Eggs in Basket 7.0 was an experience I will not soon forget.
At the starting point, we had the briefing and randomly picked our starting positions from a pile of papers - lucky me got to be number one! I was hoping to be a bit further down in the starting line up such that I could see from the early starters what to do and what not to do at the starting point.
Well, being the first one to start, I was fortunate enough to show everyone where not to park at the starting point:slow:. As [MENTION=27]alshamsi_m[/MENTION] said go go go, I stepped on the gas pedal and nothing... Checked my gear shift cause I could not remember putting it into P or N. Yes, it's in 2, so what's going on? I caught a glimpse of some faces at the starting line and their eyes told me that I was not going anywhere. No, this cannot be be. I remember doing the crest, and even braked to not go down too much over the starting line. I shifted to low range - diff locks on, but all 4 wheels were free wheeling in the sand. I looked out the window and [MENTION=27]alshamsi_m[/MENTION] gave me the assuring nod that I was really not going to go anywhere. I was still in disbelief, when @
KIMOz was at my window saying come come come, I'll pull you. I was still baffled by the crest, then realised the clock was still running, and my team mate was offering me help to get going. "Oh yes, I can carry on if a fellow competitor rescues me." @
KIMOz tucked me off the crest, rope back into the back, and off I went. (Thanks @
KIMOz for your help!)
The starting line crest confused me, and when I did it the second time around, I probably went over it faster than I would normally have done. I thought to my self that this little dune will not hold me down for a second time. "Oops, way to fast.. slow down slow down, and drive like you normally do, you can figure out later what happened at the starting line".
As I went over the second dune, and saw the landscape I realised that this is not the normal/usual terrain that we usually drive in. "In this terrain there will be no time for second guessing, no time to stop and consider the right direction or approach - here I will have to make quick decisions, and keep going in order not to get stuck".
I managed to find all the points quite easily - but at two of the points I had to carefully select the right spots to stop my car. @
Mark B , was sitting on top of the dune, and I was approaching him from the lower ground. As I got closer I knew I wanted to park exactly where @
Mark B was relaxing on his chair. I did not know what was behind him though, and decided not to climb the dune - but where shall I park? I made a small arch on the soft side of the dune, to ensure that the nose is looking down, and ran up the dune towards @
Mark B .
@
Eric was sitting at another interesting spot, and I circled that small bowl until I was happy that the FJ was looking down before I stopped. Sorry @
KIMOz ,who arrived just after me for @
Eric to sign our papers. I churned the sand over in that area and made it a bit hard for @
KIMOz to find traction again :yarr:
Off to the finish line, but the finish point was no where to be found... The track log on my GPS looks like a bowl of spaghetti around the finish point. @
ALKHATIB came to me from the starting point (starting point and finish point was almost in the same spot) where we entered the finish co-ordinates into my gps again. Only 8 meters away from where I was. @
ALKHATIB told me, "look for @
Hockey" . Ok, I added some more spaghetti to the track log lines, looking for @
Hockey and his cherokee, but he was nowhere to be found.
There was no way I could find @
Hockey at the given co-ordinates, so after a while I decided to go onto the road and drive around the outside, looking into the dunes to see if I can find @
Hockey hiding somewhere. I eventually found him, and then discovered that unfortunately the co-ordinates on his paper was not the same co-ordinates as on the competitor's papers, so he was not located at the finish point where I was looking for him. It was quickly rectified, and @
Hockey and I drove back to the finish point given to the competitors, where we waited for the others to arrive.
After everyone arrived back, [MENTION=27]alshamsi_m[/MENTION] did a debrief, summarising what we should have learned from the egg basket challenge. How to read the dunes and choose a safe route, do I have the correct GPS, am I too fast, too slow, which skills do I need to improve. After a bit of reflection on the days' events, the competitor's times were shared with everyone in anticipation....
It was an afternoon filled with excitement, laughter, good driving, learning, and great company.
After the event, we started a fire, where some people had to leave, and others stayed for some coffee and Karak. As always, fantastic chit chatting around the fire, and before we knew it, it was 23:00, and time to head back home.
Thank you to everyone present on the day, from founders, marshals, time keepers, observers, and fellow competitors who made this a fantastic event.
Till we meet again in the sand....
