Paradise city VI

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Tomvanhouten
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Hello everyone,

After the morning drive, I went for round 2 in Al Ain region.
Quick lunch and racing towards the MP, arriving a little tad late (5min), quick deflate and the briefing of @Daggerfall so we would enjoy the most of the remaining sunlight.

Also this area, is chewed up by the heavy machinery, but our lead did a brilliant job smoothing the way and where ever possible playing to the capabilities of us all.
I very much enjoyed the car, although some minor issues are still present, every drive I learn about these little remaining 'child diseases' which then can be smoothened out.
Thank you @Rashidjass for your valuable advice, will certainly take it!

Thank you to all my fellow drivers, which made the drive safe and without any incidents. Lovely flow!

See you in Liwa,

Tom
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Daggerfall
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Hi Almosters!,

We had a lovely afternoon with our fresh intermediates at Al Ain have a nice day

It was a little bit discouraging to see the dunes were cut into pieces with tracks at the starting point however we were lucky to find some clean areas on the way!

As we always say "Less is more" in the desert so the flow was good except some areas where we were interrupted by tracks. Everyone did a great job by keeping up with the pace and we managed to tackle some challenging dunes safely!. This encouraged me to go for more challenging dunes you're kidding, right and everyone managed to handle them smoothly too! It makes you confident to push a little bit more when the members know where are the limits and protect them selves by following the fundamental rules that we discussed at the beginning of the drive:

1. Right Approach angle (Parallel as much as possible before the crest)
2. Ride on the dune 1-2 seconds where you land and ride your tires on both side
3. Focus! and don't be shy to make another try and improve your technique rather than pushing and rolling a dice!

As always we had a great support with us thanks to @alshamsi_m , @Rashidjass @optimus (Second Lead) @nabil_k and @Mahmoodyasin .

Thanks to all for the lovely afternoon and see you on the next drive!
thumbsup
" I feel the need, the need for Speed " cool

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Mahmoodyasin
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Paradise City VI at AlAin
Myself and @Rashidjass reached late at the meeting point after winding up the morning drive support.
@Daggerfall had placed @optimus as second lead followed by intermediates , while myself and @Nabil were to follow from behind. @Rashidjass and @alshamsi_m chose to keep the watch.
The chosen area used to have clean and high dunes which made it an ideal place to carry out a good long stretch of side crests. A very disappointing sight to see the area, chewed up by tracks appearing to be very difficult to keep the flow.
@Daggerfall at the start, took a cautious approach by not pushing hard on the crests but once he did the scan of the area, there wasn't stopping back from there on. As the pace build up, the distance between the dunes and the fuel capacity started to reduce, On the contrary the only thing which increased was the level of sweat from the palms of the drivers. eyes on fire
There were more than usual second tries and some skipped side crests which shows that the new inters had left ego out and chose to be safe. thumbsup
While the snake of convoy zig/zagged the dunes, i picked up @Rashidjass and @alshamsi_m line, to enjoy a further stepped up level serious business
Drive continued for 3hrs with few break stops in the way. Some very challenging yet informative tips from @Rashidjass and @alshamsi_m filled the drive with adrenaline dose.
we ended the drive before sunset, gladly without any surprises or pop outs.

THANK YOU:
• Hats off to @Daggerfall to give us a wonderful drive considering the challenges of the trenches. Love to see you back to your original top gun style.
@optimus for doing very well as 2nd lead.
@alshamsi_m and @Rashidjass for making sure we are safe and the tips & tricks.
• my fellow Advance @Nabil
• and all the intermediates ..............you guys did very well........ feel proud!

till next time
Mahmoodyasin
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CARLOSS
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Hello everyone!

Paradise city VI drive was in Al Ain region, close to the airport, in a new area for me. While driving on the parallel road to the airport I saw the dunes on the right side and again, most of them were chewed up by bulldozers… this is becoming a habit. Unpleasant habit.

We were briefed by leading Marshal @Daggerfall and @alshamsi_m about the safety basic rules to be implemented for securing a safe drive and everything went well as all drivers followed them well making this drive the fastest and more challenging drive I have ever driven so far. It's for sure in my top 3 best ever drives thanks to All and specially to Daggerfall who was able to find nice tracks in a nightmare of dunes. thumbsup

It's the first time (as long as I remember) that we had a drive without pop outs and stucks…plenty of second tries, yes, and an unfortunate puncture in one of Optimus' tires but that was all. Very surprised and happy about that as it was somehow a proof of the good performance of the convoy. thumbsup

We challenged a couple of dunes’ chains with medium/large size dunes, soft sand and ditches and bumps everywhere which forced us to be focused till the last minute. Total drive duration around 3hrs with 2:15h of moving time with an average speed of 24.4km/h which confirms by previous comments.

I was impressed to see how Daggerfall was leading and challenging the dunes effortless, a kind of Muhammad Ali boxing in the 60’s “floating like a butterfly, stinging like a bee” while drivers (at least myself) were 200% focused on the drive sweating like a pig inside the car. grin

Forgot to mention that this was my second interm drive and apart from the safety lessons learned, I took an additional one: In this level, at least at the beginning, always wear black or brown pants! wtfsmilie Only these two colours are recommended. If you don’t get that now don’t worry, you will in the future. Psmiley

My gratitude also to Shamsi (always looking after us),
@Rashidjass (pls don’t challenge too much Daggerfall next time serious business & nice videos, mate!), @optimus & @Mahmoodyasin (thanks for being so kind and supporting with me) and @nabil_k (nice to meet you). And to my friends @Tomvanhouten , @AndreAJ , @dorudoru and @Stephan …you did a great job!

