Quick report:
Finally have time to write about my experience at the OTR event and the various obstacles. Not all of this is positive feedback...I hope the organizers can take this constructively.
I woke up at 5:00am and got ready to meet up with the others at the Panvel McDonalds. Packed my air compressor, puncture repair kit, digital pressure gauge, Cisco Flip HD cameras, change of clothes, biscuits and a thermos filled with liquid refreshments.
Left home at 5:50am and reached McDs at 6:30am where Imran showed up. Had a quick bite there, fueled up and headed to Alibaug. We were at the HP gas station at 8:30am where I dropped tire pressure from 32 to 24 psi. Sachin (Mohan's friend) met us here and I requested him to help us get ice for the thermos. Took a short detour to buy ice (30 rupees worth) and then headed to the resort where the guys were camped. We reached there at 9:30am.
Met up with Tejas, Mohan and the rest of the crew. I picked number 14 for Geoff and applied the stickers carefully (both have now come off after the post-OTR car-wash).
From 9:30am onwards was a pointless wait. Just hanging around doing nothing while some of the overnight members "woke up" taking their own sweet time. Possibly the only negative aspect of the event. I had to wake up at 5:00am to be on time only to find people lounging around and some still asleep in their tents. I could have slept 2 more hours and still been on time for the day's start!
Guys - please be sensitive to the fact that these are group events and that you need to keep time! By being lazy or un-coordinated you are delaying people who take these things seriously. Had we started as planned at 9:00am I would have been back home at 4:00pm - 5:00pm instead of 8:00pm and that is a HUGE difference on a Sunday!
Tejas/Mohan: next time we give 30 minutes grace time for late comers after which they just have to catch up on their own.
Eventually we got started and again there were issues with directions. Perhaps we should all understand the efforts taken by Tejas to give out numbers and FOLLOW order for a change. People randomly taking off in different directions and then more time being wasted getting back on track. Also - where was the lead car? The lead car has to lead from the front and a tail car in the back to make sure nobody is left behind. Another mess just negotiating the short distance to the venue.
A cool-off session and a chance for some to have a bath at the water fording section. Geoff lost his off-road virginity here and went across the water, up the bank at the other end and then joined back with the others in time to head to the real OTR obstacle sequence.
After getting there we had a quick instruction session from Allan and the action began. Once again some members decided to screw the "rules" and took off on their own all over the place. Why go as a group with numbered sequence if everyone is going to take off all over the place on their own accord? As a result of this indiscipline I sat around waiting for my turn while some members kept cutting the queue and progressing through the obstacles on their own. The side effect is that I only had one shot at each obstacle and no opportunity to explore going through with different gears. Everything was done in 4WD Low in 1st gear. There was nobody at the beginning to give suggestions/instructions. Just complete chaos!
Even as I set myself up to take the first ramp at the stone quarry, one of these out-of-control members cut in out of nowhere and decided it was his turn and cut me off!
If you look at my videos of the water fording section there is a speeding gypsy that cuts ACROSS the path of vehicles. This vehicle just missed my vehicle and a black Mahindra classic as we went across. This is downright dangerous because if I had stalled and stopped (newbie after all) he would have rammed right into me.
As it was, I did all the obstacles in 4L in 1st with no opportunity to try alternate techniques. I guess it was my fault because I wasn't aggressive in getting ahead of the queue, cutting the line and making a general nuisance of myself with no regard for the others behind.
Mohan/Tejas - thanks for organizing this awesome event and it was fun to meet the others and put faces and names to their Tbhp handles. I'll keep an eye out for future events and I will be sure to join. Please accept these comments as constructive feedback to keep things in order at future events. There is a reason why there are rules at OTRs and all you have to do is see how they do it at the events held in Bangalore, Hyderabad and NCR.
It is possible...let me know how I can help you guys out next time.
Cheers!