DXB - Intermediate Drive over fossil rocks.

[Abdoo]

Sharp 6:45AM, we all met at Alfaya Retreat Roundabout, where Deflation is done, Flags are raised, and briefing took place by myself, and then the fun started, Emri(Sandsailor) being my second lead, Engin, and Abdulla As sweeper.

Phase 1: warm up on an easy track along with Alfaya Mountain, and crossed our way to Alfaya Dunes Area, where members practiced every way of climbing the dune, which impressed me from Engin as the only intermediate, he did it with skill.

Phase 2: going forward towards fossil rocks, Pace was increased, along with more speed, drive became more technical and sand started to be softer, however, sloping skills and controlling the jeeps was amazing, so i decided to make the trip more spicy, given the great control shown by our intermediate driver and advanced supporters.

Phase 3: after a photo break for us and our toys, we headed down to khatam side where we practiced ascending on powder soft sand, and with several attempts, skill was cleared and control was impressive.

Phase 4: last stage, i gave the lead to Abdulla who has shown a great navigation skill and driven the convoy on the way to Khatam exit 2, where our trip came to an end with a big smile on everybody's faces.

- Engin: your skill shows that you are ready to encounter the next step, good control and reactions.
- Emri: great handling for the second lead position, guidance to the driver behind was in place.
- Abdulla: as usual, your presence was a pleasure, supportive as always and your navigation skills are very good for leading the convoy out.

i could see everyone smiling after the trip despite the hot weather, and that's what matters.

See you all again in the sane
Abdoo

[SandSailor]

First of all, special thanks to Abdoo for accomodating the early morning start. much better in my view during summertime although could be a bit ‘tiring’ for some others , really appreciated.

Indeed I was also a bit tired during Phase 1 abovebut properly woke up at the Al Faya dune…. for which I even have a waypoint in my GPS and a note from previous trip: unfinished business… well, business taken care of swiftly and smoothly There was a lot of traffic and needed to be careful.

Phase 2 was definitely faster and more fun with increasing pace and different practices that required more skills. Abdoo increased the ‘spice’ bit by bit as much as we can take but at the break all faces were alight with big smiles.

Another steep climb practice in Phase 3. There was no one else around to witness when I did it so I had to do again ! overall good practice of trying different solutions/track or combinations. Soft powder sand is a different ball game especially when becomes hot, the more you practice, the better you understand the cars behaviour and better you get.

Phase 4 was the smooth and rapid way out thanks to Abdullah, and was very timely as temp has increased dramatically by then.

I really like this area and Fossil rocks, very scenic place. Different skills need to be put in use and there are really nice dunes/areas to practice over and over again. Abdoo’s track choice was spot on for the convoy, lot of different skills tested and improved. Entire convoy had only a few second tries and just one stuck (which was very ironic given it was during our way out). It was my pleasure to do the snatch recovery and put the equipment carried around in good use.

Another great to start the weekend. Once again, thank you Marshal Abdoo, Abdullah and Engin.

see you all on the sand again soon…
Emre 🏜

[Kayra]

Thank you Abdo for reducing the level of the drive to intermediate for me to join. This was one of the most exciting drives I ever had with the club.

The track was fantastic with beautiful scenery. Sand was soft resembling Al Qudra’s powder. My first big achievement was I climbed the Al Faya dune at the 3rd attempt and applying the tactics of Abdo real time just when I thought I am losing the power of my engine completely. After Al Faya dune we had a fast paced technical drive to the small fossil rock. It was very exciting. We then moved on to the crossing point at Fossil Rock and did the steep descent behind. There was no one around behind the Fossil Rock and we pushed our engines to the max trying steep climbs. I managed to reach the top Abdo set as the target at my 4th attempt. It was such an achievement.

We then moved to another technical and fast paced drive, took the last technical break under some trees. Then Abdullah took the lead to drive us out.

In this drive I learned to be more connected with my car and control it at D with just the gas pedal instead of playing with the tiptronic gear. Fast paced technical sections of the track were absolutely fantastic. I also started checking out my GPS for the first time in this drive.

Thanks to Abdo once again for arranging this educational and very exciting drive. Thanks to Abdallah and Emre for making this a safe and fun drive.

See you again soon.
Engin