Abu Dhabi Off-Road Club Forums

Great Leaders & Sweepers: Ajesh, isham66 (Mohammed), Ramit (Christian), -V- (Ahmad)

Support, EmDoc, loefflmj1 (Mark)

We all met on time and the leaders and sweepers had a briefing on the considerations of what leading and sweeping entailed, were given coordinates and the choice of whether to lead their section at an intermediate or newbie level. with the exception of Christian, our recently upgraded expert, who did both an intermediate and newbie lead. Each lead chose their 2nd lead and sweeper and with Mark and I acting as support and watching from the sides and rear of the convoys we set off on what was an enjoyable and instructive morning. At the end of each lead we paused for critical feedback from all about the section to assist understanding and development of the lead and sweeper roles.

All in all a good morning of quite different styles of leading, Mark and I had little to do but enjoy the leads and provide a couple of demonstration recovery opportunities. Apart from saying that all showed great promise as future Marshals and that, I’ll leave the details of the individual drives to those who wish to write their report.

See all again soon,
Michael

Thank you Micheal for considering our request for a Lead and Sweep and I always look forward to learn some more from you.

The route was planned by the marshal ahead of the trip with 5 coordinates selected 5 km apart and each driver picked a chit indicating his destination waypoint. I drew point 4 and hence was able to observe and learn from the other drivers.

I chose to do an intermediate level drive with Ahmad as my second lead and Ramit as my sweep. My section was a relatively smooth one with medium dunes providing enough chances to do a "roller coaster " drive.It started with a bit of a technical area and I chose to move away from the target waypoint till we were away from that technical bit.I focussed on maintaining a smooth flow and keeping communication open. Also did some straight cresting . Based on earlier learnings during the day, I tried to gradually up the level as the trip progressed and concluded the trip with a fast paced section towards the end.

At the end of the trip, feedback was received which will definitely help for future lead opportunities.

Thanks Mark for the floating sweep and the awesome drivers for making the trip fun.

Thank you Michael for organizing the amazing trip. I always love learning something from you.

I was the 2nd person to lead after Chris which gave me a small idea of the nature of the dunes and what I would have to do as the lead. The mix of hard and soft sands were challenging but we all got used to it very quickly.

After my lead, Michael gave me very critical feedback which was very helpful for me and would be for anyone who wants to learn the skills to become a leader.

Thank you once again.

Thank you Michael for this trip! It was a lot of fun following the other leaders, each with a different style.

Also it was a great learning experience for me! Mark's and your comments were very helpful.