Newbie All In

[Sridhar]

Lovely morning started off with a lively meeting with the newbie troops and Marshals at Nazwa shops. Full credit to the organizers and Marshals for the way they handled the crowds; we were very soon split into different convoys. I was in -5B led by Marshal Mazaaz. The drive was a fantastic learning experience for me. Today was my fourth drive in the desert and the first time that my brain started working and I start to think on my own (I guess it has something to do with my car; the moment I change a gear, it switches my car's 4WL 'on' and my brains 'off' :035:). I soon started to experiment a little with the speed and acceleration while cresting. At about halfway mark, I was very glad that I did indeed learn during the trip on speed control and promised myself a drink in the evening :confident:. Soon after, I flew for driving too fast, got stuck for being too slow….and back to square one. The newbie fear returned. :scared:
Lesson : It needs practice to learn to control the speed and the art of cresting. I will need many more drives and patience to improve. Today’s drive was technically challenging for me with many twists and turns, however, all the drivers drove well and we finished with very few stoppages / rescues.

Most importantly, I did not have to use the new tow rope that I got today from Chief Bu Salem.

Thanks to all the organizers, marshals and fellow drivers for the memorable newbie morning.

Thank you ALMOST 4x4.

Cheers,

[caprihorse]

[quote=Sridhar;33317]Lovely morning started off with a lively meeting with the newbie troops and Marshals at Nazwa shops. Full credit to the organizers and Marshals for the way they handled the crowds; we were very soon split into different convoys. I was in -5B led by Marshal Mazaaz. The drive was a fantastic learning experience for me. Today was my fourth drive in the desert and the first time that my brain started working and I start to think on my own (I guess it has something to do with my car; the moment I change a gear, it switches my car's 4WL 'on' and my brains 'off' :035:). I soon started to experiment a little with the speed and acceleration while cresting. At about halfway mark, I was very glad that I did indeed learn during the trip on speed control and promised myself a drink in the evening :confident:. Soon after, I flew for driving too fast, got stuck for being too slow….and back to square one. The newbie fear returned. :scared:
Lesson : It needs practice to learn to control the speed and the art of cresting. I will need many more drives and patience to improve. Today’s drive was technically challenging for me with many twists and turns, however, all the drivers drove well and we finished with very few stoppages / rescues.

Most importantly, I did not have to use the new tow rope that I got today from Chief Bu Salem.

Thanks to all the organizers, marshals and fellow drivers for the memorable newbie morning.

Thank you ALMOST 4x4.

Cheers,[/quote]

Never drive Pathfinder on 4L during normal off-road drive ! Only if you get stuck and you want to make self recovery.

[Sridhar]

[quote=caprihorse;33319]Never drive Pathfinder on 4L during normal off-road drive ! Only if you get stuck and you want to make self recovery.[/quote]

Thanks Chief, point well noted. Apologies for the reporting error, I actually drove on 4WH.

[SINGH]

First of all thanks to all the marshals for taking this great initiative and organizing this big event of taking almost 60 newbies into the deserts......not an easy thing to do....but the way guys have managed all this.....big hats off to you.

All the newbies were divided into 4 conveys and i was in the 5+A which was lead by DL & swept by Abu Jimmy. My position in the convey was 2nd to the lead, and i really enjoyed driving behind DL but felt responsibility at the same time, becoz the leading marshal will lead you in a way which is good for rest of the drivers and 2nd car behind him has to make sure that the track should remain the same as far as he can, so that rest of the drivers should not face much troubles (inevitable).

It was a nice briefing by DL, in his own special way, but was quite clear and practical. Drive started in a rally style along the fence, which once made me (I hope to others as well) to think, that are we going to drive today at this speed . But was a real fun, felt like, as if i am sitting in a roller coaster.

Started with small technical dunes for a warm up and than some crests followed by the big dunes. At one of the climbs, i just created a big distance b/w me and Dl, which resulted in lost of momentum when i tried to figure out the way in which DL has went, so had to take a second round.

