Almost4x4

Hi almosters, this is my first trip reporter.
I had the luck of being invited by Bu Salem to the Sand Tune trip (thanks for the trust @Bu Salem!) and therefore today I had my first trip with the club.
We met at the ADNOC service area in Tayba at 8am, we had some coffee (well, some Nescafe', so not really coffee for an Italian :blah: ) and some chit chat to introduce myself to some of the members.

@Yoghibear then checked my tools and it was all ok, except for the lift jack. I bought a 5ton bottle jack, but Marshall advised to go for a trolley jack.

We had a short briefing, got positions assigned (I was assigned as the 3rd card, behind 2nd lead) and around 8.30 we moved to the deflation point.

So I was all excited to start my first trip, adrenaline started to pump and here first lesson learned: CHECK YOUR TOOLS AND MAKE SURE THEY FIT YOUR CAR.
When I had to deflate my tires, I pulled out of the box my brand-new, shiny ARB Deflator and, following its instructions I screwed it to the valve and then tried to catch my air pin to unscrew it. It was ok for the first tire, but then I wasn't able to do it on the second.
I told myself: probably it's the emotion, let's cool down and try again. But nothing.
I went to another tire. Nothing.
The I called for help and [MENTION=9724]Arabasque[/MENTION] come by car. He tried, but no luck as well. We asked for additional help of someone else having the ARB deflator and a guy come (sorry, don't know the name). But no luck.

So we did the old school (thanks [MENTION=9724]Arabasque[/MENTION]) and used a pin remover and a digital gauge and all done in few minutes.
In the meantime, the other guy with ARB deflator looked at it and found the issue: the pin remover of the deflator was a bit too tight, so it couldn't catch the pin itself. I will fix it when at home.
If I had tried at home, I would have discovered it and fixed it already. So, CHECK YOUR TOOLS AND MAKE SURE THEY FIT YOUR CAR. Lesson learned.

The convoy then started today's trip, which was a cross-country (we had a bit of dunes, tracks, recreational drives) and it was a nice track.
After a few minutes, I found out my radio wasn't receing properly. After asking for assistance via radio, since we were halted waiting for a recovery, @Bu Salem come by my car and checked the configuration of the radio. All fixed in 30secs, but again lesson learned: CHECK YOUR TOOLS, MAKE SURE YOU KNOW HOW TO USE THEM.

We had a few second/third rounds and even 1 popup in the convoy. That was the moment @Bu Salem called all us newbies to see how to recover from a pop-out.

We then had another briefing, stressing some basic but important safety rules such as:
- drive with fastened seat belts
- you have responsibility of your passengers
- don't lean out of the car any part of your body, don't allow passengers to do either (or if you roll over there will be serious injuries)
- learn how to park safely when the convoy stops

The convoy proceeded and we alternated some more technical driving with some more easy driving.

At the end, time was passing by very quickly and it was already 12.30 and we were back on the tarmac, re-inflating our tires.
I wanted to thank everybody for the nice experience, and am looking forward for the next time.
See you soon on the sand! :like:

@dlemma - good write-up. I think you summarized everything nicely.

Good to get out on the sand finally. Thanks to those who helped by giving me water and inflating my tires when my radiator was busted. Much appreciated.

For those who have google earth: here is our track with some markers and pictures- https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B0nqOD ... p=drivesdk

and the details for the geeks (present company included):

Activity type: driving
Description: -
Total distance: 40.74 km (25.3 mi)
Total time: 3:49:30
Moving time: 2:41:21
Average speed: 10.65 km/h (6.6 mi/h)
Average moving speed: 15.15 km/h (9.4 mi/h)
Max speed: 69.66 km/h (43.3 mi/h)
Average pace: 5:38 min/km (9:04 min/mi)
Average moving pace: 3:58 min/km (6:22 min/mi)
Fastest pace: 0:52 min/km (1:23 min/mi)
Max elevation: 123 m (402 ft)
Min elevation: 46 m (149 ft)
Elevation gain: 299 m (982 ft)
Max grade: 11 %
Min grade: -8 %

Nice report @diemma
thanks [MENTION=10405]Adam[/MENTION] for a useful track path and summary
nothing to add let the pictures talk[ATTACH=CONFIG]2882[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]2883[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]2884[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]2885[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]2886[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]2887[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]2888[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]2889[/ATTACH]

Hi Almosters ...

this is my second trip with Almost and I want to summarize the stuff which I liked and attracted my attention:

1- I felt safe with the marshals and expert off roaders around. I knew that if anything went wrong, they know how to deal with it.
2- the trip was informative, it was my first time to see a pop up tire. it was a good opportunity to learn how to deal in such situations.
3- my truck got stuck twice because of the long chassis (thanks for the guys who towed my truck). the technical driving was tough for me because im more used to drive in wider areas. however, to survive in the desert we should learn to drive in all situations.
4- yesterday I realized that the tools which Almost 4x4 management asked us to buy is WORTH it.
5- there were areas where we used to pass it one by one because it's safer. I wish that we had videos for these particular situation to learn from it.
6- another thing I liked was the time discipline. the leader and the Marshals tried their best to stick to the time frame despite the repeated emergency stops.

last thing I want to say, that after reaching home in RAK and had a nice lunch with my family, I couldn't sleep because my heart was beating fast. my wife thinks that it's because of the adrenaline rush :D

see you all in the next drives.

Hello Everyone

Well I consider the members who joined us are lucky because we don't do cross country drives that much or what others call it " FUN DRIVE ". We started in Shariah and drove through Ajman and finised in Umm Al Quain, I'm sure some members got disoriented :059:.

It was a long drive but with full of everything , technical , mountains, flat areas , forest and road. we had quite big convoy but the marshals and rescue team did very well.

Looking forward to see you all again in the anniversary because we are going to something similar but in a different area, so if you missed this one don't miss the 4th. March.

Cheers

[quote=Mohanad;45924]... my truck got stuck twice because of the long chassis (thanks for the guys who towed my truck) ...[/quote]
Never blame your car, it's you who is controlling the car, not the car you. You got stuck. You are not the only one, who is driving LWB.

[MENTION=2339]Iskander[/MENTION]

Were the Sun & Moon showing at the same time ?

thank yhou Roberto for the report, all is said there.
[MENTION=10405]Adam[/MENTION] , [MENTION=2339]Iskander[/MENTION] it was nice to chit chat with you.

it was a good social drive and experience.

because of the rain few days earlier, the terrain was muddy so i kept drifting and my rear wheels wouldn't stay in place.

thanks to the marshals and rescue team

agree with you ... and this is why I joined Almost .. to learn how to do a proper safe offroading :)