Friday 13th - revival of the desert ghost
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Vika
- Newbie
- Posts: 49
- Joined: Fri Jul 17, 2020 12:15 pm
- Has thanked: 234 times
- Been thanked: 225 times
Hello everyone 
They say it's better to see once than hear a hundred times...
Being in the club for many years, I only had a chance to hear the legends about this drive, from which goosebumps instantly went through my body, and now I finally experienced everything on my own. To be honest, I have never had such a drive. It was incredibly
from the very beginning to the end. I read previous reports, heard thousands of stories, but nothing compares to my personal experience 
As always in our club, everything was organized perfectly. Atmosphere, upcoming intrigue, truck, team spirit, area, despite the fact that it was one of the hottest days of the summer, plus a well-prepared frying pan to fry all of us
My palms were sweaty along the way to the meetingpoint. The meeting place is Sweihan, which has never happened before, if I'm not mistaken, the time is 16.00. Arriving at the place, in full readiness, which means having bought a lot of water, as we have heard that we will dig a lot today. After a short briefing from @alshamsi_m, who showed a small section for a drive, said, nothing special, let me know it would be really hot today. Before the formation of the convoy, @David came up to me and said, Vika, it will be very fast, please be careful, the probability of a pop-out will be on every square centimeter. Well, ahh, I love my new tyres, it was obvious, luckily for me, not a single popout. So, the convoy is ready. Full throttle!!! Speed, technical area, very soft sand, but no way back. In the truest sense of the word, I was driving a Kangaroo style until I noticed flying objects in the rearview mirror. Repeated attempts to fix it all were unsuccessful, until I saw a flying metal jack. I didn’t really want to die from being hit by a jack
@alshamsi_m and @Phoenix came to the help and we flew on. I clearly tried to keep my position in the convoy, sometimes at some point I realized that it became a complete chaos. Where I am? Where is the car I was supposed to follow? Where is the whole convoy? And why are there only intermediates around me? Am I the same 30% that can be left in the desert? And in addition, Vika, you're stuck))))
@Rashid and @Scorpio rescued me and said catch up! Trying to make up the distance, I flew at full speed, and of course, this could not be noticed by @alshamsi_m, who immediately transmitted the message: Take it easy, girl, take it easy! Which one is easier? Hair back and full forward
As a result, several second attempts, two self-recoveries, one stuck, but I survived. GOD! THIS WAS AWESOME!!! 
Thank you so much for such an adrenaline rush and experience. Thank you for unforgettable memories and emotions
Cannot wait until the next time.
Yours Vika
They say it's better to see once than hear a hundred times...
Being in the club for many years, I only had a chance to hear the legends about this drive, from which goosebumps instantly went through my body, and now I finally experienced everything on my own. To be honest, I have never had such a drive. It was incredibly
from the very beginning to the end. I read previous reports, heard thousands of stories, but nothing compares to my personal experience As always in our club, everything was organized perfectly. Atmosphere, upcoming intrigue, truck, team spirit, area, despite the fact that it was one of the hottest days of the summer, plus a well-prepared frying pan to fry all of us
My palms were sweaty along the way to the meetingpoint. The meeting place is Sweihan, which has never happened before, if I'm not mistaken, the time is 16.00. Arriving at the place, in full readiness, which means having bought a lot of water, as we have heard that we will dig a lot today. After a short briefing from @alshamsi_m, who showed a small section for a drive, said, nothing special, let me know it would be really hot today. Before the formation of the convoy, @David came up to me and said, Vika, it will be very fast, please be careful, the probability of a pop-out will be on every square centimeter. Well, ahh, I love my new tyres, it was obvious, luckily for me, not a single popout. So, the convoy is ready. Full throttle!!! Speed, technical area, very soft sand, but no way back. In the truest sense of the word, I was driving a Kangaroo style until I noticed flying objects in the rearview mirror. Repeated attempts to fix it all were unsuccessful, until I saw a flying metal jack. I didn’t really want to die from being hit by a jack
@alshamsi_m and @Phoenix came to the help and we flew on. I clearly tried to keep my position in the convoy, sometimes at some point I realized that it became a complete chaos. Where I am? Where is the car I was supposed to follow? Where is the whole convoy? And why are there only intermediates around me? Am I the same 30% that can be left in the desert? And in addition, Vika, you're stuck))))
@Rashid and @Scorpio rescued me and said catch up! Trying to make up the distance, I flew at full speed, and of course, this could not be noticed by @alshamsi_m, who immediately transmitted the message: Take it easy, girl, take it easy! Which one is easier? Hair back and full forward
As a result, several second attempts, two self-recoveries, one stuck, but I survived. GOD! THIS WAS AWESOME!!! Thank you so much for such an adrenaline rush and experience. Thank you for unforgettable memories and emotions
Cannot wait until the next time.
