Almost4x4

Hi everyone,

After a very great GPS Challenge event, we left the flags in the area where we played, hence this needed to be cleaned up.
So, our organizer @Solmaz decided to organize the follow-up and we were suppose to do our part of desert clean-up

As the weather turned out nicely, some of us decided to have a good night sleep in the area.
The camping season is coming to an end, so wood was very hard to find, but luckily we had more then enough to share.

The next morning, we set off in an all lead style with a strategy which wasn't very successful (it turned out later, better to stick with the previous ones). But ok, we were there for fun and not really a race against time (other then loosing sunlight).
Picking up 40 flags was the goal. I didn't count how much we actually found back, but my best guess is, the late 30's at least.

All and all, we finished around 1830pm at the asphalt (main road) with our offroad light assisting for the last fast track in the Shabkha.
Tired and dirty, the shower was waiting at home.

Thank you @solmaz and @agalon for the organization, really nice to do again!

See you next time,

Tom

Hello Almosters,

This report like the GPS Challenge must start with huge thanks to @Solmaz as she let us play the game again with a different goal. And of course, to @Agalon for the extra support. Your presence even without any comment, help or intervention imply the feeling of safety and trust.

We were only 4 intermediate drivers (@PedroLeal, @CARLOSS, @Tomvanhouten and myself); probably Ramadan, school holidays and business travels made the convoy so short. Really sorry for the ones missed it! I was the only one did not camp the night before and had to wake-up at 4AM. When I reach the camp site, the breakfast time was already started and the briefing was very short. Solmaz said, "You set your strategy to visit all the waypoints and we follow you". We then set the order for 40 GPS locations, we planned to switch the lead driver after reaching each waypoint.

We visited all the waypoint markers except one as it was picked by Solmaz in late afternoon while she was on the way to meet us. Only two flags were missing, probably the wind must have moved them. We started a little after 8AM and finished a little before 7PM and had 1.5 hour lunch break in between. We covered 180Km within that time.

The drive was also very good in a sense that I observed the leading and driving styles of my fellow drivers. We had to take the rope out a few times, we had more self recoveries than with the rope, and of course lots of second tries (which I was the champion for that).

16.5 hour drive day for was truly an enjoyable one. Thanks again to all and hope to see you soon.

Osman

Hi everyone!

This time I did not let my mates down and I finished the drive! Sound and safe, I mean . For that, I applied the lessons learned in the GPS challenge (learned on the hard way to be honest) and managed to “survive” around 10 hours of intense driving without any major incident.

I really enjoy full day drives as it helps you to develop a different set of skills, endurance related. It is not the same driving for 3-4 hours following within a convey than keep on driving long hours partially leading. It is like a marathon, better you dose your energy instead of burning it all in the first few hours.

All in all, we had a blast (there is not a better way to describe that), thanks mainly to Solmaz and the convoy members Tom, Pedro and Osman. And Agalon, who took care of us.

Solmaz was super generous (once again) and gave us the opportunity to share the way points and define the rout as we pleased. We decided to tackle the 40 waypoints making two 8 shapes with minor corrections on the way and we shared them all on an equally basis. Sequence was Osman, Pedro, me and Tom.

For the records:

Osman broke the ice with the first turn with nice pace and good lines in wet sand, not easy and very well executed. Very consistent and well-performing during the first half of the day. Later, we all could see that after the lunch he “took a break” and slowed the pace a bit but after an hour or so, (maybe when he was awake again ) he started to “rock” and gave us remarkable moments.

Pedro’s lead was very good, specially knowing that he is not still 100% comfortable yet with the leading role. First half of the day he performed very well, nice lines and good pace but in the second one, he was on fire! I was following his lead all the time and I was not able to follow him after the lunch break. I think he put aircraft fuel or something in his stock FJ and he drove like a space rocket. Very well done!

Tom’s lead was as usual, outstanding, very consistent and fluid, making marshal’s lines and keeping an amazing fast pace not leaving any interesting dune untouched. No time for monkey business with Tom

I am reasonably happy with my performance even though I made some noticeable mistakes due to unproper dunes’ reading, meanly. Anyway, I tried to make as much fun as possible without compromising the timing (sorry if I was not always driving straight lines on the sabkha). I should also confess that the last hour or so I was a bit tired and slowed the pace down on purpose and made easy lines for not jeopardizing all in the last minute. My apologies if my 2 or 3 last waypoints were a bit boring

We called it off at the sunset with a smile in our faces and the satisfaction of a well-done job. But this was not the end of the drive, and I am not talking about the drive back home: When I went to bed and closed my eyes, I kept on driving for a while still seeing dunes and feeling the cars’ movements.

For summarizing and ending, Amazing experience thanks again to Solmaz and her creative mind.

See you in the upcoming night drives.
Carlos

It was a blast indeed!
@Solmaz and @Agalon offered us a VIP drive (only 4 intermediates) with a Premium edition flavor (All Lead style).
The drive to the meeting location started the afternoon before, since some of us decided to camp the night before the drive.
I joined Tom on the way to the campo and we arrived 1h after the sunset, to find Solmaz and Agalon already there with the camp fire lit up.
Carlos arrived later and we all had a nice campfire chit-chat before going to sleep.
In the morning, Osman joined us for breakfast and at 8am we were ready to start.
Solmaz gave us a short briefing: Our goal is to collect the 40 flags out there, and all interms will rotate the leading role, and decide the strategy to adopt.
We have decided to draw a course having in consideration the time of the day vs the sunlight orientation, and to rotate the lead after every flag captured.
All my fellow interms did great with their leads, especially Tom and Carlos could show great lines and convoy flow.
Regarding my leads, since I'm not experienced, I felt I was not very confident at the beginning, but also felt some positive progression along the day as I was starting to build some confidence.
At the end, we were able to cover all 40 flag locations and recover 38 flags. Two of the flags were missing, probably taken or buried by the action of the wind.
This was another amazing experience and we can't thank enough Solmaz for organizing the drive, and Agalon for his support.

See you soon in the sand!

Pedro