Outback Challenge: Morocco (Team USA)

[BajaTaco]

Tracy, thanks for the update! 48 hours on the ferry. Man, talk about time to kill... I am bummed because my wife said that Scott called a little while ago, and I wasn't here to talk to him! Not much news beyond what Tracy said. Sharon just said that Scott asked that I post on ExPo that they made it to Morocco safe and sound, and they are doing well. A big day in store tomorrow. That's about it. I don't think he really had time to chat.

Tracy, if you get any more details, please post 'em up! (BTW, you mentioned a few select pics, but they didn't show up).

Edit: Nevermind, I see you posted the pics on another thread.

 

[Desertdude]

It is quite facinating to get the info through the grapevine - thanks for posting

 

[flyingwil]

It is quite facinating to get the info through the grapevine - thanks for posting

X2 I love hearing of their adventure! Definately some good reading to come!:victory:

 

[treighsee]

Scott/Nathan UPDATE #2

From Nathan via Scott's blackberry:
Finished the first day. Very long day, especially after no after no sleep. 300 mile off road race to nav points along the way. We came in second over all, but their is some debate on the first teams checkpoints. We were the first team to almost all the checkpoints esp the last couple.

After the finish, another 120 miles to the campsite. We spent almost 3 hours within 2 miles of the campsite trying to find a way around some sand dunes. The camp while impossible to find, is really nice. We stayedin bedouin mud huts.
We're both tired and sore but ready to cont
Nathan

 

[treighsee]

Advice

Hey BajaTaco,
Is this the only thread I should be posting updates to? When I first logged in I couldn't find anything specific to the challenge so I just started poting to 2 threads I thought might be OK. Then, of course, I found this one. For now, until I hear otherwise, I will only post updates here. You can decide where they should go since you're more aware of where things go around here.
~tracy

 

[Desertdude]

Thank you for posting treighsee - I can only imagine what it feels like to show up after all the anticipation and adrenaline- land in a foreign country and get behind the wheel in an off-road challenge -



Send my big congratulations to the team for making their first day a real success :victory:

 

[Desertdude]

treighsee - this be the place - and over on iH8mud.com if you want to

click here
for the thread


::::

 

[BajaTaco]

Tracy, you are fast! Hehehe - I just talked to Stephanie Brady and she said she got a call from Scott last night around 2:30 am with basically the info that you posted this morning. According to what she said, there seemed to be some uncertainty as to the official results. He felt like they may be in 1st place. Very exciting stuff! Hopefully after the dust settles, they will have secured a win for this first stage. He mentioned that they had to drive through the night.

Hey BajaTaco,
Is this the only thread I should be posting updates to?

Yes, this is the thread specifically for the event. I will go ahead and lock the other threads. Thanks.

 

[Mlachica]

Wow that's great news :luxhello: Whether first or second that's a great way to start the race :clapsmile

 

[flyingwil]

:luxhello: Thanks for the updates! We are all wishing them the best! Keep the updates coming!

 

[BajaTaco]

Oh yea, I forgot to mention that Scott said it was a bit HOT :sunny:

I was messing around with NASA World Wind and did a couple of screen captures of the race area. One is "Landsat 7 Psuedo" geocover 1990, the other is "NLT Landsat 7" Visible color.

 

[Jonathan Hanson]

Great imaging, Chris! Thanks. And thanks to everyone for the updates. Sounds like our boys are doing great.

 

[treighsee]

Scott/Nathan UPDATE #3

From Nathan via Scott's blackberry:
Second day is finished and we did well again. A very high level of attrition from the other competitors. Out of 14 teams only seven made the starting line today one of whom stopped after only 5 minutes.

We seem to have established ourselves as the team to beat, or at least the team to follow Scott and I seem to work very well as a team and were doing great on these nav trials. Decided to play a safe conservative game today. Nice and easy and don't break anything. Within 15 minutes all 5 other vehicles had fallen in line and it became an all day convoy behind us to the nav points.

Todays challenge was in huge sand dune area (hundreds of sq miles) technical but short... Only 100 or so km in total length. We took some very good lines through the dunes and made good time. Back in camp by 5PM... A nice change from the 2 prev days.

Our partner vehicle, the team from Luxembourg has a mechanic here at the camp and he gave both of our LCs the once over and they're both holding up great. A few missing bolts here and there but nothing major. Not bad for 300+ miles of hard off road driving.

Tomorrow is a series of special tasks. First is a high speed closed course. The second is the infamous wall climbing challenge that they borrowed from the Australia event.

A dust storm blew in this evening, and they say it may actually rain tonight... Hard to believe in the sahara.

We can't say enough nice things about all of the other teams here. We were worried that we would be isolated because of the language barrier (most teams speak only french and very limited English). We seem to have met them half way with a combination of french, English and gestures. They've been very friendly and very accomodating.

That's all for now. We're exhausted. No photos for now. Can't send them from this phone, but well send as soon as we get laptop access... Probably back in France, or the last night in Morocco.
~nathan

 

[flyingwil]

No photos for now. Can't send them from this phone, but well send as soon as we get laptop access... Probably back in France, or the last night in Morocco.
~nathan

Oh... Can't wait for that! :clapsmile

Go:exclaim: Team Go:exclaim:

 

[BajaTaco]

Sunday Update! 7:00 PM Morocco time

I just spoke with Scott on the phone. He called from the bedouin camp in the desert and he said the wind was kicking up pretty good. He sounds like he is on a really good high and just enveloped in the whole experience. Scott says everyone has just been fantastic, that everyone is getting along so well, and their hosts are incredible.

They are currently in 1st place overall and have a strong LEAD!!! :gunt:

They have completed 8 stages, and only have 2 to go, with a 6 or 7 hour lead over 2nd place! They did a short course today and were able to be a little conservative since they know they have a strong lead. The strategy paid off.

Chris: So what has been the most challenging driving?

Scott: The sand driving has been the most challenging thing. The dunes are so big you can't just drive over some of them. You have to find ways to get around and through them. The Staun Beadlocks are incredible. We have even been down to as little as 2 psi while using them. There was one timed short course with sand driving, in which there was an optional dune climb. A successful attempt would be rewarded with a 1 hour credit. Both trucks on our team (the other is a Toyota Land Cruiser 73 series) made it up and ended up with 2 hours credit to the team. That helped a lot considering we were the only ones to make it. Quite a few cars broke on the 1st day and only about 1/2 made it to finish that day.

Chris: And what has been the most challenging navigation?

Scott: We have been doing really well with the navigation. Probably the worst time was when we were almost 2 days without sleep and we couldn't get to the first camp.

Chris: Are you using the laptop for nav?

Scott: Yes, we are using the laptop a lot. Our maps aren't the best, but we are making it work.

Chris: Have you had to do any water crossings?

Scott: Tomorrow we will be doing a water crossing that is supposed to be over the hood of the Land Cruiser.

Chris: Have you had to do any winching?

Scott: Yes, we did some winching today. One of the operations we had to do involved a 30m hill that was not driveable, the winch HAD to be used. We had to let one of the team vehicles down the hill, where they circled around, and then we had to winch them back up. Half of the teams DNF. The Warn 8274 winch on the Land Cruiser is crazy. It has been equipped with a 6.5 HP motor. The line speed is so fast that you have to walk fast, almost jog, to keep up with it.

Chris: So how is the weather? It's hot? Are the evenings cool?

Scott: Yes, it's like Phoenix, AZ in June. It's pretty hot. It does cool off in the evenings, and the nights are beautiful. Overall, the weather has been perfect.


So there you have it! WOOOHOOO!!!! Let's hear it for Team USA!!! :clapsmile