Ale Vallecchi Posted June 24, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 24, 2020 Dear fellow Members: @Foxtrot Oscar, @Vanessa8580, @Kalahari, @Jun Zamora, @Rinelle Sanaani, @Mahmoud Hamzawy, @AKR, @Lucky sAm, @siddharth maheshwari, @luwaimn, @Rizwanm2. With Marshal @Srikumar we had to change the meeting and deflation point to the following location: https://goo.gl/maps/iNzc9eLGoE34eAdX9 Please, also check the drive's main page for reference. The change was made to avoid the traffic jam that develops on approaching Al Faqa town limits, due to the police road-blocks for those entering Abu Dhabi. This new meeting point is the exit just before Faqa. Due to possible traffic on the road, please make sure to consider a few extra minutes of travelling, so that you may arrive on time. On arrival, please proceed to spread out along the road, and start deflating. We'll see you on Friday at 4PM, for the Faqa crossing toward Little Swehian and Solar Park. 4 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ale Vallecchi Posted June 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2020 Dear fellow desert travelers. @Foxtrot Oscar, @Vanessa8580, @Kalahari, @Jun Zamora, @Rinelle Sanaani, @Lucky sAm, @Rizwanm2, @siddharth maheshwari, @Mahmoud Hamzawy, @AKR, @luwaimn. Find below the convoy order for tomorrow's drive DRIVER RANK CAR POSITION Ale Vallecchi Advanced FJ 1 Foxtrot Oscar Fewbie X Terra 2 Jun Zamora Fewbie Jeep Wrangler 3 Rizwanm2 Fewbie Mitsubishi Nativa 4 Lucky Sam Fewbie Nissan Patrol 5 Luwaimn Fewbie Prado 6 Vanessa Intermediate Pajero LWB 7 AKR Fewbie Jeep Wrangler 8 Mahmoud Hamzawy Fewbie Prado 9 Siddharth Maheshwari Fewbie Jeep Wrangler 10 Rinelle Fewbie Jeep Wrangler 11 Kalahari Fewbie X Terra 12 Srikumar Marshal Jeep Cherokee 13 Once you arrive at the NEW meeting and deflation point, please tune in to Carnity Channel 1 (446.006). You may also want to memorize Channel 2 (446.03125) in case we need to switch during the drive. The Seniors in the drive, besides myself, will be Marshal @Srikumar, who will be in the sweep position, and @Vanessa8580, who will be assisting as Centre Forward. Please follow their advise and instructions. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow at 4PM sharp. 5 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Srikumar Posted June 25, 2020 Report Share Posted June 25, 2020 2 hours ago, Ale Vallecchi said: Once you arrive at the NEW meeting and deflation point, please tune in to Carnity Channel 1 (446.006). You may also want to memorize Channel 2 (446.03125) in case we need to switch during the drive. Please configure all the 5 Carnity channels on your radio before the drive Incase the trip lead requires to change the frequency. This is Mandatory 2 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ale Vallecchi Posted June 25, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 25, 2020 @siddharth maheshwari this is to confirm that we have been informed you will not be able to join the drive tomorrow, due to car issues. I hope all is OK with you, and that you'll be able to join next week. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siddharth maheshwari Posted June 25, 2020 Report Share Posted June 25, 2020 Dear @Ale Vallecchi @Srikumar i got involved in a pileup accident of 6 cars and got hit by a taxi that broke my rear mudguard due to lack of safe distance. The car has to be sent to the workshop as mudguard was rubbing the wheels. Thankfully, noone was hurt! Unfortunately will not be able to join tomorrow's drive . 10 minutes ago, Ale Vallecchi said: @siddharth maheshwari this is to confirm that we have been informed you will not be able to join the drive tomorrow, due to car issues. I hope all is OK with you, and that you'll be able to join next week. Thank you @Ale Vallecchi. Was not able to access as membership was under renewal. I also posted just now . Hope to see you soon. 1 1 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Srikumar Posted June 25, 2020 Report Share Posted June 25, 2020 @siddharth maheshwari the good thing is that everyone's safe and that there was no injury. Hope your car is fixed quickly as well. Thanks for updating. Take care 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AKR Posted June 26, 2020 Report Share Posted June 26, 2020 20 hours ago, siddharth maheshwari said: Dear @Ale Vallecchi @Srikumar i got involved in a pileup accident of 6 cars and got hit by a taxi that broke my rear mudguard due to lack of safe distance. The car has to be sent to the workshop as mudguard was rubbing the wheels. Thankfully, noone was hurt! Unfortunately will not be able to join tomorrow's drive . Thank you @Ale Vallecchi. Was not able to access as membership was under renewal. I also posted just now . Hope to see you soon. I am seeing accidents every day on hessa street ... everyone is getting impatient when driving home from work... I guess lockdown has made us homesick.. 