Almost4x4

Hi everyone!

CMIYC drive finally came after a long way and I have no words to describe how exciting it was!

During the whole week I was trying to gather some more information about the drive as CMIYC only reminded me an American movie but not a clue regarding the drive specifics: I watched all the videos and read all the reports available and started to feel the pressure in my shoulders. This kind of drives for me is like visiting the dentist: You know that it is for good and nothing bad will happen (most likely) but still, you cannot avoid feeling nervous.

So the day came, and I showed up almost 1 hour in advance for making sure that no fog or road incident will ruin the whole thing. Finally, I was pretty much alone on the road while heading the meeting point and not fog at all. Very nice weather actually…so let’s get ready for the camping season guys!

10 out of 10 contestants showed up in Nahil area for the game but unfortunately, one needed to abandon the drive after a few dunes because some issues in one of the rear shocks.

@Rashidjass took the lead, sweeping and taking the time was @giorgio responsibility, @Mabubaker took the 3rd position and the rest of the Marshals floated and assessed us: @Solmaz . @Agalon , @presa and @Daggerfall .

I was the 4th to take the second lead and since the very beginning we realized that some dunes were already chewed up…that was too bad and forced Rashid to avoid these huge trenches limiting the pace of the convoy. And of the top of it the sand was super soft in some areas and other convoys were stopping us from time to time while crossing and ruining some additional tracks.

The first part of the drive was not so tricky so it gave us the opportunity to warm up a little bit but after a while it became a bit more complicated with sharp dunes, ditches everywhere and very nice soft sand and then it was my turn: I must confess that I was a bit nervous during the first few minutes saying to myself “don’t screw this up as you have 7 pair of Marshals’ eyes watching you” and as it was expected, I made a couple of second tries in first 2 or 3 minutes of my turn..after that, I realized that my tire pressure went up to 15 psi which for sure it did not help When fixed and more relaxed, the rest was reasonably fine!. Anyway, that is life!

All in all, I believe that the whole convoy did a good job today with some second tries, a few stucks and one pop-out but let’s wait for Marshals’ opinions.

I enjoyed a lot CMIYC drive today and very happy to see how my friends & I are making progress in Almost.

Thanks a lot @Rashidjass for organizing this amazing drive and leading us.

See you soon
Carlos

Dear Almosters,

I was rather surprised to find the invitation to join CMIYC in my inbox ! I took a moment to think about it before I confirmed (with some apprehension) to accept the invitation. in my head I was trying to convince myself its just another drive ! (I could not of been more wrong).

So the day arrived not knowing who had been invited. I woke early, the meeting time was 7am and it was a good hours drive from my place to the meeting point. I wanted to arrive early at 630am to be sure I was deflated settled (mentally) for the drive. It seems everyone else who was invited had the same idea, as everyone was there around 630.

The briefing was done and the convoy was set. With the number of ever watchful marshals around it was rather intimidating. The point was stressed that this was not an exam - but more of an assessment to see how we were progressing - and of course an opportunity to do our own self assessment.

No egos, no shame in getting stuck or needing a 2nd or 3rd try to complete an obstacle - Safety First ! .

The drive was amazing, at a completely different level to our normal 10+ newbie drives, they really took it up a notch (or 2). it was at a much faster pace than I had experienced before. climbs, descents, walls and of course my Nemesis - cresting ! during the drive towards the back of the convoy the track was pretty cut up which didn't help. I had a couple of 2nd tries but that's normal, everyone experiences this, momentum and gravity being the main players in the game.

I managed to get stuck on a crest - I had approached it at the wrong angle and speed, resulting in being stuck on the crest at an odd angle with the rear of the car pointing down the steep side of the dune. this is were the experience of the Marshals kicks in. The method of recovery was something I had not witnessed before. @presa attached the rope to the front of my car, the instruction was 4L, Diff lock and reverse ? why was I going to reverse with a rope attached to the front ? the safety line was used to allow me to turn hard to the right while reversing slowly to get the car into a straight line down the dune while the rope worked as an anchor to ensure I didn't topple over - AMAZING recovery thank you guys.

