TWINKLE STARS - TRIP REPORT

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Phoenix
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Please post trip reports for theTWINKLE STARSdrive here.
Adventurous League of Mountains, Oceans and Sand Thrills
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presa
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Hi Almosters!

We had a very pleasant drive this Friday morning with an amazing weather.

There were two convoys, one lead by myself, while the other was lead by @Daggerfall . I had @Rashidjass, @giorgio , @Jasper , @Defragmantor with me.

@alshamsi_m was floating with @Daggerfall supported by @Youssef.Abdelhady , @Johanna , @optimus and @AMounir .

I had 4 pajeros in my convoy, while daggerfall had two trucks on his.

Most members were doing their first drive as newbies with Almost4x4 and did very good, focusing on radio communication and distance!

Hope to see you all on next weekend!
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Mehdi
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Hi all,

Happy to have found some people I met the previous week... but also to meet new people such as other supervisory members, and news friends of adventure.

Let's get to the heart of the matter now: pacman
For a first outing as "newbie" I can only warmly thank our guardian angels who assisted us throughout the all morning :
- I thank the marshall @presa who organised this desert trip for all of us.
- Thank all the members whoever they are (giorgio, Rashidjass, as Jasper , and Defragmantor )...
Some of you came to our aid, and rescues directly, some gave us good advices, others encouraged us when necessary, and that with your good mood.
I also appreciated the briefings during the course, when the occasion was.I like the professionalism, and the availability of the coaching, from anyone.

My feeling?
Many mistakes to start with...which keeps me humble in front of nature! My front bumper kept a record of it... TT TT
May you think that I'll run away from you now? Not at all, I will come back, with my pajero . Psmiley

Ladies and Gentlemen, it was a pleasure. cool
Last edited by Mehdi on Sun Feb 09, 2020 7:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
kind regards,
Mehdi (MZZ)
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AdamW
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Hi All,

At the beginning I am sorry but I am not good in writing the essays.

Many thanks to @presa for orginizing the ride ( plus the coffee which was great:-)) and all Marshalls together with Intermediate/Advanced team for great support! It was amazing ride with great People. Learned a lot!

Thank you for great time and see you on the sand!
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giorgio
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TWINKLE STARS

As always after a CM drive the first Friday is dedicated to the new comers. The selected area is well know to the older drivers for it's medium size dunes. It is an excellent place to practice steep climbs followed by moderate drops.

The organizer and lead car @presa put a nice track together jumping from on climb to the next giving the opportunity to the drivers to practice again and again approaching a climb execute the crest and perform the decent.

Areas that the drivers needed to focus on this drive were:

a) Radio communication by indicating that they have cleared the obstacle and the next car in line can follow. In this terrain where the dunes are higher than the usual, the flag of the car in the front after cresting it is out of site so calling that the car has cleared the obstacle is of high importance. The drivers on the majority of the crests maintained good communication with the exception of when there were recoveries and second tries where they were dropping the ball on calling the clear on the radio.

b) Throttle control during the ascent: The higher you climb the more challenging it gets to beat the fear of the unknown factor of what is on the other side.  This is a normal generated fear that is only going to go away while keeping in mind couple of things:
i) Trust the Marshals
ii) listen to the briefing instructions before the drive and the ad-hock technical workshops during the drive.
iii) Don't let yourself get frustrated when you fail. Practice makes perfect. We all have been where you are today and we all made the same mistakes over and over again. Only by coming to the drives and practicing we managed to improve and overcome our fears.

c) Descending the Dune:  That is the last piece of the puzzle in completing the straight crest exercise. This part for some drivers comes easy but harder for others. It is important to never underestimate this part of the exercise as it is the most difficult and dangerous one. Always after crossing to the other side, keep your steering straight with your front wheels point straight down the crest and control your speed with applying gradually your breaks till you reach the bottom.

d) Do not fight gravity:   This is an exercise that you will be practicing for a long of time so the earlier you understand this concept the safer your drive will be.

To close my report I would like to thank the organizer and lead car @presa as well as the supporting team @Defragmantor and @Jasper

I am looking forward to seeing you all again on the upcoming drives. Until then drive safe.   
Last edited by Phoenix on Sun Feb 09, 2020 10:10 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Spellchecked
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Chris1101
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Hi Almosters!

This day started out for us at 6am, double checked equipment and the cars health before moving on.

