The Baron’s Inauguration Trip

[The Baron]

This was my first trip as a lead and I had planned a drive West of Sweihan.

We all meet on time at 08:00 at the meeting point and prepared the vehicles. After a 10 min delay (trying to work out my google coordinates in the Garmin gps) I did a short briefing, explaining the planned trip, radio channel and highlighting the safety rules, before setting the convoy order:
- Kevin (2nd lead)
- David
- Isham
- Kamran
- Mark (sweeper)

Michael provided Marshall support from around the convoy.

Unfortunately, it had rained quite heavily and the sand was very wet so decided to avoid cresting from a safety perspective.

Lead the convoy into the sand and, after a bumpy start by the lead (yah, I know...), headed west with the aim of going through the various bowls on the way - burnt out car bowl, kidney bowl, etc. The first half of the trip was a relaxing drive, with some play in the big bowls.

Kevin and Mark swapped position half way.

The second half was a mixed bag - the track was very bumpy, due to the vegetation which made it difficult to find a smooth track. Tried to go a bit further north and found some better sand, however, track was still slow and technical.

Must admit, leading advance was much more difficult than expected - was focused on keeping the trail and was struggling find a smooth track with sides looping and cresting.

The convey control and communication also wasn’t the best - was a bit all over the place at times.

Towards the end of the trip, Kamran and Isham left to catch the Friday prayer and the rest of the convoy headed to the finish point at Khatim and finished at 12:00.

Number of lessons learned and need to improve my leading skills.

Thanks to all drivers and to Michael, Mark and Kevin for the support.

[Flaghunter]

Thanks Rene for a great trip. You did well for the first lead!!!

[loefflmj1]

Sorry for the late reply. Don’t be too hard on yourself. You did a great job on your first trip. Excellent report too, it’s good to be self-reflective. I would also agree with a couple of your points. Leading is not easy. We all have more to learn, it’s now one of our new skills to hone, remember your first time side cresting compared to now. And I welcome more and more of those opportunities to implement those lessons learned.
Mark