sandy's fridays

[strawb]

An awesome morning out with new friends .....

We hope you guys enjoyed your first outing with almost4x4 ....

Now lets see you share your personal experience thru your trip reports

Cheers

[Sridhar]

Thanks Strawb, Al Shamsi, other marshals and fellow CMs (to be newbies) for the wonderful trip we had this morning.
I am sure all the CMs on this trip enjoyed as thoroughly as I did today; it was a particularly mesmerizing trip for me as I had no previous experience of sand driving other than the GNFD 2014 (the route reminded me more of the roads in my home country {no offence intended to anyone} and hence managed to complete a small portion of that trip). Today’s route was my first exposure to desert sand and was indeed overwhelming. I am sure others would like to share their experiences as well, so I will limit to a few things that I learned through experience today driving in SF1 convoy:

1. Driving with ALMOST 4x4 reminds me of my office (oil and gas offshore company), where safety is a culture. Once infused into the blood of the employees, safety becomes a habit and requires very little policing. I could feel a similar safety culture today; thanks to ALMOST team.

1. I watched / read many videos / posts by various experienced members on the forum (hats off to the amazing wealth of information on the forum) and thought I prepared well (atleast in theory) for today’s drive. However, as the drive started, my memory temporarily eluded me, and as I was climbing up a dune and just about to cross over, I stopped at the peak for no reason and got stuck. (thanks to Strawb for pulling me out). This I did despite being reminded in the marshal’s briefing before the drive not to stop atleast until half of the car passes the top of the dune.

Lesson I learnt : Implement the basics right and don’t switch off mind even for a second.

1. A few minutes before the finish, a few cars, including mine, got stuck in the soft sand. Seeing me struggle, Strawb had asked me to engage 4WL and proceed. I didn’t know how to engage 4WL, as I had no previous experience with pathfinder (which I just bought recently based on the good ratings from Chief Marshal). While Strawb helped me with it, he must have wondered if I was driving a stolen car (he asked me if it was indeed my car)

Lesson I learnt : Know your car well. While there can be no excuse for not being able to shift a gear, I see this as an eye-opener, and will spend some time in learning more about the car, its engine, filters, hoses, etc.

Hoping to learn from the above mistake on my next drive with the club, thanks again to all the marshals and participants and I look forward to reading other CMs experiences on the trip.

BTW, Based on the number of recoveries made by Marshal (Strawb) today, my car included, I guess he would have been lot less burdened in keeping the Viking rope shacked and dangling from the back of his car at all times

Cheers.

Keenly awaiting next trip with Almosters.

[alshamsi_m]

Hello Almosters

We had another superb gathering & drive today , where we had more than 35 cars in THREE convoys to give fun for everyone. Hope some of you might have a story to tell when got back home about our little adventure.

Thanks for making another memorable weekend ... see you soon

[Mohammad]

My two cents today would be a BIG THANK YOU ALMOST marshals, sweep, explorer for running 3 conveys at the same time. No matter how the drive was I guess I should salut you guys for your efforts and time to accommodate 35 cars. If I recall we had 14 cars in total in sf3 convey and what a smooth easy drive by Mazaaj taking the extra miles of being nature lover and allowing people to climb the camal rock (I guess the gentleman went to the top for a picture).
all in all, a relax drive and looking forward for more action...

[desert_jellyfish]

First off, thank you to the family as a whole......organizers, marshalls, leaders, sweepers, participants, EVERYONE!!! (I didnt say any names because i didnt want to forget anyone)


though i've been away for quite a while since my CM trip but a few drivers still remembered me which made me feel more welcome than ever. Also, thanks to bu salem for the tools introduction....though everything is mentioned here on various threads on this forum, it was a nice refresh to the memory.


i was im convoy SF3 and i have to say thanks to mazaaj for the great route and khatib for the safety sweep


i learned today how to fully disable the traction and stability control system, by removing the fuse from the box in the front (turns out even holding the ESC button for 30 seconds doesn't switch it COMPLETELY OFF) i was warned that it would be a completely different car that i'm driving but i hope to get used to it with practice


Very much looking forward to more drives in the future and building more experience and getting more knowledgeable in the desert


thanks to all one more time!

[Fat Rabbit]

Hey everyone,

What am amazing drive yesterday. THREE convoys meant a lot of hard work for the Marshals and Explorers. Hats off to you guys for that.

My brother and I were pleasantly surprised by Bu Salem that he remembered us even though we were on a year's break (due to consistent travelling for office related work). My last drive with the club was on 02-Jan-13! Just proves further, Almost4x4 is indeed a family.

So over in the SF3 drive, great route taken by Mazaaj, good dunes, some really steep declines, Fossil Rock, Camel Rock and a whole lot of fun. Mine was the last vehicle in the convoy so I had a great opportunity to watch Al Khatib (sweeper) in action from my side veiw mirrors. Our convoy was generally fast paced, I dont think we had any major stucks. There was a Land Cruiser with a Saudi flag that came out of nowhere and joined the convoy. It was only later I found out he was part of the club (sporting the almost4x4 sticker on the rear of his vehicle). Great driving dude, sorry I didnt get your name.

Thank you to everyone for making the experience really amazing. I am off galavanting around the world again from tomorrow, out of UAE for 2 weeks. Hopefully will be able to join a trip towards the end of February.

Stay safe guys (and gals).

[Fat Rabbit]

[quote=Sridhar;32586]While Strawb helped me with it, he must have wondered if I was driving a stolen car.[/quote]

:secret laugh::have a nice day:

Made me smile for quite some time... :059:

[Mazaaj]

Another Great day in the desert..we gathered in Kalba road Emirates petrol station and the weather was a bit cold in the morning except for Alshamsi since he was wearing a T-Shirt only.
Later on we drove around 20 kms to the deflating point where Alshamsi gave an excellent briefing about the useful and recommended off-roading tools. I remembered before joining Almost4x4 I bough a lot of unnecessary non-rated tools (I hope Capri will not read this) as I had no experience about it...again thx to Bu Salem.

After we finished the tools briefing I moved my convoy "SF3" out of the group to give them a fast briefing about the truck and reminding them of basic safety regulations of driving in the desert. I was leading with the help of Alkhatib in sweeping with Zico and Kallas. The truck was around 21 kms starting in Capri land and we ended up in Taiba Petrol Station passing by fossil rock and the camel rock..no stuck no pop-outs..good drivers..good people.

Thank you for joining us and see you in the desert very soon.


note: You can find some pictures in almost4x4 facebook page.

[Agalon]

Hi Almosters,

I was driving with SF3, the -5 newbie convoy yesterday under lead of Mazaaj. It was a nice and easy going drive and a good exercise for me to get used to our new toy. There was no stuck as far as i know, just a disconnection in the convoy for a short time which easily solved by the marshals. We climbed to the Fossil Rock, which made us excited that we thought we will make a drop from there first time with the club but unfortunately, i think considering the level and the capabilities of some of the cars in the convoy, we just enjoyed the view for this time :) The most exciting part was after this point that we took our way to Camel Rock and back to the end point.

Thanks to all marshals for watching over us and the club for the organization.

See you on sand next time...

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