COVID 19 Compliant - Morning Fewbie Desert Drive - Ghantoot - Little Sweihan - Dubai - 29 Jan 2021

[Niki]

@Ale Vallecchi another super drive led by you -thank you! Felt like we were the only drivers in the desert!!

The only disappointment was not getting a chance to follow @Luca Palanca Falsini however excited for the sequel to this drive when you are ready  

@Islam Soliman you made me feel like I was driving 2nd lead... following the fresh new track you often created was a pleasure ... learnt a lot seeing the lines you choose! kudos for all the help throughout!

@Ahab Shamaa always a pleasure being on a ride with you .. and as sweep flawless again and got to see the magic of the winch for the first time!  Thank you for encouraging me to take on the ridge and keeping us all at the back well looked after! 

A few pics added to the gallery .. see you all at the sequel ... @Ale Vallecchiwe are 🙏🏽 For the return of your FJC (could be the title of the sequel ride) 

[Thomas Varghese]

@Ale Vallecchi what would be the classification of the drive we had yesterday? Fewbie, Fewbie Plus or almost intermediate? Whatever classification you give my experience was pure exhilaration of safe adventure. The way you had lead us through unexplored territories without any mishaps is commendable. So surprised the stock SUV's can do so much when challenged. Mine is an ordinary stock base model Xterra which has a 4WD and am so happy the car can perform so much when asked of it. As its a daily drive I have no intention to do any major mods and I'm thankful to all the Marshalls and team of carnity to make me love my car and drive it to its full potential. 

I look forward to the promised full day drive from @Ale Vallecchi and will be happy to drive under his lead. Hope he will announce us the bonus drive this coming Friday. 
 

To all the co drivers I really enjoyed the drive with you all and will look forward for future drives with all of you. 

[M.Seidam]

20 hours ago, Thomas Varghese said:

Start of the exciting drive. 

The lens lover club was definitely a brilliant idea 😄

[Ale Vallecchi]

8 hours ago, Thomas Varghese said:

@Ale Vallecchi what would be the classification of the drive we had yesterday? Fewbie, Fewbie Plus or almost intermediate? Whatever classification you give my experience was pure exhilaration of safe adventure. The way you had lead us through unexplored territories without any mishaps is commendable. So surprised the stock SUV's can do so much when challenged. Mine is an ordinary stock base model Xterra which has a 4WD and am so happy the car can perform so much when asked of it. As its a daily drive I have no intention to do any major mods and I'm thankful to all the Marshalls and team of carnity to make me love my car and drive it to its full potential. 

I look forward to the promised full day drive from @Ale Vallecchi and will be happy to drive under his lead. Hope he will announce us the bonus drive this coming Friday. 
 

To all the co drivers I really enjoyed the drive with you all and will look forward for future drives with all of you. 

@Thomas Varghese, as with every drive at each level, yesterday's drive was conceived keeping in mind the constraints which Fewbie members pose. Therefore, while we went into an area I had already visited twice, with Advance/Experts (for the recce drive) and Intermediates (for the first published drive), our drive was engineered to enter a slightly more open set of dunes, proceed at a more sedated pace, avoiding sharp dunes' ridge riding and crossing, and staying away from some trickier passages between technical dunes, as all these challenges may have led Fewbies to multiple refusals, stucks, and perhaps even more damaging consequences. Once the sign-ups were complete, I considered the skills and experience of each driver, to create the stronger and safer convoy order possible. Adding this variable  - the quality of the convoy - to the equation, allows to identify the weakest links in the drive, usually represented by the members with less experience, and sometimes by the more troublesome cars, and fine-tune the drive's track and difficulty accordingly.

With all of the above in mind, it ultimately all comes down to how the convoy actually behaves (less experienced drivers may face obstacles with no issue at all, or "weaker" cars can be handled expertly and pose no problems whatsoever). Our convoy behaved quite impressively (it isn't just if and how many refusals or stucks take place, but how they come about, and how much they depended upon a driver's "mistake" or the nature of the terrain), so that by the time we were getting close to Ganthoot you will have noticed that we started ridge-riding, and criss-crossing some taller dunes, at a brisk (if not fast) pace. By then, I guess it had become more of a Fewbie Plus drive. Intermediate drives, as the one we did in the past on most of yesterday's track, would be more fast paced from the beginning, cover some terrains which instead we did our best to avoid (including longer strings of bowls, or more technical areas), have more criss-crossings, even of taller and sharper dunes, and in general, be led with much less concern for the behavior of the convoy, which is almost taken for granted as able to face most obstacles, with very few refusals and almost no stucks.

As for modified cars, keep in mind that in order to prepare a drive, I don't look at the mods that members have made to their car (most time I don't even know, until I reach the meeting point). At Carnity, our main goal is to bring a convoy through any given area thinking we are leading a group of stock cars (just as my own FJ). Mods are entirely up to members, and their fancy. We do not require them, we do not encourage them, and we do not conceive our drives to cater to modified cars. Felling like I may speak for all of us at Carnity, I believe mods do not make a drive easier, if the drivers does not have, or has not improved, his skills and mental approach to off-roading. Allow me to give you an example (hoping I am not giving too long an answer to an apparently easy question); @Ahab Shamaa joined the Club with a car (his FJ Extreme) which already comes with a few mods. Nonetheless, Ahab took our drives with the perfect attitude: humbly learning the necessary skills, and most of all, fine tuning his "feeling" with his car, learning how to extract its full potential, one drive at a time. He has realized, through his drives, that the modified FJ alone will not draw an impeccable side slope, sustain a long, sharp ridge-riding, or achieve a fast paced criss-crossing, unless he, as a driver, has learned how to ride his car in the best and safest manner. Your attitude seems to be the same, even with the stock Xterra, so I am confident that as your skills improve, you will be able to progress to higher ranks, regardless of the car's status (or actually, exactly because driving stock may force you to pay even more attention to your driving style and manner).

