FAST AND HIGH
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giorgio
- Marshal
- Posts: 472
- Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2017 4:04 pm
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10+ level drive.
This morning drive, found us starting our drive close to Al Qudra area. The morning was cold with all 20 cars getting ready for our weekend adrenaline rush.
Little about the track: As always the members do not know all the work that it takes behind the scene for a drive to put together. So the original plan was to drive in a different area and a totally different kind of a drive when @alshamsi_m contacted me and was kind enough to share the subject track that he has worked so hard to put together for an entire different reason but this is a story for a campfire.
Special thanks to @alshamsi_m for the surprise.
The convoy was long with @nidal78 as a second lead @Aligi76 as a sweeper @alshamsi_m @Solmaz @rashid as floating marshals and our beloved @Mahmoodyasin floating as well.
Our intermediates were spread within the convoy providing support when needed.
The drive started with a practical joke to put the convoy to the area of OLD EIB just to kill some time until one of our supporting marshals joined us. That idea did not sit well with the group and on the first 30 meters we had to negotiate several stacks with assisted recoveries and self recoveries. So the decision to aboard the idea was quick and instant
Moving on to the drive the pace got faster (not as fast as I would like) but decent enough to get the feeling how is to drive fast and have to make quick decisions,
The drivers had all short of challenges and so had the rescue team. Special thanks to @Carlos which pulled most of the weight (talking about been at the wrong position) while the rest of the intermediates not falling far behind,
The second part of the drive was long and technical something that the drivers were not expecting and from a fast drive it became snail crawling dragging my feet drive with one recovery following the other,
The members worked hard to survive with radio communication being excellent but keeping the right distance was a challenge that not everyone got to address properly so traffic jams were unavoidable.
The drive lasted longer than the usual (in a flat area such as this one I was expecting that you will do better and we will finish on time) Sorry for that, but nonetheless it was a long morning full of adventure
As I mentioned at the end of the trip, that was my last drive for 2022 and I am looking forward to the new year that will bring new adventures for all of us.
Until next time thank you all and drive safe
This morning drive, found us starting our drive close to Al Qudra area. The morning was cold with all 20 cars getting ready for our weekend adrenaline rush.
Little about the track: As always the members do not know all the work that it takes behind the scene for a drive to put together. So the original plan was to drive in a different area and a totally different kind of a drive when @alshamsi_m contacted me and was kind enough to share the subject track that he has worked so hard to put together for an entire different reason but this is a story for a campfire.
Special thanks to @alshamsi_m for the surprise.
The convoy was long with @nidal78 as a second lead @Aligi76 as a sweeper @alshamsi_m @Solmaz @rashid as floating marshals and our beloved @Mahmoodyasin floating as well.
Our intermediates were spread within the convoy providing support when needed.
The drive started with a practical joke to put the convoy to the area of OLD EIB just to kill some time until one of our supporting marshals joined us. That idea did not sit well with the group and on the first 30 meters we had to negotiate several stacks with assisted recoveries and self recoveries. So the decision to aboard the idea was quick and instant
Moving on to the drive the pace got faster (not as fast as I would like) but decent enough to get the feeling how is to drive fast and have to make quick decisions,
The drivers had all short of challenges and so had the rescue team. Special thanks to @Carlos which pulled most of the weight (talking about been at the wrong position) while the rest of the intermediates not falling far behind,
The second part of the drive was long and technical something that the drivers were not expecting and from a fast drive it became snail crawling dragging my feet drive with one recovery following the other,
The members worked hard to survive with radio communication being excellent but keeping the right distance was a challenge that not everyone got to address properly so traffic jams were unavoidable.
The drive lasted longer than the usual (in a flat area such as this one I was expecting that you will do better and we will finish on time) Sorry for that, but nonetheless it was a long morning full of adventure
As I mentioned at the end of the trip, that was my last drive for 2022 and I am looking forward to the new year that will bring new adventures for all of us.
Until next time thank you all and drive safe
The Wolf is not concerned with the opinion of the sheep
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CARLOSS
- Advance
- Posts: 196
- Joined: Sun Sep 20, 2020 2:10 pm
- Location: Dubai
- Has thanked: 870 times
- Been thanked: 1033 times
Hello everyone!
Fast and High Newbie drive was not a "regular" newbie drive but…lets start from the beginning.
Some family constrains forced me to swap from the PM intermediate drive (looking fantastic) to the AM 10+ Newbie drive which it was a bit “sad”
at the beginning but nevertheless, it ended up with a very nice surprise! 