Yours Vika
"The most effective way to do it, is just to do it"
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ahmadtodxb
- Crew
- Posts: 21
- Joined: Wed Sep 22, 2021 12:42 am
- Has thanked: 140 times
- Been thanked: 114 times
Long time since my last report, but this drive was special and deserve special report
Friday 13th drive, long waited and a lot of stories about it. The drive description by itself was scary "Chance to see the dark side of the Marshals".. Honestly, that a big contradiction of what we used to.
Briefing were started very simple and very straight forward. If the car in front of you got stuck overtaken it with three meters left or right announcing that on the radio. While the intermediates will assist the stuck cars. Also if second tries happened just wait don’t overtake it.
.. SL was chosen to be the white Xterra Nissan and we all ran to our cars.
Drive begun
, in less than a minute, i guess 45 seconds as mentioned before; i heard in the radio Xterra stuck 
; honestly i focussed on stuck word and i found my self overtaken two cars in front of me (i guess Tariq Abubaker and Martin) and jumping behind another Beige FJ. So I screw my initial plans of being in middle of the convoy in less than 2 minutes 
. If you wonder how Xterra was stuck check the Ehab videos. After then I realised this drive is no joke, we should stay in full focus.
Xterra car was released successfully from the sand, and then Bu Salem mentioned beige FJ move forward. i said to my self let me be a bit smart to wait if the first car would do it instead of me; we are two Fj's with same colour. However, i took my decision i said Dua'a (دعاء) :-D and I moved towards Bu Salem as 2nd lead; again I tried to be smart asking him if i need to get back to convoy order. he confirmed Im the 2nd lead from now on. After then i reset my mind to
1- Full focus mode.
2- No risky moves, drive safe
3- Follow Bu Salem tracks.
4- if he can do it with his Jimny, then for sure i can do it (for future newbies don't trust this point
delete it from your dictionary and mind-set).
Most of the learned newbies techniques were tested together i.e. fast driving, straight up-down crossing the dunes, side-sloping, criss-crossing, sharp switching, little against the gravity, pop out areas… and more.
Almost every few minutes we heard someone got stuck or got second tries. Luckily, i was somehow able to keeping up with Bu Salem as SL. I guess my first refusal was in the tree area (its indescribable, if you heard this area in future, pray again). Then we resumed driving for short period and it was soft sand that area. Hardly we got over it; many cars were stuck here and there in the tree area.
Finally, sunset time came announcing the end of the challenge before reaching the Palm Area. God knows what would happen there.
At the end I would like to thanks the founder Mohammad AlShamsi (Bu Salem), Mohammad Abu baker, Rashid, Scorpio and all the marshals and intermediates for their unbelievable support during the drive.
Note for future drivers who ever read this report, make sure not to miss this drive its amazing regardless the challenges you might face.
Ahmad
Friday 13th drive, long waited and a lot of stories about it. The drive description by itself was scary "Chance to see the dark side of the Marshals".. Honestly, that a big contradiction of what we used to.
Briefing were started very simple and very straight forward. If the car in front of you got stuck overtaken it with three meters left or right announcing that on the radio. While the intermediates will assist the stuck cars. Also if second tries happened just wait don’t overtake it.
.. SL was chosen to be the white Xterra Nissan and we all ran to our cars.Drive begun
, in less than a minute, i guess 45 seconds as mentioned before; i heard in the radio Xterra stuck ; honestly i focussed on stuck word and i found my self overtaken two cars in front of me (i guess Tariq Abubaker and Martin) and jumping behind another Beige FJ. So I screw my initial plans of being in middle of the convoy in less than 2 minutes . If you wonder how Xterra was stuck check the Ehab videos. After then I realised this drive is no joke, we should stay in full focus.Xterra car was released successfully from the sand, and then Bu Salem mentioned beige FJ move forward. i said to my self let me be a bit smart to wait if the first car would do it instead of me; we are two Fj's with same colour. However, i took my decision i said Dua'a (دعاء) :-D and I moved towards Bu Salem as 2nd lead; again I tried to be smart asking him if i need to get back to convoy order. he confirmed Im the 2nd lead from now on. After then i reset my mind to
1- Full focus mode.
2- No risky moves, drive safe
3- Follow Bu Salem tracks.
4- if he can do it with his Jimny, then for sure i can do it (for future newbies don't trust this point
delete it from your dictionary and mind-set).Most of the learned newbies techniques were tested together i.e. fast driving, straight up-down crossing the dunes, side-sloping, criss-crossing, sharp switching, little against the gravity, pop out areas… and more.
