Summer Leader

[Mark B]

Sand sand every where. First time I needed goggles to deflate. The wind was high, but the dunes were fresh. Clean tracks for 6 leaders. What a great day. Silly me. I fell in behind @Yoghybear so got volinteered for first lead. @Yoghybear fell in behind to supervise. I like the run up the first big dune mountain, so I pointed up the valley I thought brought us to the top. Wrong. But I did find a bowl full of empty glass bottles. Found the right valley and headed up to peak the top. Down the other side rolling back and forth in the dunes and side cresting where I could. Leading is scary. Off the first dune mountain and on to the second.

Next was @Agalon turn, then @ginger then @SINGH, Then [MENTION=1803]Zorro[/MENTION] then @Hockey. Each with their own style. @Zorro has a similar style to his father. Slow down, then sharp left then climb to the sky. Ouch. Hard to follow. As always, @alshamsi_m kept us in check.

We did them all. Iftar bowl, Super Bowl and Bowles inbetween. Fun fun fun. @Hockey took us out egg basket style. @Hockey did a quick repair on @elena wrangler, then back to air up.

Great learning experience.

Question is..... When can we do this again!

Mark

[ginger]

The conditions for this drive were fairly extreme as we deflated and for the first part of the drive. The strong winds had cleared pretty well all of the tracks, and it was very difficult to even see the car in front at some points!
Leading is really really difficult, and I was worried as my turn came around. There were a few scary moments of course, and some ‘escape’ manoeuvres coming off the crests, but generally I really got a ‘high’ from it and enjoyed it a lot. So much so that I was pumped full of adrenaline after my lead !

I seem to have bashed my front bumper on one ditch which was annoying, but generally it all went very smoothly.

As a general observation it’s interesting that I’m finding the limit of my car on some of these recent drives; actually not so much the car itself, more specifically the suspension set-up. As we climbed super bowl for instance, there was no way I could go as fast as say Mark on the bumpy ‘flat area’, meaning my approach speed was lower and the climb more difficult. The matching of the car and driver to the drive conditions is I think an interesting point - I've experienced times previously when my car was ‘better’ than my skills, and I’m now finding that balance reversed. Anyway enough philosophy for now!

The drive was amazing, great practice and as Mark says ‘let’s do some more please’.

Many thanks to all the organisers.

[alshamsi_m]

Hi everyone

Yesterday we had a drive in the morning and the wind started to pick up by the end of the drive. Some Marshals asked me " are you going to do the all lead still? " .... I said : of course we are Almosters, It is very hard for the weather to change our mind.

I think our members were lucky to have this chance " Train hard, fight easy " were each one has the chance to concourse his fear and to try choosing the right track for his car.

I'm happy with all our members performance and I'm sure that soon you are going to be on top of your game. Our Marshals are having more to make you having fun while educated in offroading .


Finally, I would like to thank [MENTION=1803]Zorro[/MENTION] for sending the PM on my behalf
" Whenever you feel like to be one of our Marshals... just let me know ".

Cheers

Related topics :

1. http://www.almost4x4.com/vb/showthread. ... and-storms

[SINGH]

As narrated above by Mark B and Ginger, this was a real challenge and the wind was so high that u can't see anything in between and that moment is the scary one especially when you are climbing up or cresting....

Right from the start i was having a tough time, i can't remember when did i struggled that much before. Due to wind, sand on top was like floating granules and my ride was floating here and there with them without any control and on top of that when u can't see anything that make things more worst.... i had to admit that in between it was really scary....all the confidence of dune reading was gone, and that's what the chellenge was....

When my turn came in to lead, unfortunately we need to drive into the wind and all the sand was coming towards us.... this made things more worst for me.... technically i was not happy the way i was crossing the dunes due to the visibility and resulted in getting crested..... the strong wind made recovery more difficult... even the sand mask was full of sand while doing that and i started really feeling suffocated.... Shamsi realised that it's better to give me a little break to get my mind and body settled down and asked Agalon to lead and said that i can lead later on..... Got a chance again to lead and this time it was much better then earlier.....by the time i was in full swing, Yoghy said on radio, that's enough and now its time for Zoro to take the lead on which followed by Hockey till the finish line....

Personally, i am feeling more confident .... thanks to Shamsi and Yoghy for believing in us and making us learn in all the practical conditions by putting us into these type of challenges.... and i fully agree with this statement.... " Train hard, fight easy " ....

Thanks to Hockey for your never ending support in almost all the drives and congrats in advance to Zorro for the achievement ....

[Zorro]

Hi all,

It was a really Interesting drive Friday. The storm surprised us all, and surely didn't help make things easy, but over all it was very successful drive

With in the first half an hour we run into a few small issues, in which the wind didn't help, by canceling the tracks, but everything got managed quickly and the convoy got back together to continue. More than the weather I feel it was more a perceived pressure of leading that lead to this mishaps. Or as Bu Salem said, "excess blood pressure rather than tire pressure". Once both pressures got deflated the convoy started moving smoothly and we were back on track.

Leading isn't easy, and sometimes it can also hurt our cars too unfortunately, this shows the risks marshal encounter while leading all trips, a small bush, or innocent ditch are enough to cause damage to our beloved cars

Good thing we run into the fence of the protected area at the edge of badayer area! Otherwise we'd still be driving down to Saudi!! :-P

Agalon, and Singh got a second chance to lead as at first, pressure of leading may have overcome and got in the way. But on the second attempt, awesome. Completely different, Almost makes me wondering whether it was still you Agalon, and not Solmaz that got behind the wheel :-P

Practice makes perfect in leading. As Yoghy mentioned at the briefing, focus on having fun, rather than thinking about who is behind you (with moderation, of course) and be assured that if you are having fun, who ever will be behind you will enjoy too.

You guys did a real good job out there leading!

Thanks Bu Salem! Appreciate it. Soon, Inshallah
Btw, you look good in a Jeep ;-)

Thanks all
Cheers

[Arun Pandyat]

[quote=Zorro;43623]

Btw, you look good in a Jeep ;-)

[/quote]

Bu Salem, you moved to jeep ??:041::019:

[Agalon]

Hi everybody. Sorry for the late report due to a very tight schedule lately.

Everything was covered in the previous reports. It was so exciting to get the chance to lead first time with the club. Weather was extreme, visibility was very bad. I took the lead after @Mark B. I don't know why cause normally i drive with friends and lead and even sometimes go alone, but, stress took over, my brain left the building and the result was not a fun ride. But as a lead, i did my exploration duty and found the only tree around the area :) Then @ginger took the lead and we continued.

After everybody took their turn, @alshamsi_m gave a second chance to me and @SINGH. I tried my best this time to make it right this time but honestly was not happy again so i left the lead to @SINGH.

What i feel about what i tried to explain above is, it requires huge amount of self control and awareness to lead a convoy. When you are in the seat you can better understand how it is hard to control the terrain, choose the proper track, check your behind and have fun while doing these. All my respect and appreciation for our dear marshals. I need to practice more and more and more.

Must tell you i enjoyed every second of the drive while my friends are leading. I want to present my thanks to our marshals for the given second chance also. It shows they really watch you and try to encourage you to succeed.

P.S. : [MENTION=1803]Zorro[/MENTION], it was me who was driving the second time also. If [MENTION=8720]Solmaz[/MENTION] was on the wheel, it would be totally different in a positive way and more fun :) Next time, it's her turn.

See you all...

Regards,

Agalon