Chase the Sunset III

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Petr
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On Friday I finished my last meeting in Dammam at 12 pm and finally it felt like a weekend, although I yet had to fly back to Dubai, get home, pack my camping stuff, make some shopping and finally hit the road. I arrived to the camp 20 past midnight, but still some last of the Mohicans were sitting around the fire and grilling some meat. I did some chit chat but since I woke up at 4 pm, and knowing the drive in Liwa is a day-long exhausting trip, I rushed soon to find a quiet place to sleep.

This time I didn't bring my tent, instead I was going to test sleeping on a camping bed that [mention]Phoenix[/mention] bought for me at ACE (thanks buddy - I still owe you some cash I know). I was rewarded by a breathtaking view on the starry skies, which made me keep my glasses on my nose till I nearly fell asleep. Some observation of the differences from sleeping in a tent:
- the bed is softer than sleeping on the sand with self-inflatable mattress. It is more comfortable.
- next time I will not mount on the poles on the car roof - the wind flattered the flags and the noise was a bit disturbing.
- although it was pleasantly warm when I was going to bed, the drop of the temperature in combination with wind made me to get up and bring a warmer sleeping bag. The one rated till 15 deg C was not enough. I remember first time in Liwa in last December, the temperature went down to 8 deg and even my thicker bag wouldn't be enough in winter, a thing to keep in mind for next trips there.

In the morning we met for breakfast and at 8 we already lined up our convoy under [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] amsi leadership. We drove an expedition style - not very technical, relatively easy dunes with long and fast segments of sabkha, and interesting steep drops from high dunes, with aim to get to the famous big drop.

Our plans were altered by the army who helped us to get to a safer distance from the border. We ended up in a place with a high drop, but this was the last dune Bu Salem's FJ could climb, as his engine developed some problems. We drove down the slope ans stayed a while to play climbing it back up. Then We said goodbye to our founder and [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] rfall took us back to sand to extend our stay before finishing the day. Suddenly the experience changed - the driving became more technical and challenging and people started to struggle as the combination of a long drive, soft sand and short sleeps came to charge the tax. I had to make a second try, some people got stuck and some made wrong decisions when the convoy had to stop, putting them in a dangerous situations. Daggerfall called us then for a short briefing to reinforce the discipline. He stressed that Liwa is a dangerous place - there is no one to rescue us and we can easily spend another night around should something unexpected happen. Then we drove again for a while but soon he realized it is better to wrap up the day safe considering our fatigue and made the right decision to end the day.

We are all grateful to [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] and the the whole support team [mention]Booy[/mention], [mention]Daggerfall[/mention], [mention]giorgio[/mention], [mention]Issa[/mention] to be able to see lovely Liwa again!
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Barish
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It is Liwa and not much required to tell but you need to experience it only. Thats the reason i guess we drive all the way without any complains 3-4 hours just to reach, but all your way tiredness is gone when you find yourself under the Liwa stars...Then you drive the whole day in the Liwa desert and drive back to home with all that tired again. I am thinking now what else can push me to have such a tiredful 24hrs.

We have some key take aways from Liwa drive;
1) Radio comm
2) No over take in newbie drives
3) Driving distance
4) Dont create your own track

I would like to thank [mention]alshamsi_m[/mention] for organizing another amazing Liwa day and all marshalls, support team and drivers to make it happen.

Keep improving while you are chging; however, in Liwa only chging can be allowed without improving.. grin

Barish
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Rooies
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It seemed the week would never come to an end so that we could head to Liwa, eventually it was Thursday & time for Liwa.

I met up with @Jock & Giorgio & we made our little convoy to Liwa. The road was good & the speed kept under the radar. We reached the town before the camp, filled cars & jerrycans & headed to the camp site.

We headed into the desert towards the campsite & I nearly got stuck, but made it out. We stopped at the campsite & greeted everybody. Optimus & Phoenix did the barbecue & fed everybody.

I did some scouting & found a "good" spot to sleep grin . To my surprise it was not a good spot, because my fellow drivers nearly drove over me when they headed to the camp. The next morning I woke up to find some tracks around me.

Friday morning we had breakfast & briefing & then it was time to head to the dunes. Shamsi was lead & soon we were on the flats & headed to the big dunes at breakneck speed have a nice day . The dunes are awesome as described by all the people that have been to Liwa before. I was 4th in the convoy behind @Kareem. The going was good with not to many problems, I adjusted my following distance that helped to get over the dunes. We headed to some more technical dunes which was a lot of fun. Then we got to a BIG dune OSMILEY , Shamsi showed us how to do it, but its easier said than done, but I managed to clear the dune without any problems. We were still driving when Shamsi said "Booy, I think we have a wall". My first wall, but with the guidance of Shamsi we all made it safely dow. Then the bad news, Shamsi broke an engine mounting & was out of the drive.

We headed to flatter area to get out & everyone knows what happened next.

Later we ended up at Moreeb dune & Daggerfall took us further to go play in the dunes. Again the dunes did not let us down, big & nice. We had a few technical problems but nothing serious. I got stuck in a bowl for a while, but with the help of Daggerfall got out again without having to be recovered. We played a little bit more & then it was time to go home.

We all inflated, greeted each other & headed home.

It was my first time in Liwa & was not disappointed, looking forward to going back someday again. Thank you for everybody that organised the trip & all the marshals, advance & inters that made sure we get out of the desert safely.

Till we meet again in the sand, take care my friend.

Greeting
Rooies
Nobody Gets Left Behind
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