@giorgio was the organizer and lead Marshal supported by "master of masters" @alshamsi_m , "wonder woman" @Solmaz and "everywhere watcher" @Rashidjass with senior & serious interm support with @Mahmoodyasin , @osman , @Stephan , @Aligi76 and me. @Germain was part of the convoy as he was testing his new toy (congrats mate for that ).
The selected playground was incredible and new for me. I have never been in this area (old EIB) and believe me, it is pure “gold” to be further discovered
. Actually, we just scratched the surface because the convoy was not ready for such a challenge but thanks to that, now it is in my bucket list.
After this failed attempt, Giorgio took as to 3 different areas: first, small dunes, technical. Second, a transition area with small & easy dunes with some flat areas too. And finally, the “big finale” with nice and soft dunes technical area till reaching Murqquab leaving the new EIB place on the left side.
It was a perfect combination to test the convoy strengths and skills and as expected, there were some victims.
I positioned myself on purpose at the front because as I normally like to see the fresh tracks drawn by the marshals (just in case I learn something
) and there are some nice chances to get more recovery situations with drivers less experienced in the front. And I was perfectly right! I lost the count of recoveries when doing number 8…the vicking rope was on fire! 
All in all, it was a wonderful drive perfectly executed by "master of the dunes" Giorgio, and I have much more fun than anticipated so, look forward to 2023 drives with more challenges to come!
Happy new year to all Almost family!
Carlos
Fast and High Newbie drive was not a "regular" newbie drive but…lets start from the beginning.
Some family constrains forced me to swap from the PM intermediate drive (looking fantastic) to the AM 10+ Newbie drive which it was a bit “sad”
at the beginning but nevertheless, it ended up with a very nice surprise! @giorgio was the organizer and lead Marshal supported by "master of masters" @alshamsi_m , "wonder woman" @Solmaz and "everywhere watcher" @Rashidjass with senior & serious interm support with @Mahmoodyasin , @osman , @Stephan , @Aligi76 and me. @Germain was part of the convoy as he was testing his new toy (congrats mate for that
).The selected playground was incredible and new for me. I have never been in this area (old EIB) and believe me, it is pure “gold” to be further discovered
. Actually, we just scratched the surface because the convoy was not ready for such a challenge but thanks to that, now it is in my bucket list.After this failed attempt, Giorgio took as to 3 different areas: first, small dunes, technical. Second, a transition area with small & easy dunes with some flat areas too. And finally, the “big finale” with nice and soft dunes technical area till reaching Murqquab leaving the new EIB place on the left side.
It was a perfect combination to test the convoy strengths and skills and as expected, there were some victims.
I positioned myself on purpose at the front because as I normally like to see the fresh tracks drawn by the marshals (just in case I learn something
) and there are some nice chances to get more recovery situations with drivers less experienced in the front. And I was perfectly right! I lost the count of recoveries when doing number 8…the vicking rope was on fire! All in all, it was a wonderful drive perfectly executed by "master of the dunes" Giorgio, and I have much more fun than anticipated so, look forward to 2023 drives with more challenges to come!
Happy new year to all Almost family!
Carlos
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Martin
- Newbie
- Posts: 36
- Joined: Wed Sep 25, 2019 3:39 pm
- Location: Dubai
- Has thanked: 160 times
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As always was looking forward to the drive but arrived with trepidation knowing @giorgio , who was the lead, always had plenty of trick up his sleeves.
As I got out the car the air was cold and plenty of Almosters were wrapped up like it was winter in the Swiss alps. My Scottish blood was less affected but I kept quiet because I had my own embarrassment.
In the excitement to leave that morning I had forgotten that I had unpacked my car before a recent service and forgotten to repack my flag. I took plenty of well deserved flack from both @giorgio & @alshamsi_m who had quite rightly suggested I not be allowed to join the drive. Luckily they decided to put me at the back of the convoy instead. Phew!
We set off initially into the old EIB to kill some time before the drive really started. But because of some immediate stucks I actually never even had the chance to try that area. It tried to keep the Pajerro in the group permanently. But the support eventually managed to help and guide him out.
Soo then the drive triple begin.
As mentioned we were lead by @giorgio across some varied terrain that was a mix of flowing drives, fast flat sections but mostly technical areas with tricky soft sand.
The name of the drive was fast & High. I’m sure this is what was in the plan but I’m afraid most of the newbies in the convoy found it hard to keep momentum with lots of second tries and more recoveries than was expected.
