Almost4x4

Good morning,

Ok before I start my trip report, I will conclude it in 3 words. "LOVE YOU RASHIDDDDD"

I started from home by 3:45 am and met @optimus on the beginning of the E66 by around 4:00 am.

We drove to the camp entry following Google maps, but in AlAin we decided to divert the route as google map was crazy.

We fuelled up in Al Wagan and reached the camp by around 7:00 am. By that time @Rashidjass and @Issa were awake.

We had a chit-chat, breakfast and karak after everyone woke up.

By around 8:30 am marshals separated the Intermediates from the Advanced and gave us the briefing. There was 1 intermediate convoy. @Rashidjass was leading, @Scorpio was floating and I was sweeper. Total were 8 cars in our convoy.

The area was marvelous; big dunes and sharp crests. We really enjoyed the driving style over there. The main disadvantage of that area was the bushes on the arches. @Mabubaker had a tire cut after hitting a bush. In addition, At one of the big arches, I hit a hard bush resulted a popout at the rear right tire. The sand was so soft at that arch, thanks god I managed to control the car and brought it down to the leveled ground.

We continued enjoying the drive till around 1pm when we stopped near by the stadium under the shade for a lunch break. We had a pleasant chitchat with the team.

By around 2pm; we started again, we were wishing that the day won't end. We were playing as if there is no tomorrow. All of us were extremely happy.

By around 3pm, I had some technical issue in my car. The ac was not working and the 1st gear was not engaging. It was so difficult to continue without the 1st gear. So I decided to drive on 4L 4th gear till we reached to the small dunes.

We had around 15 min cooling down drive till we reached the road by around 5pm.

In general, we had no stucks or situations and the drive was so smooth.

Big Thanks to @Rashidjass for that fantastic Day and thanks to @Scorpio for the support and to all for helping in fixing my popout.

See you soon in Sand

Cheers.

Hi All
"Al Wagan"..... heard that it had one of the highest chain of dunes, the sight would leave one with a wide smile.
I couldn't join the gang for the camp, as i had to leave work late, therefore i pushed off early towards alalin at 4:30am. filled up gas to full, at the last station in Al Wagan .
As i took the exit from the man road, While Driving towards the camp, got trapped in Several group of camel herds, on the gatch road, that made me drive extra cautiously!!!
I deflated few hundred meters from the camp site before reaching the camp at sharp 8am. Saw the guys packing up and getting their horses ready.
In no time, The marshals gathered everyone and split the groups into two, and started the briefing. while @Daggerfall was leading the advance. @Rashidjass took the lead of intermediates , @KIMOz got sweeping task and @Scorpio was the guardian angel, @Mabubaker was the second lead bouaaaaah and the rest lined up in order.
We were given the last chance to quit and go back or face the inevitable
@Rashidjass started with some small dunes, upgrading to the medium size and then to the large ones, thus giving us a taste of huge arches and a warm up of side crests. Due to lot of plantation on the wall of the dunes that could be dangerous and can cause serious damages to the car, the task of arching looked very difficult, but the Hefty experience of @Rashidjass kicked in, who drove us on the safest tack, yet making us enjoy every bit of the adrenaline on these high dunes. we had some second tries, but with the guidance of the seniors, all managed to achieve the most difficult targets!!! We had covered almost all the dunes on the south side before stopping for a midday break, close to the stadium bowl.
There was nice shade set up by the guys where we took lunch and a had a nice chat.
Around 1:30pm we got moving again, reached the STADIUM. it was marvellous sight to see @Scorpio do the circle run of the stadium . All of us followed on his tracks..... it was absolutely amazing run on fire .
@Rashidjass then raised the level a bit more and threw a lot all together at us, the recipe included series of good long side crests and big arches burnt . we challenged ourselves....everyone overcame it successfully. After having a good three hour drive we finally met the advance batch, had a nice break and headed towards the end point.
it was 5pm when we were at the main road... inflating...the odo showed 150kms .
Although it was a long, tiring day, but the fun and excitement made it WORTH .
Big thanks and God bless to @Rashidjass @Daggerfall @Scorpio for organising this amzing drive and making it a wonderfull day for us.


Till next time

mahmoodyasin
Dark stallion (Black fj cruiser)

Hello Everyone,

Words cannot do justice for such a drive, you have to experience it to know about it .

