Abu Dhabi Off-Road Club Forums

I thought we have a great club and everybody is happy with us and with the way we handle the club. However, I've been hearing lots of internal complains lately from members. The main complains are as follows:

Grading:
Some members feel that they deserve a higher grade ... Some others think that another member is upgraded and he does not deserve it.

Grading system is made for your safety. The club management knows the level of driving skill that is required for each trip and we are always watching members and recommending upgrades. Just wait and you will be upgraded once you are ready for the next stage.

Our Advanced, Explorer and Marshals can also confirm the above. They saw what the higher grade trips looks like and will tell you that in these trips, things are more difficult than you think. So you have to be ready for it.

You cannot be upgraded because you attended 50 newbie trips or you can do a side slope and play with your car .. There are lots of things involved.

Number of trips
We are 22 Marshals and 952 members ... You do the calculations

The Marshals are volunteers ... We have families, we have work commitments ... To ease the pressure on Marshals, we open trip leading for Advanced members, you can see some Advanced members already started announcing trips ...

I understand that all of us are now addicted and we cannot stay away from the desert on a week end, but I am also requesting you to understand our position and situation and bear with us for some time till we upgrade more members to Marshals and Explorers.

Tough instructions during the trip
I was surprised to hear this complain ... Yes we are tough, yes we ask you very strict to fasten your seat belt and follow the instructions, yes we some times stop you from playing, I even sometime stop in front of cars or go after them to stop them from breaking a rule ... But why do we do this? it is all for your safety ... We had several accidents and roll overs in the club .. Most of them were because members just act on their own .. so do you want the same to happen to you? If your answer is YES, then we will make one trip and we will call it "No instruction trip", you do what ever you want, play where ever you feel like with no rules or instructions at all and see how many accidents we will have.

In conclusion dear members, we are a group of offroaders, enjoying our time and week ends together, the main success behind this club is the group and if we started internal complains and keeping things inside us, this will not help the growth of our club. So if you have an issue, speak out, tell us that you have a problem and we will solve it .. Check the number of instructions that we have on the website, it all came from members complains and we handle it all the time.

None of the Founders and Marshals is getting any personal benefit from this club, the only thing that we are always looking for is a good smile and a thank you at the end of the trip.

:okaay:

Well Said !......

Yes the organizing committee is doing an excellent job -- hope u all can keep it up !

By the way boss if you need to take any of my stars and give it to somebody i have no issues.
All i want is to come on weekend have a good time and if a Marshal/Explorer can offer
valuable advice/instructions what the harm in following it.

Please keep up the good work and in any way if i can help with the little free time i will be more than happy.

Regards
Ahmed

Well said Boss I think most members are patient while others have an inflated opinion of their own driving ability, yes I have done off road driving before in NZ and Australia but nothing prepared me for Sand like this I am grateful for all the advice and instruction I have got not only from marshals but other club members as well.

Just keep on doing what you do remeber yu cannot please evrybody so PLEASE YOURSELF

It is very hard to please 953 persons(so far), the major thing we have is that we enjoy the weekends together as a family, we are having fun , but what we are doing in sand might not be fun if instructions of the experienced people in the club are not strictly followed. I believe the club is not a place for achievements or victorious actions , upgrading and stars and so on. Our only achievement should be to have fun.

Iguana

The biggest regret I have since moving from Abu Dhabi to Muscat is the loss of ready access to AD4x4. I miss the club and the trips; I miss you telling me to slow down and coaching me how to approach difficult terrain.

To all the complainers I say this; I am trying to purchase an off road driver training package for my company. What you have in AD4x4 is better than any commercially available course I have yet seen; I have been looking for four months and my colleague has been looking for longer. And you have free access.

The grading systm is excellent and helps to prevent unnecessary harm, not only to the driver who is (too) confident but also to the people around him.

I never said thanks enough whilst I was there nor since so I say thanks again now for the help from Megamoe, Doc, Jo, Adiga, Khaiwi and all the others I cannot remember. You all do an excellent job.

To the complainers; be constructive; have your say on the forums and suggest how it can be done better. Get involved.

iguana,megamoe
thank u very much for giving birth to this great club,and for the oppurtunity to meet alot of nice people during the club trips.
i think that u r doing agreat job and just keep it up.u cant satisfy 900 plus members,and iam sure by time they will be satisfied.finally big thanks to all of our marshals for their great leadership,and for being patient with all of us.

Its a great club and we will keep joining trips..............

:iagree:

What makes AD4x4 so unique is the fact that there is a grading system - not for the *'s to be worn like badges of honour, but so that trips can be graded thus allowing everyone to enjoy trips within their driving capabilites.
I hovered around the site for a long time before taking the plunge to actually join a trip - I wanted to make sure that I wasn't going to go on a desert adventure with a bunch of 'boy-racers' who had no regard for safety. Happily I found out that this was not the case.
The fact that the marshals have families and other commitments and still find time to run the trips on a never-ending regular basis with open arms to all newcomers, with free help and guidance on how to improve in a safe environment - and have fun at the same time - is what makes this club so great.

A 'No Instruction/Rules Trip' - No Thankyou! I enjoy my trips knowing that I will go home safe and sound because of the instructions and rules.

Guys you are doing more than a great job - THANK YOU!

Jax
8)

It's rules what make this club a success i believe. Keep it going Iguana!!!!!!!

A "No Instruction Trip" is a great idea. I'll be the official photographer for the trip

Thank you guys and girls, I know that we cannot make 900+ members happy, but at least I don't want a single member upset ... so if someone have a problem, please speak out and we will try to solve it

Guys & Gals when ever one of u give strict instruction to his kids not to play in fire is this bcuz he wanna show-off or to protect him from himself which is the 1st lesson in "SAFETY" and carry on with sharp things going up the stairs going dwn the stairs ........etc
pls keep that inmind when ever someon guide u or give u instructions in the sand

Very well said Iguana !

I think we are all open here for members suggestions, so if there is something anyone feels to contribute he is most welcome, even it is a complain. None of us is perfect but I am sure that we are all willing to learn and to improve.

In the last months I was trying to avoid Newbie trips as they were very full due to so many member requests to attend. When leading my first official trip I was on the "other side" and experienced how much work just the organizing of such a trip means. You get many phone calls , PM messages and and and, that need to be answered. This is no complain as I felt it a fun fun to do and I actually loved it, so I will do it again for sure

I am more than greatful to be part of this family as 98% of what know about offroading in the sand I know from the valuable friends of . Of course I understand that receiving an upgrade is a beautifly acknowledgement one receives, but I fully support the Club's policy to rather upgrade members only once they are ready than too early. From experience I can more than confirm that this is done for everyone's safety, only.

mike0967 wrote:When leading my first official trip I was on the "other side" and experienced how much work just the organizing of such a trip means. You get many phone calls , PM messages and and and, that need to be answered.

That's why we call it the dark side of the club .. This is the side that no one knows until he is in .. and once he is in, he cannot go out again ... It's a trap

guys do not look for the * look for the fun we have.