I had many second tries and a couple of stucks myself. The sand was soft and for much of the drive I think my tire pressures were too high (mostly because I don’t trust my crappy tires to have multiple pop outs in this kind of area.
There was one point where we had one pop out and 2 stuck cars in the same ditch. The pop out was stair forward but the recoveries were more complicated.
The first was an FJ caught in a trap of flat but very soft sand. @tabubaker was given direction to self recover using the FJ gadgets but found it too tricky. Soo he gave the keys to @Rashidjass to have a go and even he found it complicated but everyone did get him out with a little help from a few of us who gave a push.
The other car was a jeep in a precarious angle. It needed a couple of tries and some “ballast“ to get it out of its predicament.
All in all though another great learning experience, if an unexpectedly slow one
Thanks for all the support @Germain I hope your passenger recovered and for having my back all day @Aligi76
And to ask the floaters of @alshamsi_m, @Solmaz & @Rashidjass for being everywhere all the time.
And to @giorgio to being patient with the convoy who struggled more than expected.
As I got out the car the air was cold and plenty of Almosters were wrapped up like it was winter in the Swiss alps. My Scottish blood was less affected but I kept quiet because I had my own embarrassment.
In the excitement to leave that morning I had forgotten that I had unpacked my car before a recent service and forgotten to repack my flag. I took plenty of well deserved flack from both @giorgio & @alshamsi_m who had quite rightly suggested I not be allowed to join the drive. Luckily they decided to put me at the back of the convoy instead. Phew!
We set off initially into the old EIB to kill some time before the drive really started. But because of some immediate stucks I actually never even had the chance to try that area. It tried to keep the Pajerro in the group permanently. But the support eventually managed to help and guide him out.
Soo then the drive triple begin.
As mentioned we were lead by @giorgio across some varied terrain that was a mix of flowing drives, fast flat sections but mostly technical areas with tricky soft sand.
The name of the drive was fast & High. I’m sure this is what was in the plan but I’m afraid most of the newbies in the convoy found it hard to keep momentum with lots of second tries and more recoveries than was expected.
I had many second tries and a couple of stucks myself. The sand was soft and for much of the drive I think my tire pressures were too high (mostly because I don’t trust my crappy tires to have multiple pop outs in this kind of area.
There was one point where we had one pop out and 2 stuck cars in the same ditch. The pop out was stair forward but the recoveries were more complicated.
The first was an FJ caught in a trap of flat but very soft sand. @tabubaker was given direction to self recover using the FJ gadgets but found it too tricky. Soo he gave the keys to @Rashidjass to have a go and even he found it complicated but everyone did get him out with a little help from a few of us who gave a push.
The other car was a jeep in a precarious angle. It needed a couple of tries and some “ballast“ to get it out of its predicament.
All in all though another great learning experience, if an unexpectedly slow one
Thanks for all the support @Germain I hope your passenger recovered and for having my back all day @Aligi76
And to ask the floaters of @alshamsi_m, @Solmaz & @Rashidjass for being everywhere all the time.
And to @giorgio to being patient with the convoy who struggled more than expected.
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nidal78
- media
- Posts: 67
- Joined: Sat Mar 02, 2019 12:02 pm
- Location: Sharjah
- Has thanked: 665 times
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- Contact:
Hi almosters
A beautiful morning with many smiles on the faces full of energy and positivity what’s missing?
An amazing drive, and that what we had
First of all I would like to thank our leader @giorgio for giving me the honor to be his 2nd lead
For me the drive was a real adventure the mixture of the tracks was something really amazing done by @giorgio
The first area was the legendary old eggs in basket and after less than 50 meters the victims started to show up
for me after I climbed three or four small dunes I felt that (Shadow) was struggling to climb 
so guess what I entered the eggs in basket without engaging my four wheel 
So after spending around half an hour helping and rescuing some drivers in this area Giorgio decided to be merciful and took us out
The second area was the best for me fast base riding ridges testing the flavor of side cresting and dealing with some technical obstacles in faster base
In this area I was really excited trying to keep it up with the leading car so in some parts I was too close so @alshamsi_m called me on the radio telling me to keep more distance because the leading marshal not only leading but also navigating so I kept bigger distance but without losing our leader ( this is the technique of being the 2nd lead not too close not too far thanks Abu salim for the instructions
)
The third area was the most challenging one
A technical area with very soft sand, but for Giorgio it was flat
In this area I think we had around 10 stucks 1 pop out and many 2nd tries although of that everyone was happy with big smiles on their faces
Finally I would like to thank Giorgio again for giving me the chance to be his 2nd lead and for organizing this amazing drive @alshamsi_m ,@Rashidjass and @Solmaz @Mahmoodyasin for keeping an eye on everyone
The intermediate for all efforts rescuing and helping fixing pop out
To all fellows who attended this drive
Till next one stay safe and see you on sand soon
A beautiful morning with many smiles on the faces full of energy and positivity what’s missing?
