I am by no means superstitious, but, and there is always a “BUT”, the following ride just happened to be on Friday the 13th!!
We were a group of 8 quads and 4 bikes getting together at our usual spot when riding from Dubai. The weather was great, we were all ready for action and with Tiennie in the lead it was bound to be a fast ride.
It was peak season and with many groups/riders criss-crossing everywhere Tiennie led us on a slightly different route to avoid the traffic. It was indeed a fast ride and as no one wanted to be left behind; our machines were roosting mounds of sand as they came out of the corners and over the top of the dunes.
As I have stated many times before, we are not professionals, but I think the speed at which Tiennie was setting the pace was not far off. We eventually got to Al Badayer area where many locals have weekend camps. We slowed down the pace as we navigated past the camps in the direction of the fuel station. Then, crossing what was literally the last dune before the main road the following happened:
I was number two, behind Tiennie, and as we crossed the top I went wide to avoid being sand 
blasted by Tiennie’s Raptor. Now on the shaded side of the dune and abeam of Tiennie, on his left, I saw Tiennie literally disappear!! Still bedazzled with “What the hell just happened??” Jakes also disappeared!! Only then did I realize there was a vertical drop where they were riding. I immediately tried to stop but the dune was too steep and I only managed to stop once past them. I jumped off as I was trying to signal the oncoming riders to stop. They were not fast, but this drop was impossible to see. With me waving, Craig also went over the edge, but managed to slow down before going over. Michael also went over, but both he and Craig managed to stay on the bikes.
By now those that missed the drop had all stopped and everybody was waving franticly to stop the remaining riders. Once everybody had stopped I ran to Tiennie and Jakes, who were still both on the ground, and their quads upside down. Jakes managed to stand up but Tiennie was down and visibly in pain. His boot got caught in the quad as it rolled. He was convinced that he had broken his foot, as the pain was unbearable!!
Jakes told me that he had gone over the bars, landed on his head, and then felt the quad hit him on his back as it “flipped” over him, but he was fine, apart from some hurt muscles on his neck!! Tiennie was trying his best NOT to act like a downed football player faking an injury, but with torn ligaments in his ankle, he was in lots of pain!!!
At the time we also thought he might have broken his collarbone but luckily that was not the case.
We were very lucky that this happened only 500m from a road and the recovery was fairly simple. Jakes, a paramedic, stayed with Tiennie whilst we left to collect the vehicles and trailers. This took a while as we were about 30km from the starting point.
While we were gone, a lone rider on a quad crossed the dune at the same point. Jakes tried his best to indicate to him to stop, but this guy also crashed. Apparently he bent the bars on his KTM (with his chest) and he took about 30 minutes to recover…
Craig, Tieninie’s son, drove their pickup and I took mine with the trailer to get Jakes. By the time we had returned Tiennie was better but only till he attempted to get up and into their Pickup…
He opted to rather lie down in the back of the pickup than try and sit on the bench seat. They first had to go home and get cleaned up before going to hospital. Why?? Because some medical funds in the UAE DO NOT cover you for injury from quad or off-road events!!! (Read the small print on your policy) Beware of going to the hospital with “serious” injuries and telling them you fell off your quad bike or rolled the car in the dunes!! Tiennie was 100% fine when he got home, but subsequently fell from the stairs and “again” injured his ligaments and collarbone requiring him to go for x-rays……
We were very lucky to escape with minor injury. This incident did not happen while we were 
speeding, it was at a relaxed pace and the first time any of us had encountered something like this. Be prepared at all times and wear all your safety kit!! If Tiennie did not have his boots on, Jakes his helmet, they would surely have sustained more than torn ligaments…
Ride Safe and Go For Gold
John Basson
Published in June 2012
