[Blue Thunder]

Yup, you read that right : boring, as in Beach Off-RoadING . I had gone to the beach with my cousins couple of days back. Since we primarily went to have a bath in the sea, we did not take much photos. My cousing Karthi has taken these pics in a Fujifilm A330 (so don't expect hi-Q pics) . It is quite late in the night now, so i am not putting much description here, just the pics. I also have a video , which i shall upload later.


The Gypsy, standing in the distance, at the point where we entered the beach. We had walked down the beach to check if the place was safe for bathing, and took this photo from there.






Boats from the Muttukadu boat house :





At the mouth of the Muttukadu backwaters, where it meets the sea :




View of ECR road on Muttukadu bridge, from the beach :






Drawing Figure 8s in the beach sands , this had to be done, rite :
















Figure 8 up close




Climbing up the high tide shoreline :








climbing up the high tide shoreline :






Climbing down the high tide shoreline :




That's it for now.

[shuvd]

Nice pics. Thats a mean looking ride you got there.

[Blue Thunder]

Originally Posted by shuvd

Nice pics. Thats a mean looking ride you got there.

Thanx, shuvd : offroad, this machine is a mean one .

[headers]

having fun BT.. next time you got to join us.. welcome off the road!

[Samurai]

Nice fun BT, may be a little overboard on the watermarking. This ain't no scoop.

How's the sand in this area? The local beaches in my area are extremely powdery. I once ventured 10ft off the tar road with the Baleno into the beach sand for a simple U-turn. I was sunk before I could complete half the turn. Needed 3 people to push me out.

[devil_in_flesh]

Looks like great fun.I hope u engaged the 4 wheel drive and had also deflated the tires a bit, you dont want to get stuck in the sand. Has happened to me once when i over-ambitiously took my gypsy to the beach without having done the above mentioned things and ended up getting stuck in a sand ditch.

[Blue Thunder]

@ headers --> definitely looking forward to join u all the next time .

@ Samurai --> I know I was overdoing the watermarking part, but thought I would go ahead with it anyway . Next time I should try some of the other options at Add Custom Watermark to Images, Free. Protect Your Photos and Images - PicMarkr.

The sand is varying here : some places it is less loose so that even a 2WD could move in it, but most places it is very loose, definitely 4L terrain. I remember that the sand in Chennai beaches used to be more loose allover, but recently I have seen the sand to be more solid at many places (maybe an effect of the tsunami ??? ) Taking a u-turn in beachsand is the most trickiest : the tyres sink in much faster when turning. The best bet would be stop before it sinks in too much, then reverse the vehicle, then try turning with larger turn radius. of course all this is with 4WD : in 2WD any vehicle would get stuck in the loose sand, sooner or later.


@ devil_in_flesh --> I was defnintely in 4WD in all those pics (4L to be precise). I did not have to reduce the tyre pressure, since my Gypsy was moving without the tyres sinking in, as is.

[headers]

Originally Posted by Blue Thunder

Taking a u-turn in beachsand is the most trickiest : the tyres sink in much faster when turning. The best bet would be stop before it sinks in too much, then reverse the vehicle, then try turning with larger turn radius. of course all this is with 4WD : in 2WD any vehicle would get stuck in the loose sand, sooner or later.

We once had a 4x4 bash on the shore at our friends farmhouse.. The gypsys raced and managed upto 70 kmph on the straights..and we did do some great U turns too..thats the fun factor..

Never use 4L..unless you are stuck in 4H and are unable to rock yourself out..A light vehicle like the gypsy doesnt even need 4H in sand..unless you are doing a dune!

[Lalvaz]

Blue Thunder, Looks like someone had a blast on the beach. Amazing ride you got there. Makes me want to get one immediately. Cant wait to see the video.

[Blue Thunder]

headers, 70kkmph on beach sand . Which stretch of beach was this? Was it in the wet part near the waves , or the dry shore? The sand must have been a bit firm, not too loose, i guess. My gypsy started slowing down in 4H in the loose sand, so I stopped it and engaged 4L : did not want to push it in 4H till it got stuck.

[shuvd]

Blue Thunder - One suggestion. Why not get rid of the stickers?

[superavi]

Nice short story Blue Thunder, but it looks like you had more fun in watermarking the photos than the actual driving itself!! :-D

[hemanth.das]

Good Stuff, seems to have had a lot of fun....

[rrnsss]

Gypsy is a great example of an excellent offroader that is almost as good as any other off roader even with out LSD or diff locks.

Just the fact that it is so light and its capability to tread softly on any terrain makes it an awesome vehicle. Great pictures

[headers]

Originally Posted by Blue Thunder

headers, 70kkmph on beach sand . Which stretch of beach was this? Was it in the wet part near the waves , or the dry shore? The sand must have been a bit firm, not too loose, i guess. My gypsy started slowing down in 4H in the loose sand, so I stopped it and engaged 4L : did not want to push it in 4H till it got stuck.

Maybe next time..i'll show you the trick of doing it..