SandSailing v1 DXB-ADV (22 Jan)
Posted: Sat Jan 22, 2022 3:23 pm
This drive was opened by SandSailor (Emre) and it was going to be his first official lead but due to health reasons Emre had to pull out. With Sai’s encouragement and Emre’s blessing I was given the lead.
All drivers gathered at our usual Shoueib deflation point and after a short briefing we started driving at 09:10. Convoy lined up in the following order:
Engin
Serkan + 2 passengers
Ozgur + 1 passenger
Sai
Waleed
Abo Ali
Mustafa
I started testing the high dunes of Shoeib and failed in the first couple of switch attempts because the top of the dunes were very rough as the heavy winds of yesterday has moved a lot of soft sand exposing the very bumpy and unpredictable hard surface left over from the rainy days of past few weeks. As my confidence built up I did the first switch and we left the first set of high dunes in Shoeib. On the way to the second set of high dunes, Serkan’s passenger started feeling sick and we took a break. Following this break we head to the second set and faced with similar crests which are very uncomfortable and risky to ride on. This forced me to aim the smaller and more technical dunes. Serkan’s passenger couldn’t recover from his condition and Serkan decided to end the drive for him. Abo Ali joined Serkan and they left together. At this point Ozgur took Serkan’s position as the second lead.
We then hit the third set of the high dunes (the ones before Superbowl) and they were more manageable. That’s were the fun started. We did a number of switches on the suitable crests and played around there for some time.
Superbowl was difficult to climb. I had to abort the climb and turn down becuase the track was so much destroyed.
For the rest of the drive I took it easy and tried to have fast paced technical Advance drive with twists and turns.
We reached Badayer shops at 12:00 and concluded our drive.
We had one rope recovery where Mustafa pulled me out and few self recoveries. There were 2 or 3 second tries.
Ozgur did extremely well as the second lead and other than one second try he followed my tracks without much struggle. Congratulations on his upgrade to Advance.
I admire Waleed’s energy masallah, he joined the drive one day after a 3500km bike ride he completed. Of course he did very well all through the track.
Thanks to brother Abo Ali for joining the drive and later on assisting Serkan with the sick passenger.
Thank you Mustafa, Sai and Serkan for encouraging me. It was flattering to have 3 marshals following my lead.
And lastly thanks to SandSailor for organizing this drive. You were missed. I hope you get well soon.
Best,
Engin
All drivers gathered at our usual Shoueib deflation point and after a short briefing we started driving at 09:10. Convoy lined up in the following order:
Engin
Serkan + 2 passengers
Ozgur + 1 passenger
Sai
Waleed
Abo Ali
Mustafa
I started testing the high dunes of Shoeib and failed in the first couple of switch attempts because the top of the dunes were very rough as the heavy winds of yesterday has moved a lot of soft sand exposing the very bumpy and unpredictable hard surface left over from the rainy days of past few weeks. As my confidence built up I did the first switch and we left the first set of high dunes in Shoeib. On the way to the second set of high dunes, Serkan’s passenger started feeling sick and we took a break. Following this break we head to the second set and faced with similar crests which are very uncomfortable and risky to ride on. This forced me to aim the smaller and more technical dunes. Serkan’s passenger couldn’t recover from his condition and Serkan decided to end the drive for him. Abo Ali joined Serkan and they left together. At this point Ozgur took Serkan’s position as the second lead.
We then hit the third set of the high dunes (the ones before Superbowl) and they were more manageable. That’s were the fun started. We did a number of switches on the suitable crests and played around there for some time.
Superbowl was difficult to climb. I had to abort the climb and turn down becuase the track was so much destroyed.
For the rest of the drive I took it easy and tried to have fast paced technical Advance drive with twists and turns.
We reached Badayer shops at 12:00 and concluded our drive.
We had one rope recovery where Mustafa pulled me out and few self recoveries. There were 2 or 3 second tries.
Ozgur did extremely well as the second lead and other than one second try he followed my tracks without much struggle. Congratulations on his upgrade to Advance.
I admire Waleed’s energy masallah, he joined the drive one day after a 3500km bike ride he completed. Of course he did very well all through the track.
Thanks to brother Abo Ali for joining the drive and later on assisting Serkan with the sick passenger.
Thank you Mustafa, Sai and Serkan for encouraging me. It was flattering to have 3 marshals following my lead.
And lastly thanks to SandSailor for organizing this drive. You were missed. I hope you get well soon.
Best,
Engin