Almost4x4

Hi there,

We had a lovely all level drive in Al Faqa desert Today: mix convoy of Newbies like me and (much) more experienced drivers.

I obliged to write a short report to thank the Club Crew, Marshals for as always great organisation and fun in the sand and the best in class Rescue Team, always friendly, supportive, and finally quick and efficient to bring our cars back on the track.

We had few zigzag climbs in moderate soft sand, many steep downhills, many fast arches and a many dune cresting, unfortunately Alshamsi had mechanical problem so he couldn't stay with us and Booy take over and lead us to enjoy the trip, he also allowed us to go over the dunes like the advance " but don't tell Alshamsi"

I also damaged my front pumper , I need to lift my car and get off road suspension also skid plate to be more ready next time.

Yes, so very enjoyable ride with a significant new experience that I enjoyed a lot.

Once again thanks to :( @alshamsi_m , @Agalon , @Booy Booy, kareem, rapailo, sorin) which always make me enjoying all incidents...



See you soon.

HI everyone I really enjoyed the trip a lot it was a very good experience to drive with you guys and special thanks to our marshal BOOY and I hope BO SALIM BIG RED get well soon
thanks everyone and I hope to drive with you soon
see you in sand

Hello, my fellow homo sapiens

Drive was scheduled to start at 14:30 hrs, from a SP (Start Point) near general area of Al Faqa'a on Dubai-Alain Road (https://goo.gl/maps/1AnFeewSbv9JRK5U9). After reaching SP, usual routine followed, deflation, enabling kill switch, meeting other participants followed by attendance/ briefing by Marshals and at the distribution into groups .

I was selected to be with @Shamsi , and he furthered nominated me to be the second lead. Responsibility for floating was given to @Booy. We set off from SP, with @Shamsi BIG RED leading the pack. @Shamsi led us through a very congested technical area, it was different and indicative of rest of drive. However, just after the first major crest negotiation, we found @Shamsi 's Big RED stopping and intermediates marshals coming to help him. BIG RED suffered major blow to the drive shaft and broke. However, with ingenious idea of one of advanced member (who I think, was sweeping); BIG RED was patched up and evidently retired from the battle ground, along with @Shamsi saying, "whenever I think of putting participants through paces, this happens" (rest assured, these are not his exact words, they were different, use your imagination).

@Booy , took over the command of pack, and MAN.....! things changed. Suddenly, the rev counter was not there where it supposed to be, odo meter was jumping over and above its comfort zone, heartbeats and adrenalin levels starting raising, and I sure blood pressure was surely raised. Although my last 5 drives with the club were also exciting, however this drive was something else. Drive was marked with high speeds, sharp cresting, high crest negotiations, high speed tight turns, and steep slopes.

I must mention here performance of the group, which was remarkable and everybody responded well to rhythm set by @Booy. There were hardly any recoveries or time consuming pop outs, which made the drive even more exciting.

Drive ended, around 17:00 hrs, and we had to travel quiet a distance to reach to FP (Finish Point).
While traveling to FP, I was praising my jeep and myself for performing as expected, however no sooner did I finished saying this to myself, I found my jeep hanging on a 3 feet dune like a lame duck with all four wheels in the air. It was so embarrassing, and I could not believe myself, and was reluctant to come out and face the music. My passenger, who was first time in the desert, was saying something what happened, and what would I do, and really I could not hear him. As I could only hear my inner self, telling me and asking me how can you get stuck on this. Anyways, sheepishly I announced my awkward fate on the radio and soon found two smiling support guys at the rear of my jeep, pulling me out of my misery. Guys, this was unexplainable, although I had to do a second try during the drive but I had full explanation for that and knew why i had to do it, but this was unexplainable to myself, what to talk about others.

Rest, was routine, inflation, switching the shocks to soft mode, switching off kill switch and saying the pack goodbyes.

With special thanks to @Shamsi and @Booy and the support staff for pulling me out (Apologies for not knowing and mentioning the names).

