Magneto

[Daggerfall]

Hi Almosters,

The temperature gauge was showing 42s however it didn't feel that harsh due to less humidity and nice breeze.The cars were also performing relatively better comparison to the hottest months of Summer. Cant wait for the cooler days.

I was with [mention]presa[/mention] and [mention]youssef.abdelhady[/mention]. Our leader gave us a nice mixture of technical drive at small dunes with soft sand and riding on the walls of mid size dunes.

The pace was good. Few stucks and second tries and our leader gave us a well thought track where all our members had chance to practice plenty of entry level side cresting and everyone did well and improved along the way.

As a reminder : While learning side cresting at this level, as mentioned in the briefing of the drive by [mention]presa[/mention] you need to focus on improving your speed control and approach angle (parallel as much as possible) to develop the right habits for a safe driving at higher level and faster drives where the outcome of mistakes will be bigger.

We finished the drive behind Nagra after playing around and drove through the sunset to our inflation point. The scene was beautiful.

Thanks to all organized , supported and participated. It was a lovely day at Sweihan and a good warm up before coming back again next week. cool

[presa]

Hi Almosters!

We had a pleasant weather and nice drive this afternoon.

We had two convoys, one lead by [mention]Scorpio[/mention] , with support marshals as [mention]Booy[/mention] and [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] , while the second was lead by Me and supported by [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] .

Intermediates and advances were present and very helpful in showing the correct technic and a only a few cases of rescue in our convoy.

As mentioned by [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] we played on the medium size dunes, climbing and coming down, did some nice wall riding and explored a technical area. We did a few side crests and the drivers were improving the technic, which will be important when driving at higher levels.

We drove amazing 65+km, considering ~10km while leaving Nagra and returning to the tarmac, where we were in rally mode, reaching 3 digits speed on a few moments ninja ninja ninja

I hope to see you all next week!

[Fat Rabbit]

Hello almosters,

After hearing about Sweihan for soooo long, finally, this was my first time driving here. It was absolutely amazing. Unspoilt vast desert with amazing dunes. Also my first 10+ drive :)

Thank you [mention]presa[/mention] for organising this drive. Also thank you for specifically mentioning in the PM that the place is a bit far, so start early. And also for specifically mentioning this is to improve soft sand driving skills.. so naturally more deflation did me well (about 8-9 PSI).

I was in the convoy with [mention]Scorpio[/mention] , [mention]Booy[/mention] and our guardian angel [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] . Thanks to the intermediates for helping and guiding too. Most appreciated. Constant guidance over the radio by [mention]Booy[/mention] was a confidence booster especially when someone got stuck. And thank you [mention]Scorpio[/mention] for all the advance "ditch" warnings too :)

I got crested once because I slowed down at the peak.. still need to overcome that fear of the unknown on the other side. Sorry I didnt get the name of the intermediate in the white FJ who pulled me out.. i was still coping with the embarrassment of getting crested. I know getting stuck is all part of the learning.

All in all, it was a fantastic drive, beautiful scenery and a nice sunset drive back to inflation point.

Looking forward to driving again very soon.

By the way, I love the size of the UAE flag on [mention]Bu Zayed[/mention] 's car. He said if the pole was any longer, it would look like a government building thumbsup

Some pics from the drive below.

[mquadros]

It was a very nice drive. As mentioned by Dagerfall and Presa we had the chance to do some smaller side crests and we got immediate feedback. Our convoy (Danilo's lead) was very smooth and had only a few second tries and recoveries,

The deserve is always beautiful but yesterday the pictures were nicer than usual. They are shown below.

Thanks for organizers, marshals and inters who were supporting us.

Marcos

[Phoenix]

It was a very nice drive. As mentioned by Dagerfall and Presa we had the chance to do some smaller side crests and we got immediate feedback. Our convoy (Danilo's lead) was very smooth and had only a few second tries and recoveries,

The deserve is always beautiful but yesterday the pictures were nicer than usual. They are shown below.

Thanks for organizers, marshals and inters who were supporting us.

Marcos

Hey [mention]mquadros[/mention],

Amazing pictures there just a quick note, you can add the images to your post by simply clicking on the button "add image to post" and the forum will give you the option of posting them in your post without going through the hassle of uploading attachments.


See you in the sand

[Scorpio]

Hello Everyone,

After the morning intermediate drive and half an hour of nap, I started seeing the newbies coming to the meeting point.

[mention]presa[/mention] has well explained about the convoy formation in his report already so I would skip it and would go straight to drive itself.

I had [mention]Rooies[/mention] as my 2nd lead and [mention]Bu Zayed[/mention] as the sweeper. The marshals, [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] and [mention]Booy[/mention] were keeping an eye on the whole convoy and provided guidance throughout the drive. We had a nice drive on some small and medium dunes and also tasted some of the big dunes as well. The convoy performed well and I would like to mention some of the points here:

• When you go to make an arch on a high dune and you feel that you can’t make to the top then don’t wait till the last moment; turn down and make a smaller arch to keep yourself safe

• Do the straight crest in a calculated way; calculate the right momentum enough to allow your vehicle front half to cross the crest and the rest will follow on its own

• Always watch the car in front of you closely and learn from it.

• Getting stuck is better than flying

In this drive, we introduced you with the concept of side cresting. We selected small dunes having flat surface on top to start with and practice. When you try to climb a dune at an angle (as compared to straight climb), the momentum and angle both are critical because:

• Low momentum will have you stopped at the side of the dune at an awkward angle

• Higher than required momentum will make you fly on the crest

• Wrong angle will either again make you fly on the crest or else you would struggle to reach to the crest itself

As a lead car, you need to take all the risks for the convoy safety. Thanks to Rashidjass for the pull when the Megatron got parked inside a ditch arr. . We took a short break at Naqra where intermediates played for a while and then we continued to do two high climbs behind Naqra yuush , before the exit.