See you in Liwa soon..I can't wait!!!

Carlos
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Stephan
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Hello everyone.

Paradise city VI in Al Ain was certainly one of my best drives I have ever done and definitely one for the books to remember. As I was driving towards the meeting point, close to the airport, I only saw massive dunes on both sides of me. These dunes are really an impressive site to see and also to experience.

@Daggerfall gave us a briefing before the time, which was very informative and safety was the main focus point of the briefing. Also, he explained thoroughly the theory behind side cresting, approach angle, parallel to the crest of the dune, stay 1 or 2 sec on top and then go down to the other side. While the theory of it was quite simple, executing the plan was not always that simple.

The flow of the convoy was nice with a fast pace drive and a beautiful area to explore. Although the area was quite chewed up, @Daggerfall made the drive smooth for us all with challenging dunes to practice our side cresting. We started with small dunes, just for us new intermediates to get the hand of side cresting and then it was time to challenge the bigger dunes! There was a couple of Oh sh#t moments in the car, as well as sweat all over my face especially the one dune where I was struggling to hang on at the top of the dune.

Thank you to @Daggerfall for organizing the drive. @alshamsi_m , @Rashidjass , @optimus , @Mahmoodyasin and @nabil_k for the support and keeping us save. Thank you to my friends, @Tomvanhouten , @CARLOSS ,@AndreAJ , @dorudoru for the drive, it was fun.

See you soon
Cheers
Stephan
See you soon
Cheers
Stephan
optimus
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Drive : Paradise City VI
Level : Intermediate
Area : Al Ain
Organizer : @Daggerfall
Lead : @Daggerfall
Support : @alshamsi_m @Rashidjass @Mahmoodyasin @Nabil & Myself

I arrived at the meeting point together with Rashid & Mahmood. The Briefing was almost over and the convoy order was set. I was appointed the 2nd lead.
The position which many consider the harshest but considering the safety factor it’s one of the very important positions with a sense of responsibility.

You need to be focused, always have eyes on the lead & even on the 3rd car. Thank you Bu Salem & Daggerfall for having that confidence in me. Thank you!

Even though the area had the trenches and shovel tracks but the leader managed to throw a proper intermediate level drive in his signature style. cool

Until the convoy stopped around half time to check the tire pressure. Once everyone was done checking the psi’s, DF called me and said lets go. I didn’t realized that he actually meant lets tune the dunes! killzonesmiley

Once I saw him pushing the throttle, the dunes were turned into speedways melt . We crested nonstop full throttle over around 5 dunes. It was so fast that we lost everyone on the first dune OSMILEY . The leader had to do round 2 for the others to have a similar adrenaline rush pacman wtfsmilie

Over all it was a wonderful drive. The Intermediates having only couple of drives under their belt did pretty well. thumbsup .

Until Next time!
Optimus
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AndreAJ
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Good morning my fellow Sand warriors,

This was truly an amazing drive, as i approached the meeting point i was i surrounded by beautiful rolling dunes as far as the eye can see.

Once at the meeting point @Daggerfall explained what was to come, he also placed allot of emphasis that we where there to learn as new Intermediate drivers. He took the time to explain and teach us on the correct approach for the 100 side crests we where about to tackle.

Steady parallel approach to the crest, stay on top of the crest for at least 1 - 2 seconds, then turn down on the other side. "if you do this correctly you will always be safe" he said.

There where many second tries but each one was a lesson and well worth the effort to do.

The drive was fast, the fastest pace i have experienced in a drive it was crest after crest, high and low dunes. Thank you @Daggerfall for your teaching and advice. I was not alone in this i was accompanied by all my friends, @Stephan , @CARLOSS , @dorudoru , @Tomvanhouten , @nabil_k who all drove extremely well. Thank you to our support team for keeping us safe @alshamsi_m @Rashidjass @optimus who did a fantastic job as second lead, thank you for all the ditch warnings @optimus @Mahmoodyasin.

I look forward to each of you in Liwa and continue my learning and gain more experience.

Thank you guys.

Andre
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dorudoru
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Hello Almosters,

Better late than ever. Special drive for me, since it is the first intermediate drive almost a year after joining to the club. Long awaited drives came and it is the time to enjoy the new level and keep progressing in a safe manner.

Meeting location was quite close to Al Ain Airport. We knew the Sweihan and Naheel was dug by those blody excavators and there were some suspicions if this are would be clean or not. Once I got closer to the area, I could've seen the excavators also messed with this area. And that was a bummer, since for a long time we couldnt have a drive without these tracks which kills all the momentum of the drive.

However, there was one thing underestimated. @Daggerfall gave us an amazing track, I nearly even didnt realize any excavator tracks. We drove the first hour non-stop, my go pro was out of battery after some time but he never gave us the chance to stop. Apparently he doesnt like to "stop" OSMILEY

Fantastic flow of the drive, many second tries but still moving convoy. He tailored a fantastic track which kept us in between "pleasure" and "horror". Many side crests with a good pace (refer to the his 3 important rules above). He even took some suggestions on the way ( thanks @Rashidjass for putting us in trouble blank )

Overall, it was an amazing drive which increased our apetite for more. Looking forward to have some more drives behind the "Anatolian Maverick".

Special thanks for the supporting founder&marshal, @alshamsi_m and @Rashidjass. Thanks for the support from @nabil_k and @Mahmoodyasin and mabrook to our new explorer @optimus which was honoring the convoy with second lead position. Well done to all my fellow friends @CARLOSS , @Stephan , @AndreAJ and @Tomvanhouten.



See you in the sand!
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