Almost4x4

9 Points was a really great drive. The day started early being woken up at the camp by the roosters, dogs and surprisingly noisy birds!
It’s a fantastic area of desert; really not at all remote but free of tracks and other cars. We must drive their more often.
We were presented with a 9 big points/dunes, with very sharp crests, and an obstacle- course of varied terrain.
It started off with a few stucks and second rounds, and big drops and big climbs. We did some big crests, both straight over and side crests, including Bu Salem’s ‘don’t think crest’ - which requires you to ‘switch off’ from the bowl waiting for you on the right!

We then experienced a number of lessons in recovery. One where we had 3 ropes on one car, and another where there were 4 cars connected like a train one behind the other.
Initially I was tucked away at the back of the convoy (which has the advantage of being able to see how others react to the situations) then Zico swapped the first 5 with the last , and it all sped up, having much less time to gauge and assess!
A great ‘learning’ day for me, and many thanks to all the organisers.

I received the PM and loaded the GPS on thursday, seeing that the start of 9 Points was near to a previous drive, Tech1, which was a great technical drive. Al Shamsi briefed that the 9 points were on a similar route to the infamous Sony Ericsson rally and we were all eager to complete the course. Once on the way, the adrenalin levels quickly rose with very sharp crests courtesy of the wind the day before, narrow, steep gullies, and a quick pace. There were a few inevitable stucks and second tries, as well as a few lessons from the masters in safety, roll over prevention and tough rescues. As Ginger has already said, another learning day, and an area I look forward to driving again.

See you in the sand soon.

I completely agree with [MENTION]ginger[/MENTION] and [MENTION]Green Giant[/MENTION] it was definitely an amazing area to drive in. The sand was so soft and bright, fantastic place!
We started from the small briefing about 9 points and recommendations on how to drive. As soon as [MENTION]alshamsi_m[/MENTION] suggested to not drive behind our usual buddies, all eyes turned on [MENTION=2181]hailun[/MENTION] :yarr: (Sorry man, you have to drive with us more often!)

We were also told that the first five cars will have a bigger opportunity to learn more things than the second five. Unfortunately, as we don't have the "Ladies first" rule in the club, I stayed at the back with [MENTION=22]zico[/MENTION], and... I can't tell you how difficult it was to drive behind: one unpredictable driver + one predictable driver with a suffering car + predictable driver who gave up to predict those two cars in front of him :melt: Endless brainstorm!

Luckily, after a while, [MENTION=22]zico[/MENTION] shifted the front five cars with the second group and the trip became smooth and enjoyable again.

It was a nice drive. However, I sincerely believe that if the total number of cars in the convoy would be less, we could do it much faster. The other things which surprised me a lot during the drive are: why do we still have so many "one by one" crestings and can still see the dangerously cutting way cars. :032: We were supposed to pass this level a long time ago.

Kindly ask all drivers to show great respect to the convoy and trip regulations, and most importantly, to each other, so maybe then our Marshals could trust us a little bit more :033:

I think, we spent a good time together.
Hope to see you soon :)
Love you all!

Hello Everyone

I would like to thank all the people who joined us for this drive. We had a great time specially driving the top of the dunes where there were no tracks. I wouldn't talk about the drive it self but I will go for another topic that will be useful for all our members.



The Stuck :dark mood:

No .... I'm not going to talk about the one I had EVEN BEFORE the drive started :yaeh am not durnk:. I'm going to talk about the second ONE :killzonesmiley:. While we were doing a small cresting I stopped in a wrong place which is only 5 to 6 meters high where in fact you need at least 1.5 to 2 Meter to ROLLOVER. When I give the Club Members' introductory I always say " Concentrate on what I'm saying because you might think THIS WON'T HAPPEN TO ME ".

When someone get stuck, it is a great opportunity to learn how the other person had that problem and how to be solved " Smart people learn from their mistakes , Smarter people learn from the other's mistakes " . Let us see how many lesson were there :

1. Stuck on the edge of a dune.
2. Fall in the Side of the crest with an angle that it is around 45 degree.
3. Pop out.
4. Cut tire valve.
5. Steering stabilizer got filled with sand.

The solution :

1. I'm not going to say that there is a right or wrong solution but let us say there is a better solution than the other. We did pulled from the angle that looked safely but I had another opinion that it this pull will lead to a rollover although my suggestion looked more dangerous.
2. While I was going down on the dune I felt that " O.K this is it you are going to rollover " So I used my experience by pressing on the fuel instead of breaking the reason behind that is Either you escape the angle and go down or you dig more and stick to the sand so there is a chance to be saved by the others. We did a great job by putting a rope to the chassis and anchor to another car.
3. The pop out was easy to be fixed but when we starting lifting the car we noticed that it was stopped in a wrong place so we had to move it which lead to cut the rubber valve.
4. If you have a pop out your valve goes to the 6 O'clock position but if you have a cut valve then your valve's position should be in 12 O'clock. most of you saw the pop out fixing but not all of you saw the valve replacement.
5. This is an interesting part , I told you that learn from the others' problems at the beginning of my post. FOUR YEARS ago I had an FJ and we where doing a drive in Razzen. one of our members had a Nissan patrol and had a strange problem " His car was going to ONE direction but not the other " I never thought on that time I would buy a patrol one day but I said " It might happen to someone in the future so let me learn how they are going to fix it. When I realized that I have this problem I called Abu Tariq and told him it is happening again, it took us around 10 min to fix it where it could be a nightmare for people with no experience.

