed some technical spots. Most of the time we drove safari style through the dunes, with climbs and high arches. I simply loved it .
The convoy flew nicely and we faced no big issues.
I got crested the first time with the patrol as I approached a sharp crest too slow in order not to fly. Beside this and a second try I faced no struggle.
We met [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] convoy at the beautiful nagra dune were intermediate and advanced drivers had the chance to play, I joined [mention]Arminjune[/mention] as a passenger for a hell of a round around the dune for my adrenaline kick thanks man, that was fun.
At the end of the drive we had 20 minutes left, so [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] gave us an extra round of playing, probably the best part of the drive with fast pace, high arches and some small and easy side crests. It was so much fun, I can’t wait for the next drive in this area
Thanks to the marshals and the rescue team for this fantastic morning and I hope to see you all soon in the sand

[Phoenix]

SWEIHAN!! yup, it lived up to its name and I am sure there is way more than what we saw today.
Before I start my trip report please understand that my trip report is based on what my view was from where I was driving, what I heard, what I thought and what I did. I might mention names of other drivers here so if you are not comfortable then just let me know and I will remove the name.
Anyways I was very sleepy and drowsy since I got only 2 hours of sleep before reaching the meeting point, in fact I was so quite that even [mention]JockJKU[/mention] saw me and said “looking very quiet today phoenix” and I don’t even remember what I replied back to him. I reach the meeting point, walk out of my car, silently enter the gathered crowd, leaned on an FJ and then just stayed there while the whole meeting and kept my head down with my eyes closed - I was that sleepy. The only thing I said was “right here” in the softest voice when my name was announced for attendance.

Capture.JPG

Fast forward we reach the deflating point and we follow [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] where the second lead was issa and 3rd was [mention]Lenny[/mention] followed by me in 4th and [mention]Kals[/mention] in 5th position. I gulp down a redbull bottoms up slap myself and yell “WAKE UP A******!!” and start driving. Just after 5 minutes and crossing only a few dunes the car in front of me had a second try which on performing the second try became a stuck car, that too on a very bad angle so [mention]hamzahng[/mention] and a few others had to stand on the side step to keep it from rolling over while recovery was done by [mention]Raja[/mention] . Now on the third try this car gets stuck again and [mention]Raja[/mention] recovers it again. After seeing this car doing a second try and getting stuck twice on the same dune I realized that the dunes here have sharp crests. So I follow accordingly and we start doing small side cresting (which was a first time for me in Outlaw and it was smooth), wall climbs and wall runs.

DISTANCE, DISTANCE, BLOODY DISTANCE…

Since this was a little bit fast paced drive except for a few technical areas here and there, we were driving pretty smoothly until we reached an innocent looking dune about 3 meters high with a flat top and stretching towards right. So we had to go up the dune which was then suddenly followed by a huge bowl about a good steep 3 or 4 stories deep below us turning towards left forcing us to drive on the tip of its wall and then exit on the other side. At this point the convoy was going smoothly and quite fast.

So [mention]Lenny[/mention] goes up the first dune turns right and then on the other side to drive across the tip of the bowl’s wall towards left. At this point he is out of my view and there is a good amount of distance between us so I start my climb up the first dune and follow him. I reach the end of the first dune and while turning left I see the steep wall so without stopping I shift into 2nd gear and floor it. Just as I reach half way across the wall I realize that the car in front of me had slowed down just before reaching the exit so now not only am I ten meters away from hitting him but the way it looked to me was that he would not be able to make it and might rollover. I had less than a second to make a decision to either over take him on a FREAKING WALL!! or slowdown with him and rollover my car as well but I took the third option. I shift into 1st gear turn left and absolutely floor it hoping that either Outlaw will point downwards or the wall will suck the tyres in, either way rather I would be safe from a rollover.
Outlaw turns downwards kicking up sand and keeps heading straight down, my hands are clenching the steering wheel trying to keep the car straight and using the engine breaking technique to slow down so I don’t hit the base of the bowl head on. I keep thinking to radio in for [mention]Kals[/mention] to not to follow my tracks and to keep going straight but I can’t see if lenny made it across because and I’m too busy trying to find another way to climb back up the bowl without losing momentum or going sideways. I do a quick scan and turn left just before hitting base of the bowl then drive on the lower part of the bowl’s wall and use it as a sling shot to gain momentum and climb back up the bowl only to find that lenny safely made it across. I take a quick look at the wall behind us and I see kals had already started going down the wall following my tracks for which he got an earful from the inters and advance guys behind him. Sorry kals I never wanted to put you in a bad spot, but I had no other option.

We did have a stuck (not outlaw) which required a 2 car pull due to the angle of recovery but it was quite a learning experience as all the support crew got involved in it.

The convoy continued and after some time we reach a not so high but a sharp crested and sharp drop dune on the other side so [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] radios in to take it slow but I took it too slow and Outlaw had his first crested experience. Later we reached a spot where we saw inters, advance and marshals have fun on a gigantic climb. After which we drove some more and reached the end point

What can I say, every drive is better than the last one and the learning never stops.
Can’t wait to drive in Sweihan again.
See you in the sand.

