Intermediate Drive 30th Dec 2011 - Report

[waqmaster]

All cars met up on time at the al khatim petrol station, just we were waiting for a beast to join and then we headed off to al khazna

after a quick briefing, we hit the sand. The long convoy went fast through Al Khazna dunes and then round to Al Khatim at the traditional bbq point, where we met up with Yehia's group.

The convoy was great to drive with the support of wasabi and mamon.

I hope all enjoyed the drive.

MLC, another good second lead!
Sam, good to see control the samness and followed the convoy, so you had some playtime! with wasabi
TJ, good control of you land cruiser! were you going yeeeehaaaa on the radio?
Fox, thankyou for the SMS to the trip members, it was nice seeing you again after a long time!
Maltejk, congrats on the beast! you showed good control of you adrenalin!!
Sagger, first time ive seen you today and you have very good control of you jeeep! need to see you more often in the dunes!
muzammils, i saw you improve throughout the trip, you LWB JK is very capable, you need to be one with it hehe
Stefano, always a pleasure to drive with you, thankyou for sticking to the tracks!
actros, FYI its YELLOW! superb control of your rig you went everywhere with ease.
Wasabi, what can i say my fried, always a pleasure to do trip with you!

[MLC]

Many thanks Waqar for letting me badger you into planning today's trip and for letting me be your second lead!

Today was a bit different since I had a Marshal as my passenger! Many thanks Mamoun for putting up with my driving and my nonsense both at the same time!

Fox, remind me to ALWAYS join trips you are on - those meatballs were awesome!!!

Malte, the BEAST is just amazing!

Thanks also to everyone else for the great company, to Sam for being the life of the party as always, to Wasabi for the good advice, to Muz for staying in my tracks and also for the shovel, to Sagger for the nice little chat we had, to Stefano for being the cool customer he always is (I still remember my first intermediate trip with Waqar , Xof and you from Al Khatim to Sweihan!!!) and of course to actros for showing us that even CANARY YELLOW can be cool on a Jeep! It's a Jeep thing I guess, what can one say?

[tillybean]

I am not sure that I can add anything to MLC's report...but I will try!

Today's trip was great. Really nice dunes and the area was fab. The group were brilliant and I thought the support and banter were exactly how an AD4x4 trip should be.

Loved being in the middle of the convoy.....really loved following The Beast although I needed ear defenders. It certainly does roar!

Had a fab time at the end following Wasabi who very kindly let me try his Green Peace - I think I want to swap the JK for one! It was awesome. Loved playing a little harder and higher, so thanks Wasabi.

As always, joining a Waqar trip is always good - great leadership, good support, the encouragement etc etc, so thanks Waqar.
MLC, Guevera, TJ, Malte (and passenger), Saggar, Muz and Actros - really nice to drive with you all.
Mamoun - good to see you again.

See you all in the sand soon.

[ossme]

I really feel frustrated not been able to join trips ..

let us hope that I will have better luck next week ..

[sagger560]

Another great day with AD4X4.
Thanx Waqar for orginizing the trip and thanx everyone for the great company.

[MalteJK]

Thanks everyone for a nice day out in the desert.
Was a good feeling to drive my own car again ... although it's now behaving a bit different

Sry for being a bit late at the gas station - but my beast couldn't wait for that gas station - it wanted the one on the truck road urgently ... And then again in the sand *g* thx Fox for the fuel (need to make it up to you, as well! - and from now on 2 filled jerry cans will be in my car all the time ).

So the beast is running and idling through the desert... going up a dune with 2500rpm feels kind of relaxing ...

Thx Waqar for the nice route.
All the others: great company! Let's do it again, soon

[Wasabi]

thank you my friend for accepting me at last minute
I did enjoy the route and was happy to see old faces. Sam, it was nice to see you in the green peace

see you all soon and enjoy your new year's eve!!!!!!!! all the best to you and your family for the coming year 2012


wasabi

[actros]

Thanks Waqar for the great trip with perfectly planned route.
It was nice to see a big group and with almost no stucks the whole day!
I managed to get used to the new car quite quickly (even the colour) and am now looking forward to the next trip!

See you all soon and Happy New Year!

Actros

[Fox]

Thank you Waqar for the nice trip, good route with different levels. Nice meeting
old friends and a few new ones. I spotted a few gazelles in the distance towards the
end of the trip. MalteJK send me some of your video clips please.
Hope to see you all again soon, wish you and your families all the best for 2012 !

[muzammils]

This was a great trip and I want to thank Waqar for inviting me, especially because it was Intermediate trip. These were real dunes compared to the much smaller “dunes” on our AINT/Newbie trips. I know I have a long way to go to develop the skills that the rest of the trip participants already have but this trip helped build my confidence and I hope I didn’t let you guys down. I do think that my skills are improving (I'm trying hard to make sure they do) and the chance to fun these skills was great.

@MLC Great lead and thanks for the loan of your spare radio. I won’t forget and leave mine at home next time.
@Wabasi/Mamoun Thanks for the tips on handling gears and steering; they were very helpful to me.
@Sam You are an amazing motivator and morale booster.
@TJ Thanks for dealing with me those times I got stuck.
@Sagar Thanks for sharing the JK mod tips.
@Fox Kebobs were delicious and also thanks for the great tips about putting too much power into the dune climbs
@Maltejk, With your JK these dunes are like baby dunes! It's is a Monster Jeep you have!

@ Everyone All of you were great company and I really enjoyed everything about the trip. You all are awesome. I was afraid when I moved to this part of the globe that it would be hard to make friends but that Abu Dhabi 4X4 Club has provided me the chance to meet so many great people and develop friendships. I continue to meet great people through our trips, making this place now feel like home,

Can't wait for friday again!!!

Muzammil
0567522049

[T-J]

Thank you Waqar for this amazing trip. i loved it, got to try my new gearbox, and all was great. the route was amazing, and the best was seeing the wild gazelle running off (mostly away from Malte's exhaust!!!)

it was beautiful, and even more with meeting cool people again, and getting to met new cool people,

thanx all

regards

[Guevara]

Great track Waqar, especially at the end. Nice up and downs...

G

[MalteJK]

oh @fox : i forgot : really great homemade : Frikadellen

And the video(s) will follow, soon.

For the meanwhile some beautiful shots from Ioana (my passenger)
Oops Edith said i forgot the link : https://picasaweb.google.com/1125675667 ... buDhabiUAE