The long scout

[Tomvanhouten]

Hello everyone,

The long scout was advertised as "maybe finish on time, maybe not". It turned out to be "maybe not", so as I had committed to the afternoon support as well, the drive for me ended just past twelve together some others.

Nevertheless, @Solmaz took us thru two beautiful areas in Sweihan, first from Nahil to Sweihan and later crossing the road, having fun in Old Sweihan. And this last one in particular, is so beautiful!
Both areas were rather clean of tracks and traffic, so we could enjoy it thoroughly.

The drive was really smooth and to my knowledge, all performed very safely in the morning.

When it was time to leave and having left my buddies behind, we inflated, gassed up again and onto the next adventure!

See all of you soon again

Tom

[David]

Fantastic drive, somehow you could already tell from the description, the "keeping extra fuel might be a good idea" hinted what might be in store for us.

Upon arrival Solmaz revealed the plan, fast pace drive to cover as much distance as possible so we can check if 3 fantastic areas have recovered for future drives, Nahil, Old Sweihan and Remah, as good as it gets without having to camp the night before.

Solmaz leading, Mabubaker as support as well as Advanced driver Orlantsev, 12 interm to make the total count to 15.

We went through Nahil in a bliss, before we realized we were out, great news is that no tracks from the seismic survey so I am pretty sure we will see Club drives in that area shortly, this area allows for very fast driving and sidecresting and Solmaz made the most of it.

Crossing afterwards to Old Sweihan, again, area not only fully recovered if not empty and with no tracks from other cars, so much fun, loved that area, this was were we spent the most time as given the opportunity to go around the bowls, not happy with "my take" in one of them, completely miss-read it, silly mistake. When towards the end of the chain the time for 5 drivers to leave came, they were moving towards the newbie afternoon drive as support, fantastic commitment to the Club, well done and thank you guys.

10 cars left moved back into the fence and stopped for lunch (and a quick power nap), moving towards Remah and the intermediate areas in between afterwards, while in those another 3 cars left leaving Lenny and myself to spoil the FJ party. Very interesting the areas we visited on the way to Remah, potential in a couple of sections plus it would be great to know how to access the fenced off chain on our right, dunes inside looked like fun.

Finally reached Remah, unfortunately the only area of the 3 that will still require a bit more time to fully recover, much better than the last visit but still not fully perfect, however, Solmaz still managed to take us around the best and biggest bowls with some crazy crossings and great speed.

Full day drive with large convoy (for most of the day) that went without any major issue and with almost no recovery situations, we could not have asked for more and it is Solmaz that we should thank for that, great leading in a drive that combined speed, exploration, adrenaline and fun, can't wait for her next drive!!!, did you say Liwa???

Second to thank Mabubaker for his assistance as second supporting floating Marshall and his amazing knowledge of the area, in that section in between Old Sweihan and Remah he knows every single gatch road, turn and dune!!!

Finally to thank Orlantsev and all my fellow intermediates who joined the drive in healthy numbers and good spirit for making it possible.

See you on the sand soon!!!

[Ehab]

2 nd intermediate drive, i am seriously speechless.

My journey started the night before when i decided to camp after a busy week at work. Arrived around 6:30 pm to the camp point, settled and went to bed around 10 pm. Peaceful and quite night until around 2 am when a naughty driver with Land Cruiser decided to wake me up with his exhaust system noise, who does dune bashing at 2 am???
Its early morning, woke up, packed everything back to the car and headed to the meeting point. The temperature was 9 c and i was freezing. First joiner was @AndreAJ , good to see you my friend after long time and i am glad you are fully recovered. We made our coffee while the rest of drivers were arriving. Everyone was eager to go for this long day in desert. Quick briefing by @Solmaz where she explained the areas we will visit and she informed us to safely overtake if we would like to incase the driver infront of us is having second try. I was privileged to be second lead, lot of learning and magnificent experience.
I driven with Solmaz few times and i know she is hard to keep up with but this time I discovered a new skill, her facial impressions when she is cresting is something i hope my go pro captured. Most of the crests where we side crest to the right side and while she is on the top, she will look at me to her left and either smile or give me that scary look, with this you can predict whats coming next but the ability to process the situation and react that quickly while looking on the other side, amazing and scary skills.

On my first intermediate drive we were doing a single crest and then have a quick break, but this trip, 3 - 4 crests, arch, drop, technical maneuver one after another all on very high speed with no time to digest what we have just done, amazing experience. The fun thing is the amount of snacks and drinks i brought considering its a long day thinking i will need more than usual, nothing was used until the end of the drive

We encountered some massive bowls where we played for sometime and abused our cars, i really feel so sorry for the engineers who spend lot of time in research and development for us to ruin their inventions having fun

At noon, few of us had to leave for the afternoon newbie drive for support and media coverage, report will follow.