A long 70km drive to the meet point from our home, Encountered a bit of a fog on the hi way enroute to Al Ain that significantly slowed us down. Thinking that everybody would be late due to the fog, I called @presa to mention about running a bit late of schedule, was advised to keep safe and that they would be waiting for us. Once arrived at the meeting point, to my surprise, almost all of our prompt Marshalls and members were already deflated flags on ready! Just what you would expect from the leaders.

Before briefing started, familiar faces and cars popped out to meet and greet. It was nice to see them and get acquainted again @Tomvanhouten and @presa , and after years of not seeing him, of course @alshamsi_m.

after briefing, I was assigned to convoy 2 lead by @Daggerfall. We were instructed to follow the black FJ cruiser that had 2 flags which seemed like wings that are ready to fly! got a bit hesitant XD . Al lined up and ready, heard the marshalls talking over the radio,@alshamsi_m advised our lead @Daggerfall that we had 2 long trucks in our convoy, he replied "no worries, I will be nice". felt a sense of comfort there Psmiley .

Moving on, our marshalls lead us to the most amazing dunes of the area, lots of drops, small and big bowls,quick turns, and a mix and match of different terrains and speeds. It was certain that @Daggerfall wanted us newbies to try out everything on the dirt today. Constant safety reminders and assistance given by @alshamsi_m, making everybody realize that the groups main priority is "safety first", not to mention all of his impromptu jokes on the radio :).
As the trip goes on, a few stops here and there to recover and guide other members, my daughter admired one certain car and driver, saying...hey Dad, whos was that car always pulling other cars that gets stuck? and always going around watching everybody? I told her it's @Johanna, she replied, "A girl? wow i wanna be like her!" I told her to go and meet her again and ask her how when she gets a chance :). 40 minutes into the drive, radio comes on @alshamsi_m "karak time"! Everyone stopped for a bit of breakfast on top of a flat dune. This is the time I found out that most of our members are health conscious and they would always watch what they eat... but not until I whipped out the funky clored donuts! :lol: :lol: . A few conversations and advises given mutually about rigs, mods, and driving skills, Well appreciated guys!

Anyway, as the drive ended, drove back to where we started. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our Twinkle Stars trip organizer @presa . more trips to come please.

Thank you @Daggerfall for the very educational and technical drive you have taken us.

Thank you chief @alshamsi_m for watching over our safety and wellbeing.

And to all our Marshalls and members who made it all possible.

Looking forward to the next trip! =B
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Tomvanhouten
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Hi All,

what to add with all what has been said already??

For us, it was a great adventure again, a little bit of suffered damage (just a side step and front skid plate) for basically being too rude to the lady. I guess that is part of the learning and finding the actual limits of the car and myself of course.
Anyhow it made me determined to search for a car (secondhand) for the off-roading alone as I realize that my daily driver should be staying the way she is.

I carefully asked madame if she wanted to go next week again (valentines day, so very very careful), but the answer was more then clear : YESS!
I guess, it won't be long for her to kick me out and drive herself.... Psmiley

Thanks for the organisation again and hopefully see everyone soon again!
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Chris1101 wrote: Sun Feb 09, 2020 1:30 pm Hi Almosters!

This day started out for us at 6am, double checked equipment and the cars health before moving on.

A long 70km drive to the meet point from our home, Encountered a bit of a fog on the hi way enroute to Al Ain that significantly slowed us down. Thinking that everybody would be late due to the fog, I called @presa to mention about running a bit late of schedule, was advised to keep safe and that they would be waiting for us. Once arrived at the meeting point, to my surprise, almost all of our prompt Marshalls and members were already deflated flags on ready! Just what you would expect from the leaders.

Before briefing started, familiar faces and cars popped out to meet and greet. It was nice to see them and get acquainted again @Tomvanhouten and @presa , and after years of not seeing him, of course @alshamsi_m.

after briefing, I was assigned to convoy 2 lead by @Daggerfall. We were instructed to follow the black FJ cruiser that had 2 flags which seemed like wings that are ready to fly! got a bit hesitant XD . Al lined up and ready, heard the marshalls talking over the radio,@alshamsi_m advised our lead @Daggerfall that we had 2 long trucks in our convoy, he replied "no worries, I will be nice". felt a sense of comfort there Psmiley .