Hoping to see all of you soon, in next drive.

Best Wishes and Regards

Friday 26 Feb Drive
Second Step 4WD

We arrived at the meeting point for the Afternoon Second Step 4WD
Here we found a large gathering of drivers in an assortment of different vehicles.
First up was a very quick role call from @alshamsi_m , telling all of the Bo Promise drivers that we would be lead by @Agalon with support from @optimus and @Gabor – now get in your vehicles and go ! Agalon advised we would move off and then stop and have our briefing and be given our convoy positions. I expect the quick splitting of the group was to minimise the size of the gathering as quickly as possible (Covid Rules)

@Agalon , briefed us on the planned route gave everyone a convoy position and off went. From being 2nd lead in the morning I now found myself at second to last position with the ever present @James sweeping it was a fun group of us Oldbies as we have now driven several times together the usual suspects @Carlos @NahorJP , @Laarni , @Flor , @dorudoru sorry if I missed your name @Stephan white FJ ? I have memory like a sieve.

Being 2nd from back (the area I am used to) took a few minutes to settle into, after the smooth track I experienced in the morning drive it was back to cut up corrugated tracks to follow, bouncing along in the little J-WASP.

Style and pace of the drive was in direct contrast to the morning drive – faster pace and more challenging terrain. We had many many 2nd, 3rd and 4th tries on some areas. @Agalon asked me during one of the stops how different it was compared to the morning drive – it was incomparable, the pace the challenging terrain. For me, the morning drive was like a stroll in the park. Now in the afternoon drive I was being challenged every step of the way ! and I loved it. All the things I have learnt on previous drives suddenly started to come together.

The highlight for me was doing the bowl – my first ever attempt at a high climb, fast paced full 360 degree from entry to exit point. Along with the way I managed to dispatch many of the obstacles during my drive technically it was not very pretty, but I managed to complete the challenges. Apparently @James has it all on video from behind so I am keen to see some of the high lights.

I was fortunate to complete the drive with only 2 incidents – at one point I didn't see which line @NahorJP had taken In front of me. So I stopped and radioed (incorrectly) 2nd try. @James pulled up beside me and we quickly figured out the correct line, then at the end of the drive just as the sky was turning dark – I may be relaxed and my attention was not 100% as I was watching the vehicles ahead of me with a big bright moon in the background – what an amazing site that was, anyway I digress. Looming up ahead a pesky little ridge to climb to the flatter ground beyond this “obstacle" was not more than 5 foot high and yes I failed to climb it ! quick reverse second run and over we went.

The old saying be careful what you wish for – I mentioned that I didn't mind how late it got as I had never driven in the dark in the dunes and had not yet tried out my new LED light package ! so we are heading out at a (very) brisk pace over the flat dusty plains and then low-level dunes at some point the convoy got disconnected a certain husband and wife team would later discuss this at length as to who was responsible – but that is for another day. Effectively lost in the dunes as it go progressively darker, we waited for the main convoy to come and locate us – turns out we were closer to the end point of the track than they were.

We reached the end point at around 730pm, inflated our tires and went off on our separate ways.

What a great experience Take away from the afternoon drive as I said for the morning drive
- Stay Humble
- Listen, watch, and learn.
- Know your limits and the limits of your vehicle.
- There is no shortcut to experience.
- ALMOST4x4 Marshals are experienced, professional and go out of their way to ensure every driver has a positive and safe experience in the sand.
- Jeeps driven by experienced marshals really can go anywhere.
- FJs can get pop outs.
- The feeling when it all starts to click is amazing.
- When helping to recover a stuck, try not to be in a direct line between the stuck vehicle (I was standing on the foot board to add balance and the pull car. I received a full body Sand Shower- I am still clearing the sand out of my ears !!
- Patients is a virtue; some days it all aligns other days it all turns in to a CF if you don’t know what CF stands for PM me and I will explain.

