13 Aug 2010 : FRIDAY : DAY ONE (D1)
When we finally decided to hit the sack, it was around 2:00am. At 4:30am, Arka's loud voice broke into my dreams. 'Good morning...time to get up'. Whaaa....
I was just getting into a deep slumber...aargh ! Ok, then I realise groggily that D1 of TPC10 had dawned for the O-Team. As the sleep was slowly forced away, (and I gained more consciousness ) I was able to find my way to the bathroom. The cool shower made me fresh and ready to take on D1, and the hot tea that was available in front of the tents made be truly awake.
I went to the dining area to collect my O-Team gear for D1. Also, came to know that Babu,one of the AZ staff, was going to accompany me in my SS for today. We collected the packed food and ice-box for us, loaded the Gypsy and were ready . Then, I realised that there was something pending : the sponsor stickers. I collected the stickers, stuck them on the Gypsy. Also, collected the walkie-talkie / whistle, and most important, the scoring sheets. Now, truly ready to roll. It was decided that the O-Team would go in two batches (one for the blue team start point, the other for the red team start point). We started out at 06:25 from AZ. The convoy for the blue start line had 3 vehicles : the OneTon (Arcadeep), an MM540 (Bala) and my Gypsy. Manoj Shah (MM540) would be leading the competitors (Blue teams) into this start line. The re-grouping point for the Blue team start line was at the Chengleput bridge at 07:10. Then we made our way into the Palar river bed.
Arcadeep set up the SS1 for D1, while I moved further on to setup and man SS2, and Bala went on to SS3. He would be manning SS3/SS4 along with Arcadeep. Once the SS was setup, myself and Babu decided to have our packed breakfast. It would take a while for the Blue teams to start arriving here.
Then started the O-Team members' activities : waiting for the teams to arrive ,once a team arrives, note down the in-time, get the details of the team (team name/order of vehicles/driver names for each vehicle), then brief the team about the obstacles in the SS, and then note the start time as soon as the first vehicle starts on the first obstacle, keep noting the number of attempts of each vehicle if it exceeds one, then note down the time when the last vehicle finishes the last obstacle. After a team finishes, the out-time is noted, and one of them would sign on the score sheet. Then me and Babu would check the terrain, and use the shovel to even out the sand, in case required. And then wait for the next team. And this cycle continues with each team!
From around 9:30am to 1:00pm, the Blue teams were passing thru my SS. There was a lull from 1:00pm onwards upto about 3:00pm. We had lunch during this time. The sun was also getting unbearably hot. Checked up with Bala and Arcadeep : no Red teams had reached their SS yet, so decided to move over to SS1, manned by Manoj Shah. This was closer to the river bank, and he had found a nice, shady area, where we parked our vehicles and decided to take a quick nap. This proved to be quite refreshing.
We then made our way back to the SS, as the Red teams started arriving. From around 4:00pm the weather started changing : from hot to breezy to cool. Dark clouds started gathering over us and by 4:35pm, it had started raining : very unusual for TPC !
The heavy downpur continued for about 30mins, I guess ; then it slowed down to a drizzle. During this time, the last 2 red teams for the day completed my SS and moved on to SS1.
Unfortunately, I was not able to take any pics when the teams were doing the obstacles. I had to hold the scoring sheets pad, the Sony H7 which I was using for the first time at an OTR is not exactly a compact camera ; holding/using the camera when manning the SS was not easy. Needed some practise ; I got used to this for D2. Some pics from D1, SS2 :
A couple of shots of SS2
SS1 as seen from SS2
SS3 as seen from SS2
By 5:45pm, there was confirmation that we were going to wind up for the day. As we exited the Palar river bed, Bala got a call that some help was needed with the
OneTon®, I decided to accompany him. We then re-entered the river bed, and travelled upto the entry point of the Red teams, thus effectively traversing the length of the entire D1 transport leg. But by the time we reached, the
OneTon® was out of the river bed, and on the Kancheepuram-Chengleput road. Arka told me to lead a couple of Jeeps back to AZ, they would fix the
OneTon® and come back. While one of the Jeeps was refuelling at a bunk on the Chengleput byepass, we saw the
OneTon® and other O-Team vehicles zip by (yes, the
OneTon® was moving fast). After Madurantakam, the Jeeps that I was leading were able to find their own way. I had to do some quick shopping at Madurantakam, and then proceeded on to AZ. I dont remember noting the time, but I guess it would have been well past 9:00pm. I took a shower, then wanted to take a quick nap, before going for dinner ( must have been around 10:30pm by now). That proved to be a mistake. I conked out totally, without dinner.