We have named a certain labyrynth of sand dunes in the Dubai desert as the 'Half Pipe' because in many parts it has long troughs with steep sand walls either side. It's great fun to run up and down the walls much like you see the snowboarders running down a trough with steep walls of compacted snow on either side.

The 'Half Pipe' is one of the most serious and challenging buggy runs one can do in this part of the world and is over 12 kms long as the crow flies.
It is for the experienced dune buggier but only when the wind forecast guarantees that it won't die when you are mid way through it.

There is no easy escaping the Half Pipe once you've entered it. About the middle of last year we were in it and Angelo received a call that his son had been admitted to hospital and he needed to get to him ASAP. The only way out was by being towed by Brig's 800cc Polaris Razor

We had favorable winds in mid December, so Angelo (Buggier since the mid 90's) & I went for it with me navigating. We were soon deep into the dunes and having lots of fun on the walls. Brig (the Mrs.) followed with her cam fixed to the Razor. It is difficult for her to follow due to the dune complexity to really show what we are doing. However, from about an hour of videoing, I edited it down to 4 minutes. Besides some buggy shots, it shows the grandeur of the dunes.

Angelo had a couple of problems on the run and you can see him standing on two occasions. The last problem was when he was blown about 200 yards off route and could not get back across the dunes. Brig towed him back to my point where I was waiting or rather playing around on the slopes. He then managed to follow me to the end of the run, which led off on to a sabkha.

The musical sound track is Arabic to give the flavour of the desert and at the same time heavily influenced by some Flamenco. I did this as a tribute to Angelo who was born in Spain and whose mother tongue is Spanish. He is now from the British colony of Gibraltar.

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QaHouStoXuQ

I was flying my 5m Blur and Angelo and old 3.5m Blade that I think is a Mk I.

Brig enjoyed the challenging run in the Razor where her driving skill was pushed to the limit but she managed it without a problem. i.e. she didn't get stuck.

Hey Sailor,

That is totally awesome.
One of the truly great buggy places on earth.

My bucket list has just added another "must do".

Keep it up, Yeti.


Safen Up! Buggy On!

"Often wrong... Never in doubt"

the coreylama

That looks like pretty unforgiving terrain. But it's a nice vid.

Very cool !
I heard about your half pipe from that Canadian kid that visited a few years ago. I have been waiting for a video of the place since then !