Gravity

[Johanna]

Good Morning Almosters,

it was the first time that we had two intermediate convoys as far as I remember.

We met early at 7 in Al Faqah, I well known area for most of us I believe. It is great area to polish all the skills we learned so far - side cresting over different shapes of dune, driving safely on side slops and dealing with ditches and bushes.

I was assigned as second lead driving behind [mention]Scorpio[/mention]. It was my first time as second lead in an intermediate drive, so I was a bit nervous, hoping to do a good job. confident!

One of our convoy rules say "always follow the second lead", so in order not to endanger the convoy, you have to strongly focus on the following:

- correct distance is essential
- listen carefully to the radio
- keep in mind everyone follows you when adjusting the track
- make quick and safe decisions when adjusting the track
- watch the leading car carefully

We started with an easy warm up, so I had some time to get familiar with [mention]Scorpio[/mention] leading style.
The drive was a technical one and I believe a good exercise for all of us. After the warm up Scorpio gave us the full side crest package with all variations you can find in the area. In addition to that we had to deal with bushes and ditches in the area. I think I gave my poor suspensions some hits and jumps to deal with Psmiley

It happened that could not follow [mention]Scorpio[/mention] line with the Patrol and I had to slightly adjust it, quickly evaluating and make the correct decision:

- Usually I have to turn down earlier while riding on top of a crest, as I have less clearance and a higher risk to get stuck on top of it.
- Also I have to straighten my approach line to a crest a bit as my front is very heavy and pulls me down. The weight in the front also makes it hard to stay on side slops, you need to master the throttle to keep the car on the wall.

As [mention]Isfand[/mention] said to me this drive: "If you can handle a Patrol, you can handle every other car too." I dont have enough experience to agree with that, but he might be right Psmiley
In the middle of the drive I was more or less happy with my performance - beside some second tries due to wrong lines- I did not have any issues- and then…. pop out TT TT because of a rookie mistake (sharp turn). Thanks to helping hands it got fixed easily, thanks everyone.

As I tend to overcompensate my mistakes, especially stupid ones, I postponed destructive thoughts and feelings about this incident to after the drive. This tactic worked well, it stills bothers me XD

While the temperature was climbing the visibility got poorer. Sand was flying on the crests and with the sun rising higher the contrasts got less and less visible.
The last hour I could barely see Scorpios exact tracks so I had to make some educated guesses, also the crest was hard to see, so Scorpio tried to avoid side crests.

Dont get me wrong here, it may sound that I was stressed out. It was straining, but I had a great time with all of you. I truly believe that its impossible to have a bad day in the desert cool

It was a great lecture, I learned a lot this drive, thanks @Scorpio for assigning me second lead and by the way - great lead thumbsup and thanks to @Booy for showing us the Marshals time travel skills and keep the convoy safe.

See you all soon in the sand have a nice day

[Saeed FJ]

Hello every one
morning when i was in my way i thought this area will be a relax morning drive compering to swihan and other area which it has very hight dune, well i was verry wrong.

i was on [mention]Agalon[/mention] convoy, the whither was windy which makes it harder to read the dune.

the drive for me it has 3 part:

-1st i was in the first half of the convoy while [mention]kareem.alameldin[/mention] was the 2nd lead, once we start immediatly [mention]Agalon[/mention] slab us in face with no worming, climbing side crest and safe sloping, and i start to recognize what the other Jeepers they where saying that there is a difference in jeep and FJ lines during approaching the dune and the crests.

-2nd part after Kareem has issue whit his wheel alignment i was appointed as 2nd lead, here is start to know and understand how is the different between jeep and FJ for approaching the dune and do the crest especially the jeep in the head is shorter than FJ, in this case i hade to manage my self to slightly change the approaching angle for the dune to match with FJ's and i was so happy to drive as 2nd lead with this very fast drive, till [mention]Yazan Ali[/mention] try to thrilling [mention]Agalon[/mention] and here where the 3rd part start

-3rd part where [mention]Yazan Ali[/mention] were appointed as 2nd lead and i was behind him and we continue rocking till the end of the drive.

thanks [mention]Booy[/mention] for orgnizing the drive [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] for supporing and the nice picture (i'm still waiting the video for NO Pain No Gain drive), [mention]Agalon[/mention] for the amazing track and very well lead [mention]Scorpio[/mention] for leading the second convoy and all the member to make it happens.

till next time stay safe
see you on the sand

[Rooies]

It was Friday, the 8th day of the week, drive day.

The Patrol had some brand new running shoes & I was looking forward to see how they performed. We reached the meeting point & went through the drills. I deflated to 10psi, the tire was bulging quite a bit, more than the BF's OSMILEY .

The rest of the convoyed arrived & soon it was time for the briefing. We were split into 2 convoys, I was in [mention]Agalon[/mention] convoy. Myself & [mention]Issa[/mention] had new shoes on our cars, I was at the back just infront of [mention]giorgio[/mention] sweeping & [mention]Issa[/mention] was not to far ahead of me.

We headed towards the dunes & the pace was nice & fast, from the first dune I could feel the new tires made a big difference, even my passenger said so ORLY . I was looking at [mention]Issa[/mention] , he was sliding & drifting & when we stopped I asked him if he was driving in 4wd, he checked & confirmed that he was not, maybe the combination of new engine & tires.