Moving on, our marshalls lead us to the most amazing dunes of the area, lots of drops, small and big bowls,quick turns, and a mix and match of different terrains and speeds. It was certain that @Daggerfall wanted us newbies to try out everything on the dirt today. Constant safety reminders and assistance given by @alshamsi_m, making everybody realize that the groups main priority is "safety first", not to mention all of his impromptu jokes on the radio :).
As the trip goes on, a few stops here and there to recover and guide other members, my daughter admired one certain car and driver, saying...hey Dad, whos was that car always pulling other cars that gets stuck? and always going around watching everybody? I told her it's @Johanna, she replied, "A girl? wow i wanna be like her!" I told her to go and meet her again and ask her how when she gets a chance :). 40 minutes into the drive, radio comes on @alshamsi_m "karak time"! Everyone stopped for a bit of breakfast on top of a flat dune. This is the time I found out that most of our members are health conscious and they would always watch what they eat... but not until I whipped out the funky clored donuts! :lol: :lol: . A few conversations and advises given mutually about rigs, mods, and driving skills, Well appreciated guys!

Anyway, as the drive ended, drove back to where we started. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our Twinkle Stars trip organizer @presa . more trips to come please.

Thank you @Daggerfall for the very educational and technical drive you have taken us.

Thank you chief @alshamsi_m for watching over our safety and wellbeing.

And to all our Marshalls and members who made it all possible.

Looking forward to the next trip! =B
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Johanna
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Chris1101 wrote: Sun Feb 09, 2020 1:30 pm Hi Almosters!

This day started out for us at 6am, double checked equipment and the cars health before moving on.

A long 70km drive to the meet point from our home, Encountered a bit of a fog on the hi way enroute to Al Ain that significantly slowed us down. Thinking that everybody would be late due to the fog, I called @presa to mention about running a bit late of schedule, was advised to keep safe and that they would be waiting for us. Once arrived at the meeting point, to my surprise, almost all of our prompt Marshalls and members were already deflated flags on ready! Just what you would expect from the leaders.

Before briefing started, familiar faces and cars popped out to meet and greet. It was nice to see them and get acquainted again @Tomvanhouten and @presa , and after years of not seeing him, of course @alshamsi_m.

after briefing, I was assigned to convoy 2 lead by @Daggerfall. We were instructed to follow the black FJ cruiser that had 2 flags which seemed like wings that are ready to fly! got a bit hesitant XD . Al lined up and ready, heard the marshalls talking over the radio,@alshamsi_m advised our lead @Daggerfall that we had 2 long trucks in our convoy, he replied "no worries, I will be nice". felt a sense of comfort there Psmiley .

Moving on, our marshalls lead us to the most amazing dunes of the area, lots of drops, small and big bowls,quick turns, and a mix and match of different terrains and speeds. It was certain that @Daggerfall wanted us newbies to try out everything on the dirt today. Constant safety reminders and assistance given by @alshamsi_m, making everybody realize that the groups main priority is "safety first", not to mention all of his impromptu jokes on the radio :).
As the trip goes on, a few stops here and there to recover and guide other members, my daughter admired one certain car and driver, saying...hey Dad, whos was that car always pulling other cars that gets stuck? and always going around watching everybody? I told her it's @Johanna, she replied, "A girl? wow i wanna be like her!" I told her to go and meet her again and ask her how when she gets a chance :). 40 minutes into the drive, radio comes on @alshamsi_m "karak time"! Everyone stopped for a bit of breakfast on top of a flat dune. This is the time I found out that most of our members are health conscious and they would always watch what they eat... but not until I whipped out the funky clored donuts! :lol: :lol: . A few conversations and advises given mutually about rigs, mods, and driving skills, Well appreciated guys!

Anyway, as the drive ended, drove back to where we started. I would like to take this opportunity to thank our Twinkle Stars trip organizer @presa . more trips to come please.

Thank you @Daggerfall for the very educational and technical drive you have taken us.

Thank you chief @alshamsi_m for watching over our safety and wellbeing.

And to all our Marshalls and members who made it all possible.

Looking forward to the next trip! =B
Hi Chris,

thats so sweet, give your daughter a hug. in love

Hope to see you again on Friday.
BR, Johanna

If it excites you and scares you at the same time, it probably means you should do it.
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presa
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Hey @Chris1101 the doughnuts were great! The fastest route to upgrade is by the stomachs from the Marshals and Founders grin grin grin

Whenever there will be fog we will delay the start in a few minutes, no one needs to rush during fog.

About the girls in the club, we are very luck with them! There are the one and only @Solmaz that lead the intermediates on this weekend afternoon. We have our crew member @Johanna handling Katniss, we have @LastRose driving a fully modified Jeep grin , we have @Cyndi driving Snowy on her FJ, we have @jojocat driving around with her Pajero, among other female drivers on the club! Aside from the drivers we have a lot of Women coming as passengers, enjoying Almost4x4 with their families!

Soon she will be a driver and you will have to find another offroad car for yourself! grin grin grin
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