Almost every few minutes we heard someone got stuck or got second tries. Luckily, i was somehow able to keeping up with Bu Salem as SL. I guess my first refusal was in the tree area (its indescribable, if you heard this area in future, pray again). Then we resumed driving for short period and it was soft sand that area. Hardly we got over it; many cars were stuck here and there in the tree area.
Finally, sunset time came announcing the end of the challenge before reaching the Palm Area. God knows what would happen there.
At the end I would like to thanks the founder Mohammad AlShamsi (Bu Salem), Mohammad Abu baker, Rashid, Scorpio and all the marshals and intermediates for their unbelievable support during the drive.
Note for future drivers who ever read this report, make sure not to miss this drive its amazing regardless the challenges you might face.
Ahmad
-
Rooies
- Intermediate
- Posts: 102
- Joined: Sat Mar 10, 2018 3:50 pm
- Has thanked: 51 times
- Been thanked: 142 times
My first drive with the club after a very very long time. Been working 6 days a week for the last 6 months. Friday the 13th is always a interesting/exciting drive . I sneaked away from work a bit earlier to join the drive, it was hot, very hot... 
. I arrived at the meeting point, went through the drills & parked the car into the breeze to keep it "cool". Had a 15 minute nap & woke with lotsa other cars around me. It was nice to see all the old faces after a long time, lotsa new faces as well. Biggest surprise was seeing Phoenix after many years.
We had the drive briefing & headed into the desert, 5 minutes in we had our first victim. Not sure what happened, but after the recovery he bailed & left the drive . The convoy started moving again, in the beginning following distances was either to far or to short which caused issues. Did I mention it was hot? Gas build up in the fuel tank caused fuel to leak out of the cap which is "ok", but still not a good thing. We had several stucks, second tries but overall the going was good. There was some nice sand showers during stucks but everybody got out.
The sun was setting & it was time to head out, but not without more action to come, some more stucks & Brett "tested" the marshalls recovery skills with his "parking". Heading out somebody had a pop out at the back, while waiting we inflated & waited for the rest of the convoy.
It was another awesome "Friday" the 13th drive, was nice to catch up with everybody & meet some new club members.
Till we meet in the sand again, Stay Safe.
. I sneaked away from work a bit earlier to join the drive, it was hot, very hot... . I arrived at the meeting point, went through the drills & parked the car into the breeze to keep it "cool". Had a 15 minute nap & woke with lotsa other cars around me. It was nice to see all the old faces after a long time, lotsa new faces as well. Biggest surprise was seeing Phoenix after many years.We had the drive briefing & headed into the desert, 5 minutes in we had our first victim. Not sure what happened, but after the recovery he bailed & left the drive
. The convoy started moving again, in the beginning following distances was either to far or to short which caused issues. Did I mention it was hot? Gas build up in the fuel tank caused fuel to leak out of the cap which is "ok", but still not a good thing. We had several stucks, second tries but overall the going was good. There was some nice sand showers during stucks but everybody got out. The sun was setting & it was time to head out, but not without more action to come, some more stucks & Brett "tested" the marshalls recovery skills with his "parking". Heading out somebody had a pop out at the back, while waiting we inflated & waited for the rest of the convoy.
It was another awesome "Friday" the 13th drive, was nice to catch up with everybody & meet some new club members.
Till we meet in the sand again, Stay Safe.
Nobody Gets Left Behind
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Mabubaker
- Marshal
- Posts: 87
- Joined: Tue Sep 12, 2017 8:21 am
- Location: Abu Dhabi
- Has thanked: 153 times
- Been thanked: 146 times
- Contact:
An great afternoon with the brave newbies.. I remember such drive from my newbie days and how much it adds to my confidence to drive in the desert.
After a quick brief by Bu Salem, the big convoy started rolling into the "fun" zone.. I was joined by Lara trying to get some good 360 views of the convoy (see Lara's video above).
As usual this Trademark drive had a lot of fun moments, these moments will become camp stories for a loooong time.
Thanks to the intermediate and advanced member for the great turn out to support he drive.
Thanks Bu Salem for organizing the drive, Scorpio and Rashid for ensuring the safety of the convoy!
See you soon!!
M Abubaker
After a quick brief by Bu Salem, the big convoy started rolling into the "fun" zone.. I was joined by Lara trying to get some good 360 views of the convoy (see Lara's video above).
As usual this Trademark drive had a lot of fun moments, these moments will become camp stories for a loooong time.
Thanks to the intermediate and advanced member for the great turn out to support he drive.
Thanks Bu Salem for organizing the drive, Scorpio and Rashid for ensuring the safety of the convoy!
See you soon!!
M Abubaker