And then that bowl, over which i drove in a perfect text book way behind DL in the first round, but when we had to drive over to it, one by one, i went at a bit higher speed which added on when i was descending, and goldy started to drag from behind to the left (towards the deep end), but luckily found an easy escape, crested to the right dune and came back to join the convoy. Should have done in a better way, but that's where you learn.

Comparatively, today we had very minimal stoppages, no major stuck's (miner one's are ok) & no Pop outs. Very well done 5+A guys, you made it a successful drive.

Again thanks to all the Marshal's for arranging and making this a successful drive.

[Sambhu]

Thanks to All Marshal for organizing this great Drive .
Drive was very existing and Interesting , i was in convoy -5 B lead by Marshal Mazaaz.

Thanks to Almost 4 X 4

[geekgirl_5]

Thank ALMOST for this trip

I went in 5-B, led by Mazaaj. It was good practise at zig zagging on the dunes. Had a hairy side-stuck moment where I forgot the second part of the mantra "Don't drive higher than the Marshall and DON'T FIGHT GRAVITY!" Thank you to the gentleman in the High-vis vest who helped me after that ( I'm sorry, I don't know all the name yet *blush*)

An enjoyable drive all over. Was nice to see so many ALMOSTers.

[ginger]

Normal 0 false false false EN-GB X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Meeting at Nazwa shops was an impressive sight, with so many Almosters. I was in 5+B convoy led by Yoghybear and it was great fun, with a mix of fairly technical dunes, and a few high ones near the end.
During the week I had changed my stock tyres (rather bald) for Yokohama Geolander ATS (with very good tread) and I almost had to learn to drive all over again!
Initially I found whilst side-cresting having to over-compensate by turning one way then back the other, meaning I was ‘all over the place’. Eventually I got it correct, but it was amazing to me how different it all felt; it’s really emphasised how important tyre choice is.
Many thanks to all the organisers.

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[Adnan]

[quote=SINGH;33325]. My position in the convey was 2nd to the lead, and i really enjoyed driving behind DL but felt responsibility at the same time, becoz the leading marshal will lead you in a way which is good for rest of the drivers and 2nd car behind him has to make sure that the track should remain the same as far as he can, so that rest of the drivers should not face much troubles (inevitable). .[/quote]
!!!! Dear Brother, I humbly believe that the responsibility of second lead is to try to avoid the rest of convoy drivers any difficulties or unexpected features done by the leader, therefore, the convoy shall follow the second lead,and the second lead will follow the leader as much as the route is safe.

that's why many times you hearing the leader instructing his second lead to detour his path whenever he face any unexpected issues,then the rest of drivers will follow the second lead.

[alshamsi_m]

Hi All

Just a small clarification ... Adnan said it correctly but I just need to add " The second lead is going to change based on the leader's instruction "

The first car is a leader & pathfinder so he is doing two jobs to make sure that the track is safe & enjoyable at the same time. He needs to make decisions in milliseconds in some places depends on the level or the terrain. The second lead is his last line of defense to bring everyone to safety.

If you fall in trouble and the leading person didn't give any hint then either he is stupid or he mint to put you in trouble. .. 90% it is the second scenario :like:

Drive safely

[Fat Rabbit]

Oh what an amaaaazing trip. Hats off to the Marshals and everybody in the club for managing this supersized trip. The organization was brilliant with all the convoys, leads, sweepers, rescue teams etc decided from before.

I was in -5B. The confidence building pep talk given my Mazaaj in the begining was inspiring. He said dont worry if you get stuck, its part of the learning process. Thank you Mazaaj for that, it really does make a difference.


The drive itself was good, lots of fun, met new people and it was good to finally put faces to names... such as Lamboo and Adnan (although I didnt have the chance to speak to them...well, maybe next time). Good to see Armin in his new Wrangler as well. I had the chance of using 4L for the first time. Lost power right on the top of a dune (should have approached it on 1st gear maybe). The rescuer in the FJ (sorry didnt get your name) asked me to switch to 4L and wow... magical moments!

We had three ladies in the convoy, they drove very well. I think I need to change my opinion about women drivers :p

All in all, good fun, thank you everybody for a great trip. Hope to see you in the sand soon.