My turn as 2nd lead was in the last 10 min of the drive - this is a critical time in any drive as the drivers are getting fatigued and this was no different - my mind was saying stay focused, while I followed @Rashidjass at a brisk pace. this was probably the highlight of my morning and I loved it - although I cant help but wonder if he was being easy on me as it was the end.

All in all I think everyone did really well, the drive gave us plenty to take away and think about for how to improve in future drives and a "taste" of what driving at the next level is all about.

So a huge thank you to @Rashidjass for organizing the drive. To @Mabubaker for being the lead behind the 2nd lead and all the other marshals for the assistance advice and encouragement
@giorgio @Solmaz @presa @Agalon @Daggerfall hope I didn't miss anyone - the morning was a bit of a blur.

CMYC 2021.

This Almost 4x4 event took place in the Nahil area. It is more often that this event takes place in Maliha area but since they have taken that area from us we thought that the next suitable area will be Nahil. Little that we knew.

Just a couple of weeks ago we had a drive there and the area was great but driving last weekend was a surprise to all of us.

The terrain was very challenging, full of chewed up tracks and men made ditches. The lead car had  a real challenge to deal with. He had to navigate through these challenges while trying to give a challenging level drive in a safe manner.

The challenge was passed down to every single driver from the floating marshalls to the last driver.

@Rashidjass on the lead with @Mabubaker as a third car me as a timekeeper and sweeper and the rest of the marshals we took off for the challenge. The rules of the game was don't try to impress anyone. This is not an exam. Drive safe. Each of the drivers will have 15 min as a second lead. After 15 min the second lead driver has to go to the end of the convoy and the next driver is to take the second lead. Simple.

The drive started at a moderate pace and the convoy was moving for the first 5 min very smoothly. Unfortunately one of the drivers encountered a mechanical problem and he had to be escorted out by @presa .
Continuing the drive the pace was increased and the dunes got bigger. As was expected the drivers started having more issues with second tries, few assisted recoveries and more than a few times the convoy got disconnected.

The floating marshal's had their hands full creating a safe circle around the convoy creating a buffer zone from other clubs that were driving in the area while they were negotiating the unfriendly terrain.

Overall the drivers did a good job surviving this challenge although radio communication could have been better.

Lessons learned from this drive was:
Stay focus
keep the exact same line as the lead car
Proper distance provides the advantage of maintaining the proper momentum
stay on the crest for 3 seconds before exiting ( in times that this rule was not followed the drivers got to see how clumsy and uncomfortable the transition from one side to the other may be).    

Overall it was a great morning on the sand full of excitement and adrenaline high.

Great respect to the lead car @Rashidjass  for all the efforts to complete this challenge in the given circumstances.

All the support team for keeping everyone safe and my respect to all drivers that left every drop of courage on the field.

Looking forward to see you all in the next drives  

Catch me if you can for me it’s the best drive I have ever had with the club so far
The story began when I got a PM from Marshal @Rashidjass that I am invited to CMIYC drive on Friday morning and man what an amazing surprise for me to be chosen for this special event and since that I start digging in the forum and YouTube for every single information about it and the more I read and watch the more nervous I got I knew it’s going to be a challenging drive but I said to my self be confident you can handle it
Friday morning I reached the meeting point in Naheil al Ain very early and the friends start to show up one by one
We were 10 newbies, 5 marshals and 2 explorers, so it seems it’s going to be serious
RASHIDJASS start the briefing by calming down everyone (because most of us were look nervous ) he said it is just another drive it is not an exam and we will play safe as usual and everyone of us will have the chance to be 2nd lead for 10 to 15 minutes
After the short briefing off we go
RASHIDJASS our leading marshal was kind with us because he gave us some minutes to warm up but after that he put us on fire fast base, high climb’s a lot of side crest big arches and drops
Although the difficulties that we face on the terrain which causes a lot of second tries 3 stuck and one pop out but is was a blast of joy and fun
For me the lesson I took from this drive is:
- stay focus all the time
- when you do side crest you must stay on the crest for few seconds to balance your car then you go sideway
- it is not a shame to do 2nd or 3rd try better than put your self in danger and destroy your car
- always keep safe distance
- listen always to marshals instructions
- being as 2nd lead gave you a great advantage to learn how to choose the right terrain and how you deal with it
Finally I would like to thank @Rashidjass for the organizing, the invitation and the lead of this amazing drive
A very big thank to all supporting marshals and explorers for being our guardian angels
And to all my fellows in this amazing drive hats up for you guys you all did a great job