We had some members chit chatting while all this happened and waiting for us to finish, I'm sorry to say that you MISSED GREAT LESSONS which you could have for FREE.

We learn in every drive we make and in this level you have the chance to learn how to help yourself and the others.

I hope this going help you in the future to be better off-roaders

Best Regards

[quote=alshamsi_m;38824]Hello Everyone

I would like to thank all the people who joined us for this drive. We had a great time specially driving the top of the dunes where there were no tracks. I wouldn't talk about the drive it self but I will go for another topic that will be useful for all our members.



The Stuck :dark mood:

No .... I'm not going to talk about the one I had EVEN BEFORE the drive started :yaeh am not durnk:. I'm going to talk about the second ONE :killzonesmiley:. While we were doing a small cresting I stopped in a wrong place which is only 5 to 6 meters high where in fact you need at least 1.5 to 2 Meter to ROLLOVER. When I give the Club Members' introductory I always say " Concentrate on what I'm saying because you might think THIS WON'T HAPPEN TO ME ".

When someone get stuck, it is a great opportunity to learn how the other person had that problem and how to be solved " Smart people learn from their mistakes , Smarter people learn from the other's mistakes " . Let us see how many lesson were there :

1. Stuck on the edge of a dune.
2. Fall in the Side of the crest with an angle that it is around 45 degree.
3. Pop out.
4. Cut tire valve.
5. Steering stabilizer got filled with sand.

The solution :

1. I'm not going to say that there is a right or wrong solution but let us say there is a better solution than the other. We did pulled from the angle that looked safely but I had another opinion that it this pull will lead to a rollover although my suggestion looked more dangerous.
2. While I was going down on the dune I felt that " O.K this is it you are going to rollover " So I used my experience by pressing on the fuel instead of breaking the reason behind that is Either you escape the angle and go down or you dig more and stick to the sand so there is a chance to be saved by the others. We did a great job by putting a rope to the chassis and anchor to another car.
3. The pop out was easy to be fixed but when we starting lifting the car we noticed that it was stopped in a wrong place so we had to move it which lead to cut the rubber valve.
4. If you have a pop out your valve goes to the 6 O'clock position but if you have a cut valve then your valve's position should be in 12 O'clock. most of you saw the pop out fixing but not all of you saw the valve replacement.
5. This is an interesting part , I told you that learn from the others' problems at the beginning of my post. FOUR YEARS ago I had an FJ and we where doing a drive in Razzen. one of our members had a Nissan patrol and had a strange problem " His car was going to ONE direction but not the other " I never thought on that time I would buy a patrol one day but I said " It might happen to someone in the future so let me learn how they are going to fix it. When I realized that I have this problem I called Abu Tariq and told him it is happening again, it took us around 10 min to fix it where it could be a nightmare for people with no experience.

We had some members chit chatting while all this happened and waiting for us to finish, I'm sorry to say that you MISSED GREAT LESSONS which you could have for FREE.

We learn in every drive we make and in this level you have the chance to learn how to help yourself and the others.

I hope this going help you in the future to be better off-roaders

Best Regards[/quote]

as a new bee, we either do have experience this type of mistakes nor we see any one did this mistakes, but we learn by reading a well narrated trip report.. and learning the mistakes... don't know while driving we do really take care of this type of mistakes !!!!!!!!!

just to wants to ask , what type of tyre accessories we essential to keep apart from ..pressure gauge, compressor , extra valves ? extra valve pins ? puncture kit ?

[quote=bijubs;38829]as a new bee, we either do have experience this type of mistakes nor we see any one did this mistakes, but we learn by reading a well narrated trip report.. and learning the mistakes... don't know while driving we do really take care of this type of mistakes !!!!!!!!!

just to wants to ask , what type of tyre accessories we essential to keep apart from ..pressure gauge, compressor , extra valves ? extra valve pins ? puncture kit ?[/quote]



You are on the right track ..... You just need to know how to USE them :045:

[quote=alshamsi_m;38824]Hello Everyone

We had some members chit chatting while all this happened and waiting for us to finish, I'm sorry to say that you MISSED GREAT LESSONS which you could have for FREE.

We learn in every drive we make and in this level you have the chance to learn how to help yourself and the others.

I hope this going help you in the future to be better off-roaders

Best Regards[/quote]

Absolutely agree on the above point. When we are driving in a convoy than one's problem is everyone's problem and all should do efforts to solve the problem. Stucks, Pop-out or Car Breakdown could be happen to anyone.

Hi everyone

Yes, it was a great drive.

Soft sand, big dunes, sharp edges and a very challenging route. I loved it.

Al Shamsi's "stuck" was an eye opener. I was near the back of the convoy, so didn't realise the full extent of the situation.
I thought that he would need a good pull from behind to get back onto the ledge, or at least to get the rear of the car on the ledge and the nose pointing down.
This didn't work.... and the situation got aggravated and a roll over was imminent.
Quick thinking to anchor the car and then re-asses the situation and make a safe recovery.

I have only one negative comment about the drive.....
We were told to join the convoy in any order. This is perfect and often done.
The practice of staying in convoy is still required. If someone gets stuck or in trouble, you stop.
Jumping the line of cars from behind is unsafe and unacceptable.
To the individual who feels this is not necessary, please stop and think about it.
Enough said.....

Thanks to all the drivers and marshals who made this a great drive.
Thanks to Al Shamsi for accommodating my "standby" work lifestyle.

It was great to drive with you all again.

Regards
Paul