Reached home around 8 pm straight to bed for 9 hours sleep which i have not had for years, thank you @Solmaz for the amazing lead, @Mabubaker for taking care of us, @orlantsev for the support.
Videos will follow.

[Stephan]

Hello everyone.

The long scout was an amazing drive and experience. Once everyone reached the meeting point Solmaz explained to us the purpose of this drive - fast pace drive, lots of distance to cover, side crests and keep the flow of the convoy moving as much as possible.

Solmaz did an exceptional job leading the convoy in this beautiful area. The area was clean of tracks and traffic, so it gave us the change to really enjoy the area and maximize our driving. We've tackled big dunes with loads of side creating, arches and had a couple of bowls to play in, pushing our cars to the limit! This was really fun!

After our lunch break, tiredness kicked it and Marco and I decided to exit the drive and head for the main road back home. Mabubaker gave him directions to the main road, so I followed Marco to the main road. This was an experience on its own. Trying to find the main road is not as easy as it looks on the GPS. Finally, we reached the main road, inflated at headed back home. Went to bed at 8pm that night.

See you soon.
Cheers
Stephan

[CARLOSS]

Hello everyone,

The Long Scout drive was OUTSTANDING! In my top 3 best drives ever.

One day after we finished I still have a big smile in my face, and I believe that it will last for Friday…just on time for a new one at Liwa!

As per my GPS recordings we drove 156km with 6h12m moving time so you can image how many things we did form straight and side cresting, walls, bowls and megabowls…I think I am getting addicted to Old Sweihan and Remah bowls: They are so nice and the feeling when doing them right is incredible.

The lead was incredible, @Solmaz did a fantastic job with a bit of everything on her “to do list” and always keeping an eye on us from the distance and giving advise and guidance. And @Mabubaker was amazing as well showing up from the middle of nowhere from time to time and taking care of us and sorting some situations. And don't want to forget @David who was closing the convoy also controlling the last convoy' section.

For both Marshals (knowing that Mabubaker is almost there) a BIG THANKS for your passion, time and dedication . 1 full day is not negligible.

On my side, decent performance with a silly mistake when crossing a dune (perfectly spotted by Solmaz and discussed) and a couple of second tries. At the beginning, let’s say the first 2-3 hours I was a bit cold but afterwards I felt much better and confident but, still a lot of things to be learned and improved but keep on trying hard.

As a summary: An “Almost” perfect combination of challenging level, adrenaline, superb scenery, length, brotherhood and tons of FUN and JOY. What else could you ask for?

Thanks to my mates for the good mood and friendship and congrats for the good performance of the convoy.

See you soon
Carlos

[orlantsev]

Hello all,

I have been away for a few weeks, and at one point mid last week I was considering to change my ticket and come back later, but upon seeing the trip notification the scale tilted in favor of an earlier return.

I took some time on Friday afternoon to prepare the car and set jerry can on the roof rack. During last trip to Liwa they were held properly by just one piece of strap. As soon as I arrived to the meeting point the fellow drivers alerted me that one of them were hanging almost parallel to car body (similar to how people carry sandtrack). Strange ... so fixed them with double strap and they held well till the end. I did not use any of the fuel from them, so they would stay in place until next week's Liwa.

The PM from Solmaz was very clear of what to expect. I was super excited when we crossed the road to the Old Sweihan. It was one of my favorite areas and it was missed a lot. Bows there are wonderful. I tried approaching them in various gear combinations. In one of the bowls I tried to go in reverse direction of the bowl hoping I would be able to make full loop. Good speed, but the soft sand and gravity started to pull me down, and due to speed it was not easy to control the car during descent. Glad I managed to bring the tilt under control.

The convoy flow was very good considering a few of fresh intermediates. It was just few times the track had to be adjusted when second tries were getting a bit too many, but surely our capable drivers in the convoy would have dealt with it if there was a bit more time.

We left around 12.30 to join the afternoon drive. Surely we must be back to that area soon!

See you all in just few days :)

[Laarni]

Good day, Almoster family.
This day was my 2nd intermidiate drive, and still, I can't get used to the feeling of excitement and nervousness.
we started a long journey from home to the meeting point, and as we arrived Andre, and Ehab was there already, and whist preparing other driver started coming also, soon as everyone is there Solmaz gives us our quick breifing and lead us to the breath taking dunes of sweihan.
The drive was really fun, though everything is new to me. I have a few second tries, but the experience i had driving in that area is really scary but fun at the same time.
Everyone really did an amazing drive today, and all thanks to our marshal @Solmaz and support, @Mabubaker and @orlantsev.

and to everyone who participates @Lenny @osman @mpodroid @AndreAJ @Tomvanhouten @David @NahorJP @Stephan @CARLOSS @dorudoru @Ehab

Attached is my video trip report

[osman]

Hello Almosters,

This was my first intermediate drive with the FJ after I said goodbye to my short Jeep. There was also three months gap after my last intermediate drive - which were not too many either. So, all combined, I was quite nervous to start with. There is a new experience waiting for me to have a taste...