Stay safe everyone and see you soon on sand

CMIYC. The mysterious drive that never happened ;) Well it almost did not for me, as I was planning to travel for the mid-term break. But the kids got sick, and trip got called off. Curse became a blessing. Or not? Definitely not in the few days leading to it. A bit of research and lack of results showed that it is one of the company's best kept secrets! :) So with lack of available information, on went the imagination, and various scenarios started to appear in my head :)

I arrived at the meeting point a bit early, but I was definitely not the first one - I guess lots of Newbies were similarly apprehensive... Number of Marshals/Explorers per Newbie indicated this drive is not going to be a piece of cake. But @Rashidjass was quick to clarify - this is going to be a drive like any other, maybe a bit quicker but you are not getting marked. Just play it safe.

And off we went, @Rashidjass trying to squeeze from the dunes whatever juice they had in them Arches, climbs, lots of side crests, even one or two side slopes. A few "interesting" trajectories in-and-out of bowls. Sadly the terrain proved to be more difficult than expected, lots of trenches across the area from the (I assume) seismic survey that destroyed good approaches to the dunes. Also a lot of other convoys nearby (thank you Marshals for keeping the convoy safe) leaving a lot of tracks which led to confusion here and there. The time passed very quickly and I was very surprised when @Rashidjass called the end of the drive :)

Overall the flow of the convoy was OK, there were quite a few second tries and one or two stucks that required a pull, and one pop out - not a bad result given Newbies were pushed to their limits Sadly we saw one car leave at the beginning of drive due to a mechanical issue.

Learnings:
- maintain the right speed - not too fast / not too slow. I exited the crest once a little to sharp + with a little too much speed and had to manage a lot of fishtailing on the way down.
- try to visualize your track through more complex areas - in many places there is only one narrow path that allows you to make it to the other side easily ;) and it's usually the one that the leading car took
- maintain the right distance to the car before. New learning: also factor in the front driver's style - each of us has a bit different "preferred" speed for various elements
- quick radio comms are key!

Overall we covered 47km and drove for 3.5h.

Thank you @Rashidjassfor a great experience, and all Marshals / Explorers (@Solmaz @Daggerfall @presa @giorgio @Agalon @Mabubaker )for keeping us safe!!

Hello Everyone,

I wasn't expecting to post a trip report for this special event due to high secrecy. However after seeing the reports from my fellow friends here is mine.

Marshall's PM received a week before. Message was just to me, so that no chance to know who else is joining and it was simple: "You are invited to CMIYC, please reply to this message to confirm your attendance".

Long waited event finally arrived, excitement was on top level whole week long. I was trying to gather most possible information from every source, reports, youtube, previous players etc... But the idea was simple, "another drive on the sand, be safe"

All newbies arrived quite earlier than the meeting time, apparently everyone wanted to be ready if any unlucky situation comes up on the road. Or maybe they couldn't sleep due to all these excitement.

Apart from the drive, It is always a great feeling to see the friends which we spend every weekend together for the last year.

We had a nice chit chat including @presa (the king of Abu Dhabi) and @Rashidjass, with the early birds.

@Mabubaker arrived just on time. Considering the kids, it is a great achievement

The summary of the briefing was, "safety, safety, safety!". No problem to have second tries, stuck or pop out, but everything we do should be safe.

