Today we had our 4th generation Ab Initio trip. The attendance as usual was a nice mix between new faces, who join us for the first time, and old members who are here for support. We started fairly on time with the typical Ab Initio lecture by Marco. The talk took us through the important information that the new comers have to be aware of to become part of our group.

After the lecture, we did the assessments for the new members and then we split the group into two convoys based on experience levels.
By around 9:30 am we were ready to conquer the desert.

First convoy report (by Salah):

This is the convoy of the basic junior level lesson number one. We had a few sticks during our trip, some of which were dealt with through directed self recovery and others had to be pulled off, but either way, there was a lot to be learnt.

We will try to take this convoy for full training this coming Fridays where we can work on progress of every frequent member of this batch.

Second convoy report (by Eisuke):

I took lead to take the convoy with some off-roading experience. We had a few new faces in the group and I’m really glad to see more people joining – some with a good amount of experience – to help build our young club.

Pradeep – thanks brother for watching my back today bro! I thought you did well on every dune. The only thing you need now is more experience on the sand to connect with your car more 😁
Ratica – I might have scared you at the beginning with some side cresting and switching, which I later found out you have never done before. After changing the convoy order I thought you drove very smoothly. LWB cars are more difficult to cross dunes so feel confident and step on the gas!
Zakariya – similar comments to Ratica but I felt you know the way the sand behaves well. With more drives you’ll be an amazing driver in no time.
Korayem – from about your car I couldn’t really see the convoy full time, but whenever I got the chance I saw that you’ve been controlling your car well. It was easy to leave you guys at the back because even without looking I could feel that you guys were keeping up easily 👍🏻👍🏻 thanks for joining the convoy today. But please do try and stick to the track for the benefit of the guys behind you too. 🙏🏼
Pratheesh – no words for you man, looked like you passed every dune with ease and I didn’t bother to watch you drive 😜
Ahmed – it was great to drive with you again! You’re a much more confident driver now and I can’t wait to drive with you on more advanced drives.
Tiago – pleasure to see you join our club! 👏🏼 i hope you’ll return again soon and no doubt we’ll mix more challenging drives soon.
Karim – man i feel so lucky to have you at the back today. The rear half of the convoy was managed all by you and thank you for the numerous recoveries we had to do today. I saw you instructing the team in a calm and accurate way and you showed real leadership. Probably more than me! 😆😆

Today was the first time ever for me to lead a full trip. I wasn’t aware of this plan so it was a bit of a scramble at the start, but I feel all in all it was a successful drive. I have to admit, there was a lot of lessons for me too; from doing a full briefing to checking the level of all the drivers, what they are comfortable to do etc..

We ended our drive by straight cresting over a big sharp dune. I hope everyone learnt something then because a lot of drivers faced challenges! 😆 To be honest even I find straight cresting scary. The fear of jumping or smashing into something unexpected on the other side. But this is where we have to use our experience of the reading the dune and controlling the car with the perfect amount of momentum to cross it gently. It’s always amazing when you get it right. Just sharing one of many lessons i picked up today.

I had an enjoyable morning. I’d like to thank you all for joining me today and look forward to seeing you again on the dunes soon!

Report by: Salah / Eisuke / Marko