@Solmaz explained the plan for the day, which we were going to cover three main areas and the announced finish time in the trip registration was like a project plan in an RFP. I was one of the support drivers in the afternoon drive, so I guessed I was going to be one of the early deliverables of the drive - along with my few fellow afternoon support drivers.

Since we aimed to cover long distance and no time waste, @Solmaz told us to use the buddy system, which means if a car in front of you is making a second try, assess the situation and keep driving if safe for yourself, the car making the second try and the rest of the convoy behind. The car making the second try will join at the back of the convoy, just in front of the sweeper - @David. If the car is stuck, we all stop and the car behind will attend the rescue.

The large bowls were mainly at the second area and one of them should be called as "rodeo bowl", which you might check in @Laarni's nice video. You bump, bump, bump and bump and then get a splash of sand on your windscreen. I think the weight and the stability of the FJ as compared to short Jeep made this bumpy ride less scary. Having said that, FJ's small windscreen still needs some time to adjust, as at one instance of circling around the bowl, I was not able to see anything other than the sand, losing the sense of where I am. So I thought I reached where I should turn down (without any reference point in sight), got easy on the accelerator then saw I did not reach the point I should have turned, but it is too late already and went down to the bottom where every one is. There is one great positive thing about FJ, when you go into full throttle with the top rev, it does the ta-ta-ta-ta thing without automatically switching the second gear as the Jeep does. I used to be careful on the high RPM to avoid automatic gear shifting during the high & long climbs, but now I can do pedal to the metal literally. Yet another - maybe the most important one - FJ engine temperature did not change during/after the heavy climbs. Hope it stays in that way. All of this sound good but I think I still need to adjust my driving style bit more, the new car is not as responsive as the old one and I should avoid jerky accelerations/decelerations at critical points. It is much more forgiving and stable but there is a limit to that - and I don't want to test that limit!

We as the afternoon support team left the convoy after 12, drove along the fence for some time, inflated and hit the road for the second drive as a convoy. There goes another test to stay barely under the speed limit without getting a ticket. So I also did the road test, which I can say it was very comfortable in comparison.

Although I had shaky hands & knees and wet palms (palms only) from time to time, thanks @Solmaz for the great lead, it was a very good introduction to my new machine. Also thanks to @Mabubaker and @orlantsev for the great support for guiding in tricky situations.

Addiction continues....

[AndreAJ]

Hey Almost Family,

Well, what a great day in the dessert after a long forced break from driving.
This was one of my favorite drives to date, man this was allot of fun. We started early with a detailed briefing from our fearless marshal @Solmaz detailing the drive,expectations and intentions, this was followed as always with the safety briefing (As always safety comes first). @Ehab was kind enough to volunteer as the second lead followed by @Laarni (she drove really well) and the rest of the gang just dropped in as they felt fit.

The drive pace was fast (Damn @Solmaz is fast) with many side crests, but for me the best part of the drive was the bowls, we found our self's driving bowl after bowl after bowl. This is a skill i needed to improve on and this drive just did that. (now i am the Bowl king) We should have called the drive scouting for bowls!!!

Thank you to the gang who all drove exceptionally well and managed to keep the cars going @David won the competition for the highest bouncing Jeep.

@Carlos, @dorudoru, @Stephan, @Tomvanhouten, @osman, @mpodroid, @NahorJP, @Lenny

Thank you to @Mabubaker and @orlantsev for your great support.

I can wait to get back to the dessert and drive with you guys.

Till our next adventure,

Andre

[Mabubaker]

A quadruple the fun day in the desert amazingly organised and executed by @Solmaz.
The necessary breifing was done by Solmaz which included the Last man standing rules, @Ehab assigned as the second lead, @David sweeping and myself floating.
Knowing the convoy included some fresh intermediates, Solmaz managed to tailor the right but challenging level of the drive.
The intermediates did pretty well, however I would like to highlight the following comments:
- While encountering an obstacle, its always encouraged to do it right even with multiple second try rather than fighting and risking yourself.
- Most mistakes happen when the driver is nervous and distracted,, stay calm.
- Since you are driving at this level, club committee sees you are a relatively safe snd skilled driver, now focus on shaping your skills.

Thank you @Solmaz for such a great lead, @Ehab for the SL, @David for sweeping and @orlantsev for support.

P.S. story of @Ehab's fake popout exclusively available at camps.

Thank you,
M Abubaker