Regards to all until the next time

Brett
J Wasp

Another great drive in a place we had the opportunity to drive in the morning.
It was very to (try) to apply the learnings of the morning.
The drive was supposed to be led by Shamzi but the “Jimny’s curse day” decided otherwise.
Indeed, in the morning drive, a tech problem emerged with the Jimmy of sparrow who ended up having to leave her car and becoming a passenger. In the afternoon, it was Bid Red which got into trouble not very long after start…Luckily for Bid Red some amazing “fixing” was performed through serboengineering :) and while we were getting ready to tow the car out, big red was back on 4WD mode!
Buoy replaced Shamzi as lead and we continued pretty much on the same track as the morning one but this time at a slightly faster pace (or was I tired and it felt faster?). One thing I know for sure is that I will need to find a way to easily use the radio as it became slightly challenging when the passages requiring communication are coming at a good rhythm…;)

We wish all the Jymnies a quick recovery and look forward to seeing them and their drivers soon in the sand for some more fun:)
Thank you very much for this guys! Great time!
Laurent & Claude

What the schnitzel! A special thanks to @alshamsi_m for the second convoy. Arrived, a quick opportunity to greet the broader Almost family before the cards were dealt by @alshamsi_m which was great, those to the left and those who are right. We followed our Lead @Agalon to the right, a safety moment on, momentum, power and gravity so after a brief physics lesson, we were off to the dunes.

Sorry @Tomvanhouten bug had a technical issue, his company was missed and would have been appreciated as the Jeeps dug to find oil.

We had a quick idea of what was to come and the progression depending on the achievement, so you can imagine, everyone pushed to the max in a safe way with a couple of second tries, @Agalon did a fantastic job and cannot be thanked enough for his choice of track, design of complexity with dunes to challenge our convoy, even with a couple of change tracks which was sure appreciated and onto some real swirling climbs rolling into a few oomph’s but all in the top game for the convoy. A couple of second tries, a stuck or two, one from me and real focus on getting the team through, safely, handle in hand or not, it appears some Jeep’s start to let go under a little tension @NahorJP, hope it all went back together without an issue. A great team effort at all levels of the drive, just to watch all of the commitment to succeed and take the desert obstacle in its stride was amazing.

I have to say, in this instance, we as the convoy, need to thank the lead as @Agalon and then everyone else who was part of the experience, the contribution was phenomenal, @Stephanas the second lead, @Laarni, @dorudoru, @CARLOSS, @Flor, @NahorJP, @brett and the support family members @Gabor and @optimus with the Godfather who leaves no tracks, many years of experience with the support team. ….. Very interesting, when we did stop, I offered / threatened everyone with an organic cucumber or apple and all of a sudden, we were off again. There were a few takers of the COVID-19 compliant peanuts, about 3 nuts in a pack which sounds about right.

Overall, @Agalon we had some great technical and sweeping dunes, controlled cresting, some stuck and I recall a couple of pop outs that were very quickly overcome during the drives and some creative instruction giving great advise.

Really do not like to focus on the negatives unless they become positives, so yes @brett could use his lights, am sure there were a few people out in Abu Dhabi wondering why there was an unannounced eclipse.

This was one of the drives that you could continue well into the next day, week, month so have got top give a big shout out to@Agalon for a great lead.

A brief overview of the drive:

Hello off road family,

Again, this time I was waiting till the “last minute” to be accepted…now in the “Bo promise” waiting list hoping that “Bo” does not mean “No” just in case I needed to make a formal complain Thanks @alshamsi_m for giving us again an opportunity for improving our skills

I arrived on time and as usual, there were plenty of cars already deflated so I though…today I am going to have a tough competition and I was right. I went to @Agalon group and as expected, it was not a piece of cake drive: In my group the usual suspects (@brett , @dorudoru , @James , @NahorJP , @Flor , @Laarni ) and an old friend from Liwa (@Stephan )

We started with small dunes but after a few minutes we were driving into serious technical area plenty of medium size dunes and very soft sand in some areas.
Thanks to @Agalon for a challenging drive in a spectacular atmostphere with the sunset and so on . And many thanks to @Gabor and @optimus for taking care of us and wise advices.