20 hours ago, siddharth maheshwari said: Dear @Ale Vallecchi @Srikumar i got involved in a pileup accident of 6 cars and got hit by a taxi that broke my rear mudguard due to lack of safe distance. The car has to be sent to the workshop as mudguard was rubbing the wheels. Thankfully, noone was hurt! Unfortunately will not be able to join tomorrow's drive . Thank you @Ale Vallecchi. Was not able to access as membership was under renewal. I also posted just now . Hope to see you soon. I am seeing accidents every day on hessa street ... everyone is getting impatient when driving home from work... I guess lockdown has made us homesick.. 1 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mahmoud Hamzawy Posted June 26, 2020 Report Share Posted June 26, 2020 Dear @Ale Vallecchi I can't make it today due to unfortunate reason, am still trying to finish early to catch the drive... Kindly accept my apologies if I can't make it Thank you 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ale Vallecchi Posted June 26, 2020 Author Report Share Posted June 26, 2020 2 hours ago, Mahmoud Hamzawy said: Dear @Ale Vallecchi I can't make it today due to unfortunate reason, am still trying to finish early to catch the drive... Kindly accept my apologies if I can't make it Thank you Hi @Mahmoud Hamzawy. Thanks for the update. Hope you can still make it. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Popular Post Ale Vallecchi Posted June 26, 2020 Author Popular Post Report Share Posted June 26, 2020 (edited) Dear fellow Desertnauts. I am happy to share with you the first report after my first lead. I will not bother you (yet) with the different emotions that one feels before the lead (a concerned form of excitement), during (focused determination) and after (relieved elation). Before diving into the report itself, I wish to thank all the Carnity Marshals from whom I have been able to learn, in a relatively short period of time, the different tools of this exciting sport (incredibly, @Gaurav, @Rahimdad, Srikumar, @Frederic and @Emmanueleach has his own unique trade mark style, from which is easy to compile an encyclopedia of off-roading knowledge). Today's drive, the crossing from Al Faqa to Solar Park, started a few days ago, when I came to scout the location's trails with a few fellow Carnity drivers. Luckily, we discovered that the original meeting point was unreachable, due to the police's roadblocks at the border with Abu Dhabi, and changed the meeting point to the exit before Faqa. After a very punctual gathering and a quick deflation, we moved down the road for the briefing. With @Foxtrot Oscar executing a perfect second lead, the rest of the convoy was made of @Jun Zamora, with a much more efficient Jeep than during my previous drives with him, @Rizwanm2 whose Nativa performed impeccably (including a very nice climb of a high dune, with perfect side-sloping), @luwaimn working hard to control his powerful Prado, @Vanessa8580, as Center Forward, recovering impeccably the few stucks we got along the way (fortunately for her, this time we had decided to skip the shoveling, and immediately tug each stuck car, to save energies in the scorching sun), @AKR, @Rinelle Sanaani and @Kalahari, in perfect control of their machines, and last but not least @Srikumar sweeping and keeping a watchful eye over the convoy. Having started from a different point then planned, we proceeded to enter a few technical dunes, which initially I had intended to avoid, in order to spare the cars from overheating. With a bit of persistence we managed to get through with minor delays, and penetrated the depths of the Faqa dunes. This is a beautiful area, similar to a plateau, with medium height rolling dunes, dotted with groups of gnarly trees. We managed to move quite at quite a good pace, with just a couple of stucks, criss-crossing a good number of dunes, or riding their humpy tops. Along the way we found a very nice set of twin dunes, which all managed to side-slope impeccably, before moving toward another tall dune, at the end of the plateau, where we played almost until sunset. During his second drive up the dune Rizwanm2's Nativa spurted some white smoke, which prompted us to descend the plateau toward the sabkha in a very easy and relaxed manner. Sunset had started, while we were riding toward it. So, now you will ask yourself, did we reach Little Swehian? Yes and no: in fact, due to the softness of the sand, and the dark setting in, we decided to exit, after a couple of recoveries, to avoid getting stuck in the middle of this very challenging area. Hence, we coasted the dunes, along the sabkha, until we hit the small line of dunes separating us from the exit road. At this point @Srikumar took over as leader, due to my car’s night blindness (as someone in the group said: “note to self – buy desert lights”). And so the convoy reached Solar Park safely, after 66.5 Km and 4:14 hours of driving (minus the few stucks), at an average speed of 15.6Km/H, and a top speed of 64Km/H. This ends my report, but hopefully not my leading career. Thanks a lot to all for being part of this very special day for me. See you soon on the sand, again. PS. We had 2 last minute dropouts: @siddharth maheshwari due to car issues, and @Lucky sAm as his son was not feeling well. We wish Lucky Sam's son a prompt recovery, and Siddhart's car to be fixed swiftly. See you both soon on the sand. Edited June 27, 2020 by Ale Vallecchi 4 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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