An amazing drive, and that what we had
First of all I would like to thank our leader @giorgio for giving me the honor to be his 2nd lead
For me the drive was a real adventure the mixture of the tracks was something really amazing done by @giorgio
The first area was the legendary old eggs in basket and after less than 50 meters the victims started to show up
for me after I climbed three or four small dunes I felt that (Shadow) was struggling to climb 
so guess what I entered the eggs in basket without engaging my four wheel 
So after spending around half an hour helping and rescuing some drivers in this area Giorgio decided to be merciful and took us out
The second area was the best for me fast base riding ridges testing the flavor of side cresting and dealing with some technical obstacles in faster base
In this area I was really excited trying to keep it up with the leading car so in some parts I was too close so @alshamsi_m called me on the radio telling me to keep more distance because the leading marshal not only leading but also navigating so I kept bigger distance but without losing our leader ( this is the technique of being the 2nd lead not too close not too far thanks Abu salim for the instructions
)The third area was the most challenging one
A technical area with very soft sand, but for Giorgio it was flat
In this area I think we had around 10 stucks 1 pop out and many 2nd tries
although of that everyone was happy with big smiles on their faces
Finally I would like to thank Giorgio again for giving me the chance to be his 2nd lead and for organizing this amazing drive @alshamsi_m ,@Rashidjass and @Solmaz @Mahmoodyasin for keeping an eye on everyone
The intermediate for all efforts rescuing and helping fixing pop out
To all fellows who attended this drive
Till next one stay safe and see you on sand soon
-
giorgio
- Marshal
- Posts: 472
- Joined: Mon Sep 18, 2017 4:04 pm
- Has thanked: 750 times
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Dear Martin,Martin wrote: Mon Dec 19, 2022 4:31 pm As always was looking forward to the drive but arrived with trepidation knowing @giorgio , who was the lead, always had plenty of trick up his sleeves.
As I got out the car the air was cold and plenty of Almosters were wrapped up like it was winter in the Swiss alps. My Scottish blood was less affected but I kept quiet because I had my own embarrassment.
In the excitement to leave that morning I had forgotten that I had unpacked my car before a recent service and forgotten to repack my flag. I took plenty of well deserved flack from both @giorgio & @alshamsi_m who had quite rightly suggested I not be allowed to join the drive. Luckily they decided to put me at the back of the convoy instead. Phew!
We set off initially into the old EIB to kill some time before the drive really started. But because of some immediate stucks I actually never even had the chance to try that area. It tried to keep the Pajerro in the group permanently. But the support eventually managed to help and guide him out.
Soo then the drive triple begin.
As mentioned we were lead by @giorgio across some varied terrain that was a mix of flowing drives, fast flat sections but mostly technical areas with tricky soft sand.
The name of the drive was fast & High. I’m sure this is what was in the plan but I’m afraid most of the newbies in the convoy found it hard to keep momentum with lots of second tries and more recoveries than was expected.
I had many second tries and a couple of stucks myself. The sand was soft and for much of the drive I think my tire pressures were too high (mostly because I don’t trust my crappy tires to have multiple pop outs in this kind of area.
There was one point where we had one pop out and 2 stuck cars in the same ditch. The pop out was stair forward but the recoveries were more complicated.
The first was an FJ caught in a trap of flat but very soft sand. @tabubaker was given direction to self recover using the FJ gadgets but found it too tricky. Soo he gave the keys to @Rashidjass to have a go and even he found it complicated but everyone did get him out with a little help from a few of us who gave a push.
The other car was a jeep in a precarious angle. It needed a couple of tries and some “ballast“ to get it out of its predicament.
All in all though another great learning experience, if an unexpectedly slow one
Thanks for all the support @Germain I hope your passenger recovered and for having my back all day @Aligi76
And to ask the floaters of @alshamsi_m, @Solmaz & @Rashidjass for being everywhere all the time.
And to @giorgio to being patient with the convoy who struggled more than expected.
