May 1st

[Orsomucca]

Ready to start the topic!

Amazing wake up at 4.45 (I'm dreaming to live in a country where the sun rise around 9AM, in order to enjoy a proper sleep before desert trips!) and leaving home with the feeling of someting forgotten at home but...who knows what? at 5.45 I pick up some friends who wanted to see the desert and ready 6.30 sharp at the meeting point. Nice chit chat and I saw Momo installing the flagpole... DADAAAAN here what i forgot at home! Marshals were very nice and allowed me in even if at the end of the convoy.

We start, just at the beginning a quite technical passage and somebody got stuck (probably for wrong tire pressure). when it was my turn I passed but with a lot of effort and really minimum traction, even if the tire pressure was correct. At that point I realised I was in RWD! since I engaged the 4H no issues at all.
From my previous trip i learned to use more 1st gear and the drive, even if less smooth was much more effective

The convoy was behaving very well, with just few stucks. When we reached Pink Rock I had to go back to the main road because one of my passenger was suffering the drive.

The trip was nice, quite easy and not very fast but everybody performed well with just few stucks and a perfect convoy

thanks to all, especially [MENTION=27]alshamsi_m[/MENTION] for the usual support and for leading back to the main road

see you soon on the sand!

[alshamsi_m]

Hi Everyone

Well I think by now I can say that summer is coming soon !! I arrived at the meeting point seen that Hamdan & Zico were already in the meeting point. Hamdan took the lead and gave us a very nice safari route, You might think that it was easy but then considering the weather temperate I think that he gave us the right track ... Thanks [MENTION=59]Hamdan[/MENTION].


When we reached the Pink Rock [MENTION=8779]yboi[/MENTION] discovered that his front plant number was gone So I decided to go in search and recover mission. Since we have enough people to support Hamdan in his convoy. Usually, I keep my GPS on off-road mode because it records the track so I can revers it if I want to drive back but since I'm driving in a familiar area I was thinking " What is the need ?". I was thinking it would be easy to drive back but I found that there are TOO MANY TRACKS :slow: " Welcome to Al Baddayer " :melt: I drove back to the convoy and asked [MENTION=8718]momo[/MENTION] to give me his GPS, while driving the track back I realized that HAMDAN gave us a long route to the pink rock :ORLY:.

Unfortunately , Mission failed and I couldn't find the Plate but I learned a lesson that no matter how easy is the area " KEEP YOUR GPS TRACKING ON" you never know when you will need it. :you're kidding, rig


Thank you all, looking forward to see you in the sand ................ TATA :blank:

[Barish]

It was another amazing and challenging trip with Almost. Each drive is a lessons learnt for me but this drive especially was important for me to get used to my new JK, performance, functions, reactions and correct tire pressure. Thanks to all for their usual supports and knowledge sharing.

See all soon and looking fwd to next drive..!

[hamzahng]

I never expected that I will ever be driving in the dessert in the hot weather, but I did. It was an amazing ride, with an amazing convoy and marshals. I am sure that everyone who attended the convoy knows my name now and I am sorry for all of the delays guys. but after 2 hours of driving I started to lose focus, and thus have proven that the Pajero will give you headaches in the sand. but nevertheless I still stand by my Pajero (The White Beast) it is an awesome car for the dessert, but the driver (me) failed it :059:.

As Abu Tarik told me you have to bond with the car, feel it, and understand it, so it will run smoothly and help you with all of your trips. Abu Tarik, Your guidance is just amazing, and priceless.


As for the Trip, the track was not easy, but not that hard. it was fun, and gave us a good experience on small and medium dunes. lots of 1st gears were required, but I am sure that with more experience you can get the dunes on 2nd Gear. the pink rock hill was just amazing. I really enjoyed it, but watch out for the rocks, because you might hit one.

[IMG]http://www.almost4x4.com/vb/attachment. ... 2422&stc=1[/IMG]

This is a picture of the Pink Rock after we left it.


after we passed the Pink rock we stopped because @Orsomucca had to leave home because one of his passengers was not feeling well. So we stopped for 15 Minutes, where we got to know each other. after that we were again driving through the vast dessert. there was one dune that I mastered not passing it. I had like 5 tries before Abu Tarik told me to come to him and then he got in me car to see what was the problem. ( I care too much about not damaging my car). after we figured it out he told me to climb on a dune where I got dead stuck, and had to be recovered. thank you @hoockey.
[IMG]http://www.almost4x4.com/vb/attachment. ... 2420&stc=1[/IMG]

[IMG]http://www.almost4x4.com/vb/attachment. ... 2421&stc=1[/IMG]


in a sum, It was an amazing trip, People were friendly, and I made some action.