[Thomas Varghese]

2 hours ago, Ale Vallecchi said:

@Thomas Varghese, as with every drive at each level, yesterday's drive was conceived keeping in mind the constraints which Fewbie members pose. Therefore, while we went into an area I had already visited twice, with Advance/Experts (for the recce drive) and Intermediates (for the first published drive), our drive was engineered to enter a slightly more open set of dunes, proceed at a more sedated pace, avoiding sharp dunes' ridge riding and crossing, and staying away from some trickier passages between technical dunes, as all these challenges may have led Fewbies to multiple refusals, stucks, and perhaps even more damaging consequences. Once the sign-ups were complete, I considered the skills and experience of each driver, to create the stronger and safer convoy order possible. Adding this variable  - the quality of the convoy - to the equation, allows to identify the weakest links in the drive, usually represented by the members with less experience, and sometimes by the more troublesome cars, and fine-tune the drive's track and difficulty accordingly.

With all of the above in mind, it ultimately all comes down to how the convoy actually behaves (less experienced drivers may face obstacles with no issue at all, or "weaker" cars can be handled expertly and pose no problems whatsoever). Our convoy behaved quite impressively (it isn't just if and how many refusals or stucks take place, but how they come about, and how much they depended upon a driver's "mistake" or the nature of the terrain), so that by the time we were getting close to Ganthoot you will have noticed that we started ridge-riding, and criss-crossing some taller dunes, at a brisk (if not fast) pace. By then, I guess it had become more of a Fewbie Plus drive. Intermediate drives, as the one we did in the past on most of yesterday's track, would be more fast paced from the beginning, cover some terrains which instead we did our best to avoid (including longer strings of bowls, or more technical areas), have more criss-crossings, even of taller and sharper dunes, and in general, be led with much less concern for the behavior of the convoy, which is almost taken for granted as able to face most obstacles, with very few refusals and almost no stucks.

As for modified cars, keep in mind that in order to prepare a drive, I don't look at the mods that members have made to their car (most time I don't even know, until I reach the meeting point). At Carnity, our main goal is to bring a convoy through any given area thinking we are leading a group of stock cars (just as my own FJ). Mods are entirely up to members, and their fancy. We do not require them, we do not encourage them, and we do not conceive our drives to cater to modified cars. Felling like I may speak for all of us at Carnity, I believe mods do not make a drive easier, if the drivers does not have, or has not improved, his skills and mental approach to off-roading. Allow me to give you an example (hoping I am not giving too long an answer to an apparently easy question); @Ahab Shamaa joined the Club with a car (his FJ Extreme) which already comes with a few mods. Nonetheless, Ahab took our drives with the perfect attitude: humbly learning the necessary skills, and most of all, fine tuning his "feeling" with his car, learning how to extract its full potential, one drive at a time. He has realized, through his drives, that the modified FJ alone will not draw an impeccable side slope, sustain a long, sharp ridge-riding, or achieve a fast paced criss-crossing, unless he, as a driver, has learned how to ride his car in the best and safest manner. Your attitude seems to be the same, even with the stock Xterra, so I am confident that as your skills improve, you will be able to progress to higher ranks, regardless of the car's status (or actually, exactly because driving stock may force you to pay even more attention to your driving style and manner).

Thank you @Ale Vallecchi for the detailed description of the drive. Whatever be the classification of the drive I enjoyed it as my wife was very happy with the criss crossing, ridge riding and at the pace we were going. She was shouting with glee at the crossing and coming down the slope like she was riding a roller coaster all in the private space inside our car. To tell you the truth she was very proud of how her husband still drives at this age. Honestly I like it immensely. Who wouldn't like when your own wife is admiring you on your driving skills when you feel like you are getting old? I know its taking a physical toll on her with the jumps and I always tell her she can stay back home and I'll be back after the drive. She said she will accompany me until she feels its enough of the adventure for her.

Regarding mods I'm not interested in turning my car into an offroad monster when at present I didn't even utilize the full potential of the car. I think with more drives like this I will finally realize what my car can do and what my limitations are. Some of the crossings we did yesterday demanded extreme concentration and had to overcome the fear of falling down from the top of the ridge. I'm not in my middle age. I have crossed 53 and my reflexes and eye sight is not as sharp as before even though I pretend they are as good as before. I try to overcome this by paying full attention to the task. 

Looking forward for more adventure drives from you and will join as soon as the calendar opens. 

[N@ved]

@Aravind Padmaraju could you please post the videos that you took on the drive. Just want to see and learn what went well and what went wrong. Thanks.

[Aravind Padmaraju]

On 1/31/2021 at 11:01 AM, N@ved said:

@Aravind Padmaraju could you please post the videos that you took on the drive. Just want to see and learn what went well and what went wrong. Thanks.

Please find some of videos

 

[Aravind Padmaraju]

@N@ved I am unable share videos due limit of size. Share me you mobile number will send you through WhatsApp.

[N@ved]

+919819123915 (whatsapp number), UAE mobile +971529038316 

[Thomas Varghese]

0504541008, my whatsapp no. Please share to me also