In Search of Zak's Bowl

[Dirtdiver]

First of al thanks to Zak and Vaughn for leading convoys. Without you I couldn't have accepted everyone that signed up. Thanks to all the advanced drivers for your support. You guys made this trip easy for us in front leading.

Due to the number signed up we divided into three convoys. We had a few new intermediate drivers, so Zak decided to take the drivers with 3 and fewer intermediate trips. I took the drivers between 3 and 5 trips and Vaughn took 6 and above trips.

We divined the convoys and did our individual safety briefings.

Convoy 2
Dirtdiver **** (Lead)
Ahmed (2nd lead)
Rizkallah **
Adil **
Ahmededroul **
Miguel**
Ruttan *** (support /Sweeper) Thanks Adam you made this trip easy for me.

After safety briefing, we set off in search of Zak's dune lol. We had actually agreed to meet the other convoys there at noon. We started playing and learning how the wet sand was. As usual at first it was a learning curve, but all drivers quickly adapted. We found several nice dunes for side sloping and lots of technical areas to climb up and over high dunes side sloping all the way. We managed to meet the other two convoys at Zak's dune and enjoyed playing and chatting with them. After the break there we continued east for a while enjoying the untouched dunes. We played until time to return to the inflation point. We managed to arrive back at the inflation point about 20 minutes late, but nobody was complaining. Everyone wanted to continue the fun. Was another great day with no stuck vehicles in our convoy. We did have a few second attempts. Thanks to everyone for coming out and making this a wonderful morning. Ahmed and Adam, thanks guys for sweeping and second lead. Adam you really helped tremendously, from guiding the drivers through self-recoveries and changing the track you are ready for promotion to explorer, I hope the Marshal's agree and promote you soon!


I hope to see everyone back in the sand soon.

Tim

[adilabid]

Thank you Tim for organising this drive during the brilliant weather we’ve been getting. It was my first ever “wet drive”
And I thoroughly enjoyed every minute (although the rains largely stayed away during our drive). Certainly learned a few things and as usual the quality and skills displayed by all the drivers was superb.
Many thanks to Adam for providing great advice and support whenever situations arose.
I liked how Tim was always looking for technical dunes which made the drive that much more enjoyable and the fact that our drive extended beyond the planned finishing time was an added bonus!! Another great day in the sands and I look forward to future drives with this group of drivers. Stay safe and see you all next time in the sands !!
PS - thank you Tim for ensuring safety is paramount for all
Drivers!! The delayed start meant I could join the drive on time

[Octopus]

( Ill post my trip report for Convoy 1 here)
Drivers
Zak - Fortuner (lead)
Simone - JKU (2nd lead)
Giorgio - Ranger Raptor
Suresh - LC200
Raza - Xterra
Ronald - Pajero (sweep)
Artur - FJ

We conducted a simple safety brieifing as as the plan was to drive on a mostly newbie level. Giorgio was from another club and technically we should have sent him home, but since the sand was so wet I took a call that we could accomodate. I have never seen the sand with this much water in it before, even the last cars in the convoy were not getting to dry sand was almost like driving on the highway. We started with a simple track on the small dunes next to the highway and then slowly made our to the bigger dunes. There were lots of 2nd tries as despite the sand being so hard the weight of the cars would sometimes pull the cars in the wrong direction especially on the technical stuff.

The team were no so sure coming down a small slip face so i did another briefing on how to manage the car on the slipface and we practiced it again. We then made our way towards Zak's Bowl and i made sure everyone practiced their straight cresting, it might have been 5 in a row with many recoveries and 2nd tries.

After the bowl we cruised a bit more and enjoyed the hard sand. and in good time made it back to the gravel road and to the tarmac.
Thanks all for joining.
Well done to Simone and Ronald. Very good communication and driving.
Thanks Artur for watching all in the back and joining the fun.
Till next time. Zak.

[Octopus]

Nice to see such a big turnout, despite the weather. Actually all the wind and rain came in after we had finished. Intermediates are some of the best trips. Big turn out and lost of enthusiasm from the group.

Thanks Tim for posting and organising everyone into good capable groups.
Thanks Vaughn for taking those with a bit more experience, im sure they enjoyed your track.
and big thanks to all the senior drivers for their support. Volodomyr, Ahmed, Artur, Adam.

I hope we can visit Zak's Bowl again and keep crashing the Google algorithm

[Ruttan]

Intermediate drives are quite a bit of fun due to the enthusiasm, you're right. I saw Rizkallah in the IMAX just a couple hours ago watching Dune. Didn't recognize him looking clean

AD4x4 guys can't get enough sand on a single drive - we have to go watch movies filmed in Liwa to get our fill.

Great drive, Tim. The drivers were very skilled and drove with confidence over that strange, spongy sand.

[VGSears]

Thank you to all those who joined convoy 3 of this trip organized by Tim, the convoy consisted of 2 Advance drivers and 6 Intermediates who have each done a number of intermediate drivers. Below is the convoy order:

vpuiul (Volodymyr) - 4Runner - 2nd Lead
learner (Firoz) - Xterra
FarisY62 (Farsi) - Patrol Y62
El-Sadek (Samir) - Tacoma - Support
aadil imtiaz (Aadil) - Xterra
DenysF (Denys) - Wrangler JL
Maxsalvato (Max) - Xterra
strocifer (Alexandre) - FJ Cruiser

The rains from the previous night and morning meant that the sands were what and slightly unpredictable in places. We started off taking some easy lines and testing the convoy capabilities and how a convoy of 9 would leave tracks for the back end of the convoy. Overall the drive was good and the convoy showed their capabilities and we increased the level. We had some good areas to test each driver on some good side slopes and some largish bowls.

Unfortunately Firoz was having a few technical issues with his car so we moved him up the convoy as the turned up sand could have made it more challenging. This definitely helped and overall the convoy did well and we made it to Zak’s Bowl by 12:30. The convoy got time to play in the bowl and chat with Convoy 1 & 2 before we all continued our drives and aimed to meet back at the start point for 2pm. the route back consisted of smaller dunes and more technical adding to the diversity of the dunes on the days route.

Overall each driver did well on this drive and hope they all enjoyed the route, we had some sticks but considering the conditions these were expected. I hope you all enjoyed the drive and see you in the dunes again. Thank you to both 2nd lead and sweep on this drive, great communication and assistance to make this convoy of 9 cars in and out of the dunes safely.

[Noob2020]

Thanks to Tim for organizing trip and not canceling it, thanks to Zak for leading our convoy and thanks to everyone else for great company. I had guests and once again best day during their vacation is the one they spent with AD4x4. Looking forward for more adventures and seeing you all in desert.

[strocifer]

Thank you for the organization of the trip.
As always, safety was put in first place, even before the weekend with weather forecasts and adjustment of the timing accordingly. Given what we experienced on our way back, it wasn't useless to consider the weather parameter!

[Sureshartl]

Thanks Tim for organizing the trip and Zak for leading our convey, it was great experience and learning obviously the the weather was too good which you dont get all time in desert , drive in Zak Bowl was amazing , really eager to join you guys and waiting to visit Zak bowl soon.

[cmj1388]

I missed it and ended up breaking my car playing on the road water ….

[Sbrune]

Littel bit late.... thaks to Tim and Zak to drive us till Zak's bowl!!! It was a spectacular experience to drive inside the bowl and feel the feeling of freedom that comes with it!!!