[MENTION=8718]momo[/MENTION] and [MENTION=9783]Daggerfall[/MENTION], I am still waiting for the pictures and I will give the winner of the best picture of my car the prize of sharing the photo everywhere and put it as a Profile Picture. :grin::XD::048::048:

[yboi]

Thank you [MENTION=59]Hamdan[/MENTION] for organising and leading the trip. Also big thanks to marshals and advanced drivers that provided support during the trip.
The drive was nice and moderately paced for the skill level of the drivers. Some minor stucks and crestings, most were self-recovered from what I could see. There was a training pull of a crested 4x4 where marshals laid out some safety points to consider when pulling a crested vehicle.
As [MENTION=27]alshamsi_m[/MENTION] mentioned, I’ve lost my number plate, which was fixed with cable ties after a non-desert related parking accident. Sorry for the trouble [MENTION=27]alshamsi_m[/MENTION] and thanks for trying to find it, I own you 6AED, as promised, 1st instalment when I see you next time :). For those who might find themselves in the unfortunate situation in the future, if you’re registered in Dubai and you only lost one plate out of two, there is no need to go to police, just drive to RTA directly (open Fridays too) and get the replacement which only costs 25AED (for the short plate).


Some photos: https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/1181 ... 4127851425

[momo]

Hi all :redface:

After a heavy breakfast at 05:45 I was constantly watching the ETA to the meeting point to offer myself a good tea. By the time (after a heavy meal) I felt sleepy, so the tea plan was changed to a coffee , see how difficult is to predict the future :005:.

We deflated tires at Tawi Nazwa Shops and got the drive briefing as well as receiving our cars positions. We started at a slow pace then we had to rescue one of our fellow members hundreds of meters ahead from the start point... Then suddenly appeared in the middle of the desert a student with a nice back bag and hat :005: I personally didn't saw him but @alshamsi_m did... I guess that student is learning something out there :ORLY: So the rescue took a bit of time but then we went further drawing nice snacky track crossing the small and medium dunes of Al Badayer, all in all nice drive with nice people!

As mentioned by @alshamsi_m, @Hamdan stretched the route from Nazwa to Pink Rock which I loved, demonstrating how we can have fun between a starting point approx. 5km away only from Pink Rock.

Thank you [MENTION=8779]yboi[/MENTION] for the nice pictures!

Photos thing:
I used to take a lot of photos during desert trips, but sometimes my camera is not with me or memory cards are forgotten or whatever... So please don't count on me all the time to get nice photo and get your gears with you. :smug:

Second and the most important :eagerness:, please don't leave the convoy for any reason without taking permission from your trip Leader/Organiser (including for taking photos). If you leave the convoy, you will endanger your self either because you place your car in a low terrain and became not visible to others, or you might follow a route where you fall in a ditch or hit a rock, or you place your car where rescue team and marshals don't expect you to be there and therefore you jeopardize your self and others.
So please don't leave the convoy because momo take pictures.. The more you drive with the club the more you will have nice pictures without even asking for it :045:

Wishing you all safety and fun while driving.

Voilà, it was a pleasure to drive again with almost4x4, thank you @Hamdan and the club committee for your time and hope to see you soon.

Regards to all,

[Daggerfall]

Dear All,

Thanks to the organizers and all participants.

It was a nice relaxing morning ride with fellow off roaders. It seems like the number of Pajero gang members in our club is increasing :)

It was an easy track with nice scenes on the way I enjoyed it but you should always remain focused on the desert since accidents might happen in seconds, some are unforgiving. Even if you are stopped, you should watch carefully the others especially while they are approaching you from the upper side of the dune so you can avoid accidents.

The cars does not go straight while you are driving on the side of the dune so you should calculate the slippage and keep more distance with other cars on your way or better respect to the convoy rules (keeping safe distance and no overtaking while second tries) you wont find your self or the other car in those kind of risky situations.

@hamzahng I didnt have chance to check the pictures I took during the trip. Hope I can find a good one for you.

Hope to see you guys soon

Regards

[Arabasque]

Dear All,

Last Friday we enjoyed another very nice drive with Almost4x4. Thanks [MENTION=59]Hamdan[/MENTION] for drawing a very nice route for us.

It was very good experience to drive together with other Pajeros following [MENTION=1593]Melfi[/MENTION] who was doing the second lead.

It is very rewarding to see how our confidence builds up with each drive, and I could see that feeling in myself and also in other members.

I put into practice some of the lessons learned from the club and especially one sentence that I listened from [MENTION=27]alshamsi_m[/MENTION] “be tough with the engine and gentle with the tires”

I would like to accentuate some points highlighted by [MENTION=8718]momo[/MENTION] and [MENTION=9783]Daggerfall[/MENTION] regarding safety, which is the main and foremost concern of the Club. Respecting the rules and the instructions given by the Marshals notably increases the safety of all of us and it can be of vital importance to adhere to them. At the same time, proper safety distance, especially on the side dunes where our car can slide and hit other cars, is also an important point to consider.

Last but not least it was nice to see the rescue of [MENTION=8658]hamzahng[/MENTION] Pajero by [MENTION=3678]Hockey[/MENTION] coordinated with [MENTION=22]zico[/MENTION] and with the theoretical part nicely explained by @Hamza on the sand.

Thanks to All and especial thanks to the Organizers and Marshals for your dedication and patience with the rest of us.

Looking forward to seeing you soon in the sand!!! Have a great week ahead!!!

[Arabasque]

In my previous post I was referring to the rescue of @hamzahng Pajero by @Hockey coordinated with @zico and with the theoretical part nicely explained by @Hamza on the sand.

I have uploaded a video showing the rescue of the crested Pajero that you can watch in the following link: https://youtu.be/zM4HUMrVLeA

[Daggerfall]

Here you can find some photos

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ndhvafgqi62e ... mByia?dl=0