The humidity level had picked up earlier in the week and failed to let up.  This made tire deflation during Saturday’s morning drive a bit of a sticky affair.

Rise and shine was planned as a technical drive.  So after tackling a few side slopes near the meeting point, the convoy was led straight into one of the most technically challenging areas in Al Qudra. The area was littered with small bowls and ditches  which were lined with powder soft aerated sand .

Meticulous convoy discipline and skillful driving were essential for crossing this area without incident.  The convoy had to be continuously moving to avoid getting stuck, even where the terrain was flat. Fortunately, our convoy comprised of experienced drivers who had good command of their vehicles and maintained a safe following distance throughout the drive. We did have the odd second try and stuck, but it was handled with ease, under the watch eye of our expert sweeper.

Two of the participants in Rise and Shine drive had just completed Desert Fellas rescue training, and got the opportunity to practice their newly acquired rescue skills in a real world situation.  They manage the rope recoveries and guided self recoveries commendably, considering that this was their first real world situation. I look forward to following their progress as they put their training into practice and master the skills that were taught during their training.

Expectedly, the slow pace through the technical area meant that we had less than a third of our scheduled drive time left to cover more than half of the drive distance. So, as soon as the technical dunes were behind us, we used the sabkha and gatch roads to do some high speed rally style driving and exited the desert at the scheduled end time.

This drive provided our new rescue trainees with some invaluable practical experience. It also reinforced the importance of effective communication within the convoy and adherence to safe following distance. Without this we would never have finished the planned drive on Saturday.

Thanks Hussam and Victor, your support on this trip kept the convoy moving nicely.