On the way to the camp, I met with @Youssef.Abdelhady at the Wagan fuel station and we moved to the camp together. @Rashidjass and @Markouss were at the camp already when we reached there. The night was pleasant and became more enjoyable with lamb chops coming from @Giorgio’s kitchen . I already had camel mandi in the dinner but still could not resist to taste them .

Managed to sleep for 4 hours only but was fresh in the morning. I was connected with the intermediate convoy which was lead by Rashidjass. The plan was to touch all the big dunes and to break for lunch near the stadium. The convoy did very well and it was an awesome drive full of high speed fun on big dunes. We enjoyed big arches, long rides on the sharp crests, made rounds in circular dunes including the famous stadium. We had some second tries but everyone played safe yuush . After the lunch, we met with our advance convoy and there was a little bargain for the fuel there :lol: .

Even though we drove full day for around 150km but even then towards the end of the drive when I was spotting some untouched crests I was feeling like going for them arr.. But don’t worry, weather is getting cooler and we will be back soon for more yuush

Thank you Rashidjass for the superb lead and all the intermediates for your great company. I had a lot of fun floating around the convoy and sure that you had your share of fun as well.

Cheers

Hi All,

The lead by @Rashidjass is in itself a treat and following him in an area like Al Wagan is like a cherry on the cake!

He gave a very short briefing, saying that the area is his favorites with high to very high dunes, sharp crests, bowls, soft sand etc, we have small convoy hence we are going to have a lot of fun!

He started immediately with a small side crest followed by few more, till we did one long arch followed by a sharp crest driving all the way down, then it was unlimited fun, combination of climb,arch, side crest right until the end.

We had a nice a relaxing lunch break close to stadium bowl, setup a nice & shady canopy (thanks to @KIMOz ), had our lunch, chit chatted for a while and headed to stadium bowl. Instead of making the circles, we were given the chance to go down inside the bowl and come out of it.

We had good fun making rounds around and hearing to that typical ta-ta-ta-ta music . Thereafter the leader started again to execute those crests and climbs and arches, this time on a different chain of dunes until we met our advance brothers midway.

We had a fun chat with them, they shared their “oh shit” moments and we shared ours! Ha ha ha! Took some nice group pictures and restarted our unfished task which was “do not leave any crest untouched”.
We were literally pushing our cars to the last remaining bit of HP as if there is no tomorrow! Thanks again to @Rashidjass for a stunning lead.

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.
You are able to say to yourself, 'I lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along."

until next time!

The whole of last week, my mind was in Wagan, I can't recall how many times I opened google maps satellite to look at the dune formations there. True Story [emoji18]

At the camp site, @giorgio prepared the usual and best grill. I believe he managed to get the Marshals to the good mood for next day drives. Thank you bro!

The night were full of recalling nice stories from our memories in Almost4x4,,, drives,, fun moments, Oh$#!¥ moments,,, its really becoming a rich list.

I fixed my tent and got ready to sleep,,, then I realised that I am camping in the middle of a high traffic camel track,,, I was tired so decided not to move,,, all the night I was recalling @alshamsi_m story about the poor man's tent and the camel (restricted camp story)

In the morning, @Rashidjass called for the intermediates briefing. The message was clear; Al Wagan dunes have no mercy, so stay alert!

@Rashidjass assigned me as his second lead, a dream came true [emoji7][emoji7],, it was a great experience indeed,, maintaining a bigger distance while keeping the Lava traceable was a big challenge [emoji28]

The last time I drove in Wagan was my last 10+ drive, it was the next day of my inter exam, when we reached the Stadium Bowl, @alshamsi_m allowed the inters to play,,, I was confident that someday I will come back to play. This time, we actually concurred the Stadium clock wise, anti-clock wise and bottom up [emoji23][emoji23] Thank you Rashid.

Al Wagan is a different experience, and I can confirm; this inter drive was the most challenging, so far, in terms of dunes size, sharpness of the crests and amount of bushes. Hence, I believe, surviving in this drive was a great achievement first to the leader and support, @Rashidjass and @Scorpio , then to the drivers.

Apologies for the long report [emoji5]

See you in the next challenge.

M Abubaker




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Scorpio wrote: Sun Nov 10, 2019 1:10 pm
Even though we drove full day for around 150km but even then towards the end of the drive when I was spotting some untouched crests I was feeling like going for them arr.. But don’t worry, weather is getting cooler and we will be back soon for more yuush

Same here