COVID19 Compliant - Morning Intermediate Desert Drive - The sky is the limit from Area 53 to Shuweib - Sharjah - 23 Apr 2021

[Lorenzo Candelpergher]

DRIVE REPORT

Dear Desert Wanderers, 

This drive may have not reached as far is was planned, but certainly we climbed to the highest points we were meant to reach. 

We entered the sand by 6:15am and immediately headed towards Area 53.

With the sun still low on our left, the pyramid-like dune was a majestic view, as we progressively approached it from the south west side. 

Here's a view from the top, (no, the number plate is not falling off, it's the fisheye lens effect!):

Unfortunately, Area 53 is as beautiful as it is challenging and after just 25 mins in the drive, half way to the top of the dune, @amir amiri had the first pop-out of the day. It wasn't an easy one to fix as the giant tire of the RAM 1500 wouldn't seal properly until @amir amirihad the brilliant idea to keep in place the bottom part of the tire with the aid of a snatch rope. 

When we started to move again, we managed to climb again not far from  the top of Area 53, then set and set our bearing to south west, pointing at Sohail Dune. 

The sand was very soft and very, very churned up, a sign of how popular Area 53 is, which also means, unfortunately, that it is very very crowded... In fact today we met five different convoys and two of them crossed our paths multiple times. 