Hope the drive allowed you to learn some new skills and help to improve your driving yet provided an opportunity to have some fun in the sand too. Thanks to Rooies for being the attentive second lead and Bu Zayed for making sure to keep the convoy intact. Hats off to Booy and Rashidjass for their expert advices and continued guidance to keep everyone safe.

Hope to see you soon in the coming drives…

Cheers!

[Christiaan]

Good morning All.

Again we had a unbelievable drive in the Sweihan area. [mention]presa[/mention] sent the meeting point on Thursday night and mentioned its a bit far. The drive to the meeting point was very nice and upon reaching the point some members were there already from the morning drive. It was quite and looked like everyone was enjoying their nap.

We got split into two convoys and I was in [mention]presa[/mention] convoy with [mention]Johanna[/mention] being our second lead. We started the drive and [mention]kriskian[/mention] 's FJ had some trouble with the belt. [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] helped him to get out to the road and we kept on going.

The dunes was beautiful and we had a wonderful drive. Some nice side cresting and trying to keep the convoy flowing was on the order for the day. Getting parallel with the dune and staying on top for a while was the message when we took a break.

We stopped at Nagrah hill and watched the more experienced guys (and girl) play on the big dune.
As we were driving out the sun was setting and the view was spectacular.

Thanks for the wonderful drive and all the info and tips we receive every time we are out there.

[Alexandar]

Sweihan… one of the best areas you where you can learn & play in. Presa said that this is his favorite area to play in. I will join him in this and agree its my favorite area as well. What a beautiful area!

The temperature gauge showed 42 degrees, till around 1630 on fire . It was just so hot. I really want the cooler months to come by fast.

I was in Presa's convoy and was in the middle of the pack. I think towards the beginning of the drive I was not fully focused yet as I was just admiring the surrounding dunes. This drive involved a lot of controlled ridge riding & side cresting.

The track lines were great which made the pace good as the convoy got into the rhythm. There weren’t too many 2nd tries or stucks.

As we stopped at Nagra Hill, some of the drivers tried to climb. The tracks on Nagra were very bumpy & the drivers put on a jumping show for us. Psmiley

We finished behind Nagra at the Lone Tree. Since there was no sign of the second convoy ,we headed out into the sunset. cool

Thank you Presa for organizing this trip, Marshalls & intermediates for the support.

Looking forward to driving in this area again with all of you.

[Bu Zayed]

Hello Almosters,

Thanks [mention]presa[/mention] for organising the drive.

So after finishing the hyper morning drive with [mention]Barish[/mention] and after the Mandi with the team, I managed to get 30min nap before the cars started to gather for the drive.

We had a nice wind and [mention]presa[/mention] took the attendance and gave us a nice brief of how to tackle side crest safely. He then split us into two convoys.

My convoy was lead by [mention]Scorpio[/mention] along with [mention]Booy[/mention] and [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] floating. I was the sweeper.

My position in the convoy was just perfect as it allowed me to take it easy after the morning drive and gave me a wide view of the convoy which looks better on my GoPro :-p

The driver in the convoy were good and managed to pass all the terrains [mention]Scorpio[/mention] put them through. We of course had some 2nd tries and recoveries and that's just part of the game.

During the drive scorpio took us to Nagra dune (Old lady dune) for the intermediates to play, but the surface at the bottom of the dune and in the middle was so bumpy making the car lose momentum and changes gear when all the 4 wheels are in the air. 2 min after playing on the dune, another convoy approached and started to play on the dune as well making it crowded.

We then did a high climb which revealed a beautiful view of the sun set and here is an image of it below. I wished we had the time to stop there and enjoy the view but we were running out of time and sunlight.

We then finished the drive at the starting point where I remembered my last All lead drive and the issue I had with the fuel:-p

All in all, it was a full day of sand and drive made me full of happiness and out of power.

Thanks [mention]presa[/mention] , [mention]Scorpio[/mention] for the nice drive and and thanks to all our newbies as well and hope to see u all in the next drives. See you on the sand.

[Johanna]

Good morning everyone,

this drive I joined [mention]presa[/mention] as his second lead in the beautiful Sweihan area.

[mention]presa[/mention] gave a detailed briefing on how to side crest in a safe way and how to ensure a nice flow in the convoy so that cars will not pile up before every obstacle.

We started with some easy arches safari-style for warming up and the leading car gradually increased the pace and level. Our drivers had the chance to train the side crest techniques whenever [mention]presa[/mention] could find a suitable dune. Climbs were getting steeper and arches higher on our way to Nagra dune.

The convoy did very well and we had a good flow with just a few second tries. Well done guys thumbsup

Intermediates had the chance to play at the Nagra dune but unfortuentley I was already short in fuel... But I couldn't resist and played a few rounds in love

This was probably the best part of the day as I found a not too bumpy line and I was able to cross to the left side of the dune, doing a high arch and come back. It was sooo good grin

We finished the drive at the lonely tree at sunset, this scenery was amazing. I arrived at the tarmac with my fuel light already on, but I made it with the last drops of fuel to the nearest petrol station. cool

It was a beautiful day with Almost, I enjoyed two amazing drives in one of my favorite areas with great company. Thank you all so much for this great Friday.

See you all in the sand