Trip Report Newbie Bu Tais 17 January
Posted: Sat Jan 18, 2020 8:09 pm
Another Newbie trip with 20 cars, great to see such interest!! This time in beautiful Bu Tais area. We met at 8 AM and around 8:30 we kicked off the briefing, held by Marshal Petro, who was leading one of the two convoys. Briefing this time gave extra focus on the difficulties and risks when the sand is wet, as it still was a few cm down after the heavy rains last week.
After the briefing we divided the convoys as follows (Note: Kevin will post separate trip report as reply to this post):
Convoy 1:
Lead: tompa-bjorka (Thomas) – (Marshal Flaghunter co-pilot)
Second Lead: Mira-m (Mira) - Expert
yasir192 (Yasir)
udo (Udo)
Matts (Romeo)
Medhat (Medhat)
Xpantop (Christos)
Scoozy (Raul)
Bisharbn (Bishar)
Kharadly (Mohamed) - Sweeper - Advance
Convoy 2:
Lead: Petro (Kevin)
Support: kman (Konstantin) – Explorer, kassabz (Mohammed) – Intermediate
Drivers: noeljose (Noel), Redbeard (Mikkel), Ramadan (Ramadan), mihir6066 (Dharmendra), Rainady (Andy), Benny (sorry I dont know your club name as you were driving instead of your wife who could not attend), sbinounous (Sebstien).
After briefing we went down the gatch road about 20 minutes and when passing sabkha (which was muddy after the rains), the convoy repositioned and we took off, with the intention to reach the tree-oasis in about one hour, to meet up with convoy 2. On the way there, we practiced some straights crests which led to more useful practice on pulling stuck cars off crests. We also did some longer slip faces to practice safe descending of dunes. So, keep in mind to stay in as low gear as possible when descending, then the engine will brake and you concentrate on the steering.
We made it with no issues to the tree oasis, where we met with Convoy 2 and took a longer break. After break, we decided to continue east parallel to the Sabkha, and continue practice the basics of dune bashing. All went well until the very end of the trip when one car experienced a bit of impact after passing a straight crest, unfortunately causing the engine oil to leak out. We decided to tow it back out but then found out that newer cars do not necessarily have the towing hook in the trunk (this is the type to screw in manually in the front when needed). So, we had to leave the car in the desert and went to tow it out today (Saturday), after the owner went to the dealer to get the hook). So, advise to all, check that your car actually has the front towing hook somewhere stored in the car (unless you have the fixed one mounted in the front). Special thanks to Medhat, The Baron and Billet who help get the car out today, it was successfully transported to the dealer for repairs.
Was a good trip, I think all drivers did well and everybody learned some new skills. As mentioned, the sand was packed and wet a bit down, which gives good traction, but also presents some challenges and risks that we don’t have in the dry sand.
Special thanks to the support drivers, Mira-m, kman, kassabz, kharadly, without you we could not manage big trips like this.
Until next time,
Thomas
After the briefing we divided the convoys as follows (Note: Kevin will post separate trip report as reply to this post):
Convoy 1:
Lead: tompa-bjorka (Thomas) – (Marshal Flaghunter co-pilot)
Second Lead: Mira-m (Mira) - Expert
yasir192 (Yasir)
udo (Udo)
Matts (Romeo)
Medhat (Medhat)
Xpantop (Christos)
Scoozy (Raul)
Bisharbn (Bishar)
Kharadly (Mohamed) - Sweeper - Advance
Convoy 2:
Lead: Petro (Kevin)
Support: kman (Konstantin) – Explorer, kassabz (Mohammed) – Intermediate
Drivers: noeljose (Noel), Redbeard (Mikkel), Ramadan (Ramadan), mihir6066 (Dharmendra), Rainady (Andy), Benny (sorry I dont know your club name as you were driving instead of your wife who could not attend), sbinounous (Sebstien).
After briefing we went down the gatch road about 20 minutes and when passing sabkha (which was muddy after the rains), the convoy repositioned and we took off, with the intention to reach the tree-oasis in about one hour, to meet up with convoy 2. On the way there, we practiced some straights crests which led to more useful practice on pulling stuck cars off crests. We also did some longer slip faces to practice safe descending of dunes. So, keep in mind to stay in as low gear as possible when descending, then the engine will brake and you concentrate on the steering.
We made it with no issues to the tree oasis, where we met with Convoy 2 and took a longer break. After break, we decided to continue east parallel to the Sabkha, and continue practice the basics of dune bashing. All went well until the very end of the trip when one car experienced a bit of impact after passing a straight crest, unfortunately causing the engine oil to leak out. We decided to tow it back out but then found out that newer cars do not necessarily have the towing hook in the trunk (this is the type to screw in manually in the front when needed). So, we had to leave the car in the desert and went to tow it out today (Saturday), after the owner went to the dealer to get the hook). So, advise to all, check that your car actually has the front towing hook somewhere stored in the car (unless you have the fixed one mounted in the front). Special thanks to Medhat, The Baron and Billet who help get the car out today, it was successfully transported to the dealer for repairs.
Was a good trip, I think all drivers did well and everybody learned some new skills. As mentioned, the sand was packed and wet a bit down, which gives good traction, but also presents some challenges and risks that we don’t have in the dry sand.
Special thanks to the support drivers, Mira-m, kman, kassabz, kharadly, without you we could not manage big trips like this.
Until next time,
Thomas