Regarding the pop out incident and the 2 cars that were stuck at the same area I have the following points for consideration.
a) only the first car got a pop out cause of the challenging terrain.
b) the Jeep that was stuck was a result of not stopping as it should (within the limits of the track) but rather decided to position itself in a closer proximity to the pop out taking a chance to drive too close to the edge of the ridge and that resulted in a fail attempt
c) the third car got caught on a soft sand phasing the opposite direction of the convoy in an attempt to accomplish the same results as the car in the previous point.
The rescue of these two cars end up taking way longer than the pop out itself.
Nonetheless, both rescues were a great learning experience for all the drivers .
Lessons learned from this incident was that you need to stay with in the limits on the track which is relatively safe vs roaming around in such technical terrain trying to come closer to the car that originally has the problem. One should understand when it is safe to move out of the track and when not to.
The Wolf is not concerned with the opinion of the sheep
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osman
- Intermediate
- Posts: 126
- Joined: Wed Feb 17, 2016 6:22 pm
- Location: Dubai Marina
- Has thanked: 142 times
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Hi everyone,
After being away from the country - and more importantly away from the sand - for nearly 2.5 months, this drive on a very nice morning was a real joy.
The convoy was relatively long and my position was at the tail part of it, hence I missed much of the action that happened at front, including helping some of the rescues. But having said that, we had few second tries, self recoveries, and the pop-out with its following "memorable" stucks happened at the back.
After the initial issues with the general flow, a karak break was announced. Then we moved a bit less technical area and increased the speed and the flow got much better. But later the flow become less than perfect again.
Thanks @giorgio for the lead and all the marshals for your support and guidance. Wishing everyone happy holidays and great new year ahead. See you in next year....
After being away from the country - and more importantly away from the sand - for nearly 2.5 months, this drive on a very nice morning was a real joy.
The convoy was relatively long and my position was at the tail part of it, hence I missed much of the action that happened at front, including helping some of the rescues. But having said that, we had few second tries, self recoveries, and the pop-out with its following "memorable" stucks happened at the back.
After the initial issues with the general flow, a karak break was announced. Then we moved a bit less technical area and increased the speed and the flow got much better. But later the flow become less than perfect again.
Thanks @giorgio for the lead and all the marshals for your support and guidance. Wishing everyone happy holidays and great new year ahead. See you in next year....
Warning: Sand is addictive... and also the sea salt.
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Stephan
- Intermediate
- Posts: 29
- Joined: Sat Mar 14, 2020 9:47 pm
- Location: Ras Al Khaimah
- Has thanked: 118 times
- Been thanked: 78 times
Hello everyone.
The drive started off with a cold morning, which made it the perfect day to be outside playing in the sand. It was good to meet some new faces after being away for quite some time. As usual the drive started with a short briefing on the expected plan for the day.
@giorgio was the leading marshal of the convoy and did a brilliant job! The drive started off with a bit of a technical area, which was the old EIB area, but soon realized the convoy was not ready for this area yet. So the route was changed with relative flat areas with small dunes where the speed was increased and the flow of the convoy was relatively fast.
Throughout the drive we had a couple of second tries and @CARLOSS did a fantastic job doing most of the support and recoveries. The viking rope did a fantastic job recovering all the cars that were stuck.
The best was saved for last. @giorgio took the convoy through a technical area the last stretch of the drive. By now the convoy was warmed up and ready for the technical area, which required a lot of concentration especially at the end of the drive when everyone is low on concentration.
Thanks to all the marshalls and support for making this drive possible.
Till next time.
Cheers
Stephan
The drive started off with a cold morning, which made it the perfect day to be outside playing in the sand. It was good to meet some new faces after being away for quite some time. As usual the drive started with a short briefing on the expected plan for the day.
@giorgio was the leading marshal of the convoy and did a brilliant job! The drive started off with a bit of a technical area, which was the old EIB area, but soon realized the convoy was not ready for this area yet. So the route was changed with relative flat areas with small dunes where the speed was increased and the flow of the convoy was relatively fast.
Throughout the drive we had a couple of second tries and @CARLOSS did a fantastic job doing most of the support and recoveries. The viking rope did a fantastic job recovering all the cars that were stuck.
The best was saved for last. @giorgio took the convoy through a technical area the last stretch of the drive. By now the convoy was warmed up and ready for the technical area, which required a lot of concentration especially at the end of the drive when everyone is low on concentration.
Thanks to all the marshalls and support for making this drive possible.
Till next time.
Cheers
Stephan
See you soon
Cheers
Stephan
Cheers
Stephan