[Petr]

Wow guys, it sounds like a lot of fun, I'm sorry I missed this one! I like the dramatic story [mention]Phoenix[/mention], I play it in my head as a action movie :)

[kriskian]

I was in the second convoy for my first drive in this area it was a good experience, hope to be back soon.
The level of the drive was fast and a bit technical and required good distance to be maintained between cars, as this was not followed we had toooooooo..... many second trys.
Another challenge was drivers not maintaining their position in the convoy and jumping places as per their wish I hoped the seniors noticed this and will give feedback
Marshal put the red beast fourth in the convoy this was new as every time the truck went over it flattened the track and lossened the sand but it was good experience to drive on chewed tracks at the tail of the convoy.
Thanks for the opportunity and experience overall good exposure and learning.

[alshamsi_m]

Hi everyone


As @Rashidjass mentioned in the trip opening, it is quite some time for some of us to go back to the SAND in love .

I couldn't bring my FJ to the drive so I brought one of my little boys " Jimmy ". THE best part of the drive was convincing Chris to test his car and once I got the steering wheel " I drove it Like I stole " in love . To my surprise I was able to convince Razan to check the car capability , well you know the rest " Drive it Like you stole it " grin .


We had a great day out there and looking forward to see you soon in sand.

Cheers

[Adam]

I love Sweihan. I haven't gone that route before and it's one I will remember. Soft, technical but still big enough for those long high climbs.

Daggerfall was leading, Barish and Agalon as advanced floats with myself sweeping at the rear. (I hope I haven't missed anyone)

We had a few 2nd try's and a couple of stucks but it's all part of the process. No real major issues to be honest. Thankfully no pop-outs as it was getting rather warm towards the end of the drive. I couldn't engage 4L and the reason turned out later to be a sheared cotter pin which holds the 4L. This was my first drive with 200kg less on the pickup and the result was amazing. The back was definitely livelier as Daggerfall mentioned.

See you on the sand!

Adam

[Mohamadahshan]

Fellow almosters,

When I saw that the meeting time was 07:00 am I prayed to make it on time since I landed in DXB 03:00 am the same morning.

I arrived just a few moments before the briefing was over. I was in convoy 1 led by @Rashidjass.

Fast paced drive, my first time in Sweihan, absolutely loved it. We had very few stops as the convoy drove pretty well.

I almost had a second try but managed to floor it and make it to the top of a dune.

Learnt the importance of a kill-switch and getting the right PSI as it does matter on higher speeds.

Thanks to the marshals and crew for all their support and such an amazing drive.

Every drive is better with Almost 4x4!

MD

[Saeed FJ]

hello, every one
it has been a long time for me to go back to sand (almost one month).
I was so excited for the drive in the area as it's one of the best areas to drive in.
In the way to meeting point i met [mention]hamzahng[/mention] , [mention]Phoenix[/mention] Solmaz and [mention]Agalon[/mention] in last petrol station and we continue to meeting point together.

when we reach I saw all the car was lined up in a beautiful way


after the attendance, we were split into 3 convoy
I was in convoy 3 lead by [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] , [mention]Yazan Ali[/mention] the second lead, I was sweeping and [mention]Solmaz[/mention] was floating.

we had a few stuck (nothing major) and finally, I had my rescue wink .

the track was smooth, and the drivers got introduced to side crest and we had a few second tries, all the driver did well.
my advice is in such area to maintain the distance and speed because both of them may lead you for second tries, stuck or more critical cases.

see you on the sand

[Daggerfall]

Hi Everybody,

It was a great day with fellow Almosters and thanks [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] for selecting this area.I believe it was a different experience for our Newbie members who had to tackle variety of challenges during the drive.

Every time you are exposed to a new challenge out of your comfort zone you will have the chance to see how good is your fundamental skills, where are your weak points and where you need to focus for improvement.

After a certain time of driving it became easier to tackle the dunes and keeping the correct distance in a slow paced (comparison to now) drive at a relatively familiar dune formations where you just need to pass a flat area which will be followed by a crest for the majority of the drive but how about in an area like this?

Where all different kind of bowls, walls, ditches, climbs mixed together with a faster paced drive. You will have to make multiple decisions in a very short time and apply combination of different techniques simultaneously while constantly communicating your situation to the convoy to make sure your and their safety!

Of course there will be some mistakes, stuck cars, second tries, struggle to keep the right distance (Not to short and not too long), some close calls, forgotten or lately done communications which we witnessed few of them during this drive and I believe everybody understood how important to apply those techniques you have learned and follow the safety rules since the tolerance for mistakes is getting smaller and smaller after every single drive when you are increasing your level. All in all the convoy moved fine in general with no major (Anything not expected) problems and all did good in general.

Regarding position changes during the drive mentioned previously, there was only one change done with our permit (Maybe we missed to announce it due to dealing with some situation) but you can always talk to our marshals if you face any issue during the drive.

Thanks to [mention]Agalon[/mention] [mention]Barish[/mention] [mention]Issa[/mention] [mention]Adam[/mention] [mention]Raja[/mention] and [mention]nabil_k[/mention] for watching over the convoy and support and hope all you guys enjoyed it.

See you next time and expect some new challenges cool !

grin

[Ismail]

Finally managed to make it happen. Available on a Friday and able to add myself on the trip too. That’s my miracle on the group.
Through out 6 years in the group this drive was one of the most fun drives with almost regarding the level of the drive.
Thanks for every one who contributed for that trip to happen.
Always good to see my almost family. Hope to see you soon again