Sunday morning ADV at Al Faqa, May 1st

[Kayra]

Five drivers met at the Al Faqa West Meeting point at 8:15am and after briefing we started the drive in the following convoy order:

1. Engin - Lead
2. Marshal Serkan - 2nd Lead
3. Dan
4. Ozgur
5. Emre - Sweeper (with Avni as passenger)

My plan was to play around in the high dunes of Al Faqa hitting 3 waypoints I have identified then have fast paced drive towards Al Qudra to finish at the Solar power station.

Unfortunately during the first half hour my Jeep had a hydraulic steering problem and I had to abort the drive, leaving the lead to Marshal Serkan. The team accompanied me to the nearest exit and Serkan took over the lead.

I hope you guys had a good drive.

Eid Mubarak to you all.

Best,
Engin

[KomSer]

Thanks for the trip Engin, it was a great day with great people.
I was a bit late to the meeting point. Engin did the briefing and arranged the convoy order. All was going on very well until Engin's hydrolic steering got an issue. Unfortunate case however we know that sometimes, things happen for good.
We dropped the Engine near to the road and started again to the Faqa dunes.
We played a lot around and everybody did great.

Dan was having his second advance with us and he proofed that how talented he is. He did great by controlling his car.

Özgür did very well and handled all perfectly. He definetly deserves the next level. Keep moving Özgür

Avni was our passenger and we were happy to have him with us.

Emre started as sweeper and later on he took the lead from me on the half of the track. He did great lead and managed the convoy finish the drive on time. Thanks Emre. Looking forward for your Tuesday drive.

Engin organized very well and gave the start perfectly. During first hour he did great leading to the convoy by chosing perfect track and convoy pace. Due to his car problem unfortunately he left the drive early but it was really nice to be together by morning.

We did a few second tries and 1 stuck, all managed well without any issue.

We finished the drive at the solar panels and inflated.

Thanks everyone And looking forward seeing you all

Regards
Serkan

[Dan29]

Thank you all guys for having me today with your amazing group, and specially to Engin who organized the trip and Marshall Serkan for his support! It was a very nice trip and I've learnt many new skills from very experienced people. Emre was the one who guided me when facing difficulties on the way, thank you for that.
Looking forward to seeing you in Sweihan on Tuesday morning.
Kind regards,
Dan

[SandSailor]

We all met around time and started after Marshal Serkan joined us. All was going well until Engin unfortunately had an issue with his steering hydraulics. Accompanied him back to the road, Serkan took the lead and we restrated the drive.

Started as the sweeper and then took the lead for fast exit. It was a combination of small/mid sized dunes and a lot of technicals. Lots of side sloping, side cresting and crest runs. As the temperature increased soft sand also presented more challenges. A few second tries and self recoveries and only one snatch recovery.

Another great morning with good company apart from the unfortunate mechanical issue Engin had but we will make it up next time InshAllah. Very nice meeting and driving with Dan, great chit-chat during breaks as always. Avni had a good taster of an Adv drive and made the most of it, riding shotgun with me, Ozgur as well as Serkan, observing and recording vids all along.

See you all on sand soon…
Emre 🏜

[Ozzy]

I guess I have the advantage of being the last commenter as the posts above pretty much provide all the details. We were unfortunate to let Engin go early due to a power steering problem; but then again, fortunately he noticed it early on and quit the drive before it turned into a much bigger problem.

After accompanying Engin to the road, we went back into the desert to do some technical driving. Serkan and Emre took turns to lead the convoy. It was a drive with lots of crest riding and side sloping, providing a good opportunity to practice handling and control on soft sand at slow and medium speeds.

On the social side, it was a pleasure to meet Dan for the first time and have Avni join us as a passenger. We had some good chit-chat during the breaks. All in all, it was a good couple of hours in the desert.