We continued on the track with [mention]Agalon[/mention] testing our skills. The Coopers really makes a big difference & I was much more relaxed & enjoying the drive, so relaxed that some places I did not have enough speed or momentum to go up the dune. Driving on the side of the dune was enjoyable, not more fighting to stay there.

The wind started picking up & some places it was difficult to see the track, but we managed to stay on it. We went down a sharp dune & a big grass patch tripped me & i had a pop out dark mood . In a few minutes it was sorted & we back on the track again.

Thank you [mention]Booy[/mention] for organizing the drive & [mention]Agalon[/mention] for leading our convoy.

My personal opinion is that the Cooper AT3's are very nice & makes a big difference to driving in the sand.

Till we meet again in the sand, stay safe.

Greetings
Rooies

[Yazan Ali]

Hello Almosters,

As usual amazing trip, but this time with our Explorers leading.

Marshalls split the cars to 2 convoy, 1st convoy lead by [mention]Scorpio[/mention] and the 2nd convoy was led by [mention]Agalon[/mention] , our convoy was lead by [mention]Agalon[/mention] with [mention]kareem.alameldin[/mention] as the 2nd lead, to be honest it’s not easy to follow the Jeep with the same truck specially that the leader is Turkey driver ninja . we have couple of 2nd try but unfortunately [mention]kareem.alameldin[/mention] has a technical issue with his car, then [mention]Saeed FJ[/mention] were in 2nd lead for like almost 1 hours, my car got crested and I was able to do self-recovery with challenging cool some jeeper guys, I said one world dark mood its caused me to be the 2nd lead melt for the last part of the drive but I was happy and I accept the challenge and we drove behind [mention]Agalon[/mention]

All was good smooth no major issue normal stuck with pop out and crested cars but we have fun drive and we finish the drive on time.

We missed [mention]Abu Odai[/mention] since he were in the newbie convoy to avoid [mention]Daggerfall[/mention] penalty

Thanks for [mention]Booy[/mention] for organizing the trip, thanks [mention]Agalon[/mention] n for the drive and [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] for support and amazing picture

See you soon.

[Booy]

Hello everyone,

Thank you for the good trip reports.

Our explorers did very well on Friday, and it is nice to see that they provided everyone with a good challenge.

Summer is here, but we won't stop driving. Get ready for more early morning and late afternoon adventures.

See you on Friday.

Regards,

Booy

[RubiKhan90]

Hello Fellow Almosters,

I was returning back on the sand after almost a month and what better way than to join an intermediate drive. Thank You [mention]Booy[/mention] and [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] for arranging a 2nd convoy for us guys in the waiting list!

I was the 4th car in the convoy behind [mention]Isfand[/mention] and infront of [mention]rapailo[/mention] . Our convoy was led by [mention]Scorpio[/mention] with Bouy floating with a watchful eye. I will admit that I was exhausted after 1.5 hours into the drive which lead to me having lapses in focus and making silly errors for the rest of the 2.5hrs. The heat definitely got the best of me but I was surprised that my car was not heating up. Halfway thru the drive I turned my AC on to check if that would affect the temperature but things seemed good. My water temperature did rise to 116'C at one or two points but the car cooled down instantly.

The drive was a lot of fun and Scorpio kept us on the edge of our seats - waiting for what was ahead of us. I saw Scorpio climb some steep dunes and thought to myself "no effing way" OSMILEY . Using the right line, power and momentum I was able to climb those dunes sometimes with ease and sometimes with well.....there were several incidents where I attempted 2nd tries. My buddy Isfand has 2 stucks and Bouy took the lead to recover him as the recovery was a bit tricky.

Half way into the drive my air filter clogged up and I felt loss in power in my car. Jeep mechanic [mention]Thiago[/mention] and I managed to clean the airbox and the filter and the car was ready for more.

Thanks Booy for pointing out that I was fighting gravity at several climbs. Jeeps & fighting gravity NEVER ends on the right side up :lol: . I made sure to keep reminding myself that this drive is designed for us to learn on how to tackle dunes and if you can not make it, no shame in trying for the 2nd time. Personally, the drive was not only a great learning experience in terms of driving skills but also to train the mind to keep your focus for longer spans of time.


Thank you Scorpio, Booy, Rashid & [mention]Agalon[/mention] for arranging/leading this drive. It was truly a friday well spent!

Until next time... see you guys on the sand.

[Youssef.Abdelhady]

Hey Almosters,

Since summer is in, meeting time is quite early, but you don't wake up grumpy when its drive day. in love

Reached the meeting point a little early and then all the familiar faces started to arrive, this time more faces than usual since it was a two convoy inter drive.

I was in [mention]Agalon[/mention]'s convoy; I had some kind of expectation of his driving style based on the (somewhat) recent All Lead.

Agalon took us way out of our comfort zone though we were driving in a familiar area.The track was fantastic with non-stop high speed sidecresting which definitely helped perfect the required skills of this level. One thing I enjoyed in particular was riding the crest tips, which tests and improves the control you have over your car.

Though I very much enjoyed the drive, I must admit , following a short wheel base jeep in an FJ is a very painful experience. ouch...it hurts


Looking forward to more inter leads by [mention]Agalon[/mention]. Thank you [mention]Booy[/mention] , [mention]Rashidjass[/mention] & [mention]Scorpio[/mention] for organizing and supporting.



See you all soon. pacman