The third racing day was a challenging track to the next camp in Akakus. It was very warm and the dunes in the beginning demanded the best of the participants' navigation. But when the track went true large plains it was easier and many enjoyed to speed up. Most participants reached CP 2 before noon. The wind became stronger and the vision was very bad because of the fine powder sand in the wind, especially on the ground. So it was good that there were longer and easier parts as well. Unfortunately, Jean Van Holzaet had an accident. Philip Cracco was with him and he immediately called the crisis room. Within an hour Dr. Beaucourt was there with the ambulance and assured that his condition was stable before he was taken to the nearest hospital by helicopter. Frederik Vanderhaege hurt his nose when he fell after helping his companion Lieven Vinckier. His quad is broken, so it's not yet clear whether he will continue racing tomorrow. The experienced driver Hubert Deltrieu decided to quit the race and to continue in the adventure raid. Now he will accompany his wife and fully enjoy the beauty of the dunes. Most bikes, quads and cars arrived to the camp in good time, although some came in very late. Again there were a few cars that choose to spend the night in the desert because they didn't want to drive in the dark. But our kitchen truck had no choice. Due to technical problems he arrived only at night, but luckily most racers had food with them and after driving more than 400 km, they just wanted to sleep. Saturday 7th of March On Saturday it was all about navigation. We made a beautiful track around the stunning rocks from the Akakus region. With its beautiful canyons and wadi's it belongs to the UNESCO world heritage. The team from Patrick Van der wilt and Rik Missorten [315, Belgium] and the team from Olivier Joski and Patrick Lamoral [316, Belgium] were from the cars that had spent the night in the dunes. They saw two white landcruisers, thought they were from the organisation and followed them. After about 30 km, the white cars stopped and then they realised the white jeeps were from locals who told them they were heading towards Algeria. So they had to go all the way back. It was difficult to find the track from the road book again and it was getting dark, so they decided it was the moment to stop and spend the night in the dunes. Next day they called with their satellite phone to receive the coordinates to bring them back on track, but there were more dunes than they thought. On top of that they were running out of fuel. Luckily they reached an oil field where they found fresh and free fuel. They also got to know the Libyan hospitality: the workers gave them water, food, a shower and they even wanted them to stay there over night. But our men wanted to head to the camp, so the oil-workers escorted them to the tarmac where people from the organisation were waiting and so they al went back to the camp together. Home sweet home. Girl Power Karima Yaqoob [302, Libya], is the only female Libyan driver with lots of experience in many rallies; she's driving with her co-pilot, Abdel-Kader Hani [Algeria] in the green Toyota Landcruiser on the pictures. 'I am happy to participate in this rally; the organization is good and I have learned a lot, thanks to the technical and challenging tracks that were given. Inshallah next year I will be able to come back with a better car'.. And we have more ladies in the rally. Zohra Ait-Fath [313, Belgium] is driving a buggy with her co-pilot Belinda [Belgium]. 'Whenever we had a problem, there was so much help from the other participants, really, I am very happy with this' said Zohra. 'One day, our battery went out of the motor but another participant just put it in again and our buggy was fixed again.' 'This team spirit is so nice, we are driving together and some participants are really good mechanics, so we feel very safe. Our first night in the dunes was amazing! We met with other teams and they were totally equipped with their cars, so we had a nice barbecue and we had tables and chairs, a tent and even a pillow! And of course, this night together in the dunes immediately created good contacts between all those participants, which set a good start for the rest of the race' The second day it looked quite dramatic when we arrived in the camp because we arrived without the hood of our buggy; but the technical assistance team from the Bronckaert brothers [Filip and Bart who are safely home by now] fixed everything. Also we had the time to rest a bit and prepare ourselves for the next day' On the third day we took off very well, but already before CP1 our gas cable snapped. Luckily, we had David Huys [228, Belgium] with us and he is a very good mechanic, I can tell you. He fixed the problem by taping a squashed red bull can under the throttle, unbelievable!' 'Only some kilometres further, I suddenly had the gear stick in my hands and David [Huys] also fixed this, really, this man helped us a lot!' 'Due to our incidents, we arrived a bit late at CP 1 and that's when a sand storm hit us, so we decided to go to the tarmac instead of getting ourselves into too much trouble, because there was still a very long road ahead. Then David had problems because they put diesel in his quad instead of petrol. So then we towed David behind us and went to the camp on the tarmac. But of course, we were running out of fuel and we were already on reserve, what a stress! We just reached to the police station where I tried my best Arabic to convince the policemen to give us some fuel, which they did. When we were already very close, we suddenly had to pass quite a deep puddle so we were totally wet because our buggy is open, but I was so happy that we didn't get stuck in that puddle that I didn't mind'. Today [Saturday 07.03] we started, but 100 meter after the start our axle broke down, so the technical team from Werner Zoetaert worked a lot on it and we rest a bit. Tomorrow David [Huys] will drive with us and we are fully prepared to sleep another night in the dunes if necessary, so bring it on!' To be continued... |
