[PatchyBoy]

Sorry guys. Got very busy with monthly reports at work. Since I shifted last week, having to manage with pathetic Mobile phone connection speeds at home. Hoping to get broadband this weekend.

Thoroughly enjoyable meet. Loved every moment. Carried the camera, but did not get many pictures. Somehow felt inadequate with all the sermon on shutter speeds and f-stops

Thanks guys for making this happen.

Cheers,

Rajan

[Steeroid]

Sigh! Missed a chance to drive, have fun and meet the bunch!

Originally Posted by bottle

khan sultan doing black magic

Wasting good liquor??????

Okay I shouldnt be complaining, after sending a bottle of Black down the toilet at CSI Kuttikanam.

[bottle]

Originally Posted by Mission_Safari

Where are the pics from your camera? Also please remind Saiyan and Vince to upload the pics here.

Not too many pics from my cam, vince has the best ones

[hrag]

Originally Posted by Steeroid

Wasting good liquor??????

Let me assure you that nothing of the sort happened . Not a drop was wasted.

[bottle]

few videos, quality has degraded a bit after uploading on youtube

YouTube - Yercaud Dinner 1

YouTube - Yercaud Dinner 2

YouTube - Yercaud Dinner 3

[condor]

Back on Track : This is where Khan Sultan was gliding that Gypsy.


Spotted Her ! Second spotting of the Bison was here. The two slipped away into the night, moving rightwards from that dark spot to the left of the head-light beam.


Tracker ! Patchy Boy gets down and tries to track the Bison


The Hunting .. er Tracking Party. Patchy Boy is still on the lookout .. but no further luck.


Back at the Grange, it's party time. The bonfire is set up, and the spririts rise.


Quietly burns the bon-fire


Black Magic. And some more.


The Khan Sultan's ..


Nikhil, wife, and a sleeping Niyati's. Susan searching for something ?


Annas Always !


An exotic guest was there too ..


The Khan Sultans .. enjoying the music in the Scorp.


And waiting for the next bonfire !



The next day's action soon to come ! Watch this space, guys.

[condor]

A calm, peaceful Yercaud morning.


We had planned to head out at dawn to catch the Bison again. I was waiting from about 5 am for someone to call me. A lot revolved around Khan Sultan & the Gypsy. Couldnt go myself to wake up the guys as I had missed getting the room numbers and didnt want to wake up some one else, other than our group.

With no sign of a drive-at-dawn, I went out for a walk & came back to be greeted by MansIdea, MJothi & Khan Sultan. Had tea, and we went out for the drive.


The kind of tracks that we were driving through. The Gypsy looks like it popped right out of the forest.


Looking out for the elusive Bison.


From the spot above, we needed to curve sharply to the right and pass through these two trees that are in the fore-ground. Khan Sultan seens another slope (with tracks made by the ATV), and realises that it was a great spot to test his rear /exit angle. Post the chop-off job, the Gypsy's entry/exit angles are almost identical, making it very ideal for off-roading.


Khan Sultan backs-up towards the slope, but too late .. ! Check the spinning front left wheel. The Gypsy's stuck.


4L, Lockers, revving hard - nothing worked. Khan Sultan comes out to survey the ground below the Gypsy.


Notice the stone below the front-left wheel. Trying to give some traction to the wheel..
Trying to supplement the horse-power with some man-power.


The wheels are stuck .. see the slush around the front & the rear wheels.


No, there's no mix-up there, the photo on the right is the rear-wheel. The area of the body behind the rear-wheel gives you an idea of the chop-job that the Gypsy got.

With the Gypsy not moving even an inch, we tried to rock it sideways, while Khan Sultan tried to revv her out. But we soon realised that the rocking was just giving a work-out to the suspensions - and us.


The wheels of the Gypsy were stuck as firmly as before, and our pushing was only raising the body & stretching the left-side suspensions. Again, note the stones below the wheels and some old pieces of wood from a tree that was .. but none of that seemed to help.

We were hoping that the forward push in 4L will push the stones down into the mud, and then give some support to the tyres.

Khan Sultan tried reversing the Gypsy into firmer ground, but no such luck. The Gypsy seemed bolted down into the slush.

We collect more stones, and a couple of chopped tree branches that were lying around. Using these sticks, dug out the slush from the front of each wheel, and hammered in small stones into that spot. Then bigger stones on top of these, again hammered in, to give a firmer base in front of each wheel ..

Time for a final go .. we were getting ideas too. Can we get a tractor in there ? One sec- can we even find a tractor for that ? Nothing else could traverse those tracks.

Khan Sultan back at the controls, MansIdea from the left (adding some push to the side that was stuck most), MJothi & me from the rear.

Countdown : 3, 2, 1, PPUUUUSSSSHHH ! Khan Sultan adds his might by stepping on the gas. For a few seconds it looked like our efforts were not going to bear fruit .. but.. the Gyspy became King.

A look at the spot: tracks, from L to R:
Left & right tracks - by the rear wheels. The depressions where the rear wheels were sitting, are looking pretty innocuous..

The track in the middle was by the front left wheel.


Looking back .. 4 different tracks by the wheels give a hint of the situation. The direction the Gypsy was in, & the direction the slush sent her in ..


81 Horses and 3 BMP (Shouldn't it be 4?) later, the Gypsy sitting quietly. Not really giving even a hint of what she had been through.


Khan Sultan takes a breather. Note the direction from where we came, and the exit from that point. We were tracing the steps we had taken the the previous night, and wonder how would it have been if this had happened then !


While we got plenty of action, we couldn't find the other thing we came for. We knew she was around, probably having fun watching the scene un-fold there .. But we did after all see something we dont normally do .. a small consolation ?


The drive back to the resort was un-eventful. Back there, we catch up with the rest. Khan Sultan's wife must have been wondering what were we upto.. She seems certain that something is amiss, but not quite able to finger on it ..


Now she'll know !

[nikhil_d]

Heyyyy

This was my first experience with a Team-BHP meet and I was really thrilled with the experience. The drive down from Bangalore was Good(although i missed the First pit stop and learnt my lesson in group driving).

Khan_sultan and PatchyBoy were there to guide me thru the first leg. I never expected the 20 hairpin bends until they were in front of me. I was a bit tense but enjoyed it completely. Once in Yercaud it was meeting new friends and enjoying the ATV (both the original Gypsy and the one for rent). The climate was extremely beautiful with the rain being the cherry on the cake.

The off roading experience was also a first time on Indian terrain, and was really excited(although could not muster enough courage to drive the Gypsy) . The Bonfire was an extra attraction for me and the Dinner was good (could have been better). Must have slept like a log that night.

I will always repent not making it for the morning drive with Khan_sultan, Mansidea and the others. Am sure it must have been fun to get dirty and remember Mansidea's comment on exchanging shoes when they were back.

The drive back was beautiful will all the cars making it one by one to earth (from top of the world)


Overall an experience i will cherish all my life and am already looking forward to the next meet(Hope it happens soon!!!).

[mjothi]

@Condor, very good writeup man. I felt like revisiting the incident

Nice one. Thanks for the pictures. now I understand the pixels in your Mobile. Lol

[HappyWheels]

Nice photo's Condor!

Great narration of Gypsy Vs The Slush!

Felt almost like almost the same situation when we had to rock out KittiGadu's beast out of some slush.

[inder_s1]

Condor ,

Awesome writeup and pics. Darn , couldn't make it to the meet.

Love the pic from you and Bottle of the fire with the flames captured looking like strings.

Low shutter speed, is it???

[BomBatt]

Very nice place and you guys had very nice time too. I can only for missing this meet. But I could not help it.

Mansidea, it is nice to see your Scorp in good shape again.

Khan bhai, you never miss even 1/2 chance of off-roading, to you man.

[Vince]

here are the best pics from my cam..

@others: if you could, please upload all the pics that came out well..

[mansidea]

Good write up & Excellent pictures condor. You used all your resources to get the right ones (mix of Nikon & Nokia).

Request all others to off load your pics here..

[condor]

Thanks, guys.
@MansIdea - it's a SE (K810i). Nokia's dont even come close to the utility of the k810i's camera.

@HappyWheels, been a while since we met I guess. You, Inder, BomBatt must make it to the meets.