@Rashidjass started fast, gave us small but sharp side crests and wake us up very quickly. However, the newly opened seismic investigation tracks messed up all the area so it was a real challenge to our lead. But he reminded us that marshals have superhuman powers. Considering the messed up situation of the area, he managed to push the convoy to the limits and gave an absolute blast.

Overall, convoy did quite well. The only point I want to raise is the convoy order to be followed. Convoy had some misunderstanding of finishing their due on second lead and going back of the convoy. We had some confusions where some second leads joined to the middle of convoy or in some cases convoy was confused on which car should move next and some drivers took place of the others. I guess we need to improve our focus on convoy order and communication as well.

Overall, another great day on the sand. Special thanks to @Rashidjass for dealing with this messed up tracks for us and thanks to all marshals (@presa, @Agalon , @Solmaz , @Daggerfall) to watch us with their eagle eyes, @Mabubaker for being third car and watching the every move of us and @giorgio as sweeper and timekeeper.

Thanks for the opportunity, see you on the sand!

P.S. Congrats to @Daggerfall and thanks god that this drive was an indication that his off-road career is still safe

Dorukhan

Good afternoon my fellow Sand Hogs.

Well i am not sure their are words to describe the CMIYC drive, except to say EPIC!!!!

It started for me on a Saturday morning when i found a PM inviting me to the drive, i was so excited i started getting my car ready on Saturday Afternoon, Man it was a long week.

The drive started nice an early so i got see the amazing sun rise of the UAE, followed by our driver briefing from @Rashidjass who explained the drive format in detail and what we can expect from the drive. At first i was rather nervousness but as the briefing continued @giorgio reminded me that it is just another drive and i should drive as i normally do, the focus was on safety "AS ALWAYS" as well as driving technique, radio communication and FUN.

I volunteered to go first as second lead to @Rashidjass who managed to drive the FJ as if he stole it. (Man this guy can drive) Yet i managed to keep up with him whilst maintaining a good safe following distance.

This drive had it all fast passe, high dunes, side cresting, straight cresting, safari and many many more. I was able to successfully apply all my skills learnt from driving with Almost 4X4 and al the teachings from our marshals,advanced and intermediate drivers who are always willing to share there knowledge. So thank you to all who has been part of my Almost 4X4 journey to date.

Special thanks goes to all the marshals who supported this drive whom with out it would not be posible, @Solmaz , @Agalon , @Mabubaker , @Daggerfall , @giorgio , I would also like to make a special mention @presa for providing me with really good tips and and instruction on some of the more challenging part of the drive, Thank you.

To every one else who got the invite, thank you guys you make the drive fun and make me feel as if i am part of a really big family. Good luck with all the next drives and i will see you in the sand.

Cheers

Andre

Hello everyone.

I got a pm for the invitation to CMIYC 2021. I was excited but also nervous about the drive as to what to expect during this drive. I have read a couple of trip reports and watched some videos to get an idea of what to expect during this drive.

The day finally arrived for me to experience CMIYC 2021. I arrived at the meeting, thinking that I would be early. Once I arrived at the meeting point, almost everyone was already there. Deflated at the meeting point and a little bit of chit-chat before we started. @Rashidjass started by giving us a briefing about the drive. "Don't try and impress us by showing off your skills... taking second tries and having pop-outs are all fine for this drive... this is not your intermediate exam, just a drive to evaluate your skills that you have developed so far... Safety was the main priority during the drive."

So, after the briefing we were all ready for action and each car had about 15 minutes to be behind the leading car. The drive started off with a little bit of a warm-up session. The terrain was challenging with big dunes and very soft sand. The terrain was busy with other convoy also driving in that area, so the leading car had a challenge avoid the other convoys, yet making the drive challenging for us Newbies. It was a fast pace drive with lots of climbs, big dunes and off course side cresting :-) Your timing and angle need to be perfect when approaching a side crest and your timing on top was also important.

Lessons to be learned:
- Keep proper distance.
- Angle of approach.
- Radio communication.

Thank you to the organizer and the marshals for support during the drive and for giving us all an experience that we will never forget.

See you soon.
Cheers
Stephan