On my side it was not too bad with a couple of second tries and also two or three “fighting against gravity” …it is funny because every time it happened to me the Marshal caught me… it seems that they only look at me (us) when doing it or simply there are looking at me (us) all the time and we are so naive that we do not even notice (I would bet for the second option)

Lessons learned:

- As usual, do not fight gravity which I do believe it is one of my worst mistakes…over and over again . A bit frustrated to be honest but trying hard to fix it.
- Always keep an eye on the car behind you and report if not see it (specially when the car behind you is driven by your wife)
- Stop bringing kids if anticipated challenging drive (not for them but for the driver from time to time being distracted)

Hope I will see you soon in the sand

Carlos

2nd Step Forward Trip report (Organizer: @alshamsi_m )

Hello Almosters, Hope you all are having a great day.

Glad to see the newbies back in sand ready for action for this drive which was well planned and organized by founder & present Marshals with the help of supporting crew.
This was my 7th Newbie drive with Almost 4x4 Club/Family and the bonding with each and everyone is growing day by day meeting known and unknown faces in our group and ofcourse our Oldbies group - miss you guys (dont go with the name, their heart is as young as kid or may be trying to feel young ;) ) . Long waiting weekend and grabbing your seat for the drive as quick as possible is the only living thing keeps me alive throughout the week in office/WFH.

Somehow i managed to get kicked out from he registration panel and with the mercy of founder @alshamsi_m we were sailing in waiting convoy which was so called 'BO Promise". PM received for the drive and here we are on the Sand back again to learn and play.

We were part of @Agalon's convoy with @optimus & @Gabor floating and @James as a sweeper. Convoy started moving in the directed path chosen by @Agalon which was full of new surprises for Newbies with 5+ drives (Hill climb, Cresting, Side cresting, Safari styler and dont forget the crazy bowls). it was fun once you are inside the bowl doing side cresting and trusting your car to finish 360deg round . Another tricky one was the bowls and noone will like to get stuck in it! but yes some got stuck and finished the bowl maze except me as i couldn't finish the bowl and blaming my car for not producing enough power until @optimus & @brett suggested me to check the Air Filter if it was chocked. Fair enough, i was victim of sand trapping Air-Intake Filter which i didn't clean before the drive (Big lesson learned ). In such situation, never get panic as it will lead you to act crazy and get in more trouble. Special Thanks to @optimus , @Agalon , @brett , @Gabor , @James to recover me and my car from little white mouse ditch and sorry for the shower of blessing happedned due to the spinning wheels.

Slowy and slowly it was getting dark and Marshal decided to complete the track by easy route, But who knows that there will be another unplanned surprise waiting for us out of the massive dunes. Hit the gravels area and with the help of dust and approaching traffic we managed to spend some more time in desert (in short, Convoy got split in two and the second part of the convoy got lost which we realized only after crossing the gravel area. But it was proved that a wife cannot chase the husband in dusty area (super savior for man, it works!!). Jokes apart, @Gabor took the lead to take us out from the desert and stopped at one location to join the convoy. @optimus @Agalon along with @Stephan, @Laarni @dorudoru @CARLOSS came searching for us and there was a big happy smile on husband wifes face ;) and off we went happily.

@dorudoru , congrats for achieving the new target ;). A Drive without ...............................

With this we could enjoy the gloomy weather in afternoon, saw the amazing sunset and also drove in moon light with bright and some new fog lights in the mirror which almost made me blind :) .. amazing drive guys never had this much of fun before.

Thanks to the Founder & whole Almost 4x4 Family.

Hello almosters!

Finally I can write my report.
First of all , thanks to @alshamsi_m for giving us the chance to have a drive even when we were not supposed to go!
Thanks to @Agalon for leading and take us to a level up!
Thanks to @Gabor and @optimus for the support and @Stephan for being second lead.
Well the drive start with Some technical dunes and the level was growing up, most of us had second and third tries, some pop out and crested.
When we taught that the drive was done, we took a flat terrain and speed up, I couldn’t see the car in front of me, I was only following a cloud and suddenly the cloud disappeared
I saw a car to the right so I turned right into the desert again, but after a while I realized that we were lost. I felt guilty for disconnecting the convoy but the car in front of me didn’t see me at all (btw he was my dear husband @CARLOSS so after that we could share guilty feelings)
Thanks to gps and coordinates we were available to be catch for the rest of the convoy during the sunset and just before the night comes! Thanks guys!! We had an amazing drive, happy to share with you @Laarni , @dorudoru , @CARLOSS @NahorJP , @brett , @James
Important lesson: if you can’t see the car in front of you please don’t try to figure out the way, just report it!!!
At the end of the day I felt we got a really amazing drive and so many new skills in our pockets.
Thanks guys. See you soon!
Flor.-

Hello Everybody,

This was a tough week thus I am a bit late to post my report, but it would be a shame if I skip trip report of this fantastic ride.

First of all, many thanks to our great @alshamsi_m for granting us an amazing drive.

In the morning, I was suppose to be a passenger. But things went off the path and I ended up being in the driver seat. Special thanks to @presa for connecting us back to convoy.

Whole morning I drove with the One Step 4WD drivers under the lead of @SINGH and this was the one I had a popoutless drive after few drives. I was even suggested to change my nickname with PopoutMaster123 by some of the Oldbies.

To be fair, Singh gave the 5- newbies a great drive and I was thinking this doesn't seem like a 5- drive. Congrats everybody, all of you did very well all morning.

Whatever, after the morning drive which ended in Al Qudra, we drove to Al Faqa back to the morning's meeting point. I was already a bit tired, but I could understand from @Agalon 's question "how many are you 10+" that things will get interesting.

Unfortunately due to technical issues we lost a great comrade @Tomvanhouten before start. Hope the little yellow devil will be back soon!

After few mins into drive, I was sure that this drive will be on a different level than the previous ones. Even if we drove in the same track in the morning, afternoon drive was on a complete different level. In the beginning of the drive we found ourselves in a very technical area and the first victim was @Stephan as the second lead. He had a nasty popout in a little ditch, but as you know none of the popouts can escape from experienced fixers .

After this, @Agalon decided to took us out from that technical are and let us to keep up with the flow while the level of the drive was increasing constantly.

I had many "Oh Shit!" moments in this drive just behind @Laarni. It was an amazing, thrilling drive while we were feeling completely safe. Loads of arches, climbing dunes not in a straight line and even a complete full round in a bowl. Beautiful drive!

In this level, sometimes it is hard to keep yourself from fighting against gravity as @CARLOSS mentioned. But there is no room for EGO in this sport and personally I find it very fulfilling to be able to decide going down instead of fighting.

One nasty bowl nearly everybody got several tries will be remembered well by all of us!

Another note is regarding the pop outs. I guess I am pretty experienced on getting pop outs, so here are my lessons learnt during these sessions.

• Try to avoid sharp turns

• It is better to tap and release the gas while doing sharp turns instead of flooring it

• If a hit will be received, try to hit it straight instead of sideways (If possible)

• Don't push your car! More or less all of our cars are capable enough in this level. If you cannot make what the lead prescribed, it is mostly you are doing something wrong instead of your car is incapable.

Special thanks to @Agalon for showing us what is coming next, and making me thrilled more than ever for this sport. Which resulted a deep hole in my pocket

I am honored to drive with such a great group of people! Usual suspects @Laarni , @CARLOSS , @brett , @NahorJP, recently joined @Claude and the fantastic sweeper @James.

And as always, thanks to the guardian angels @optimus and @Gabor.

I am getting myself ready for upcoming Liwa drive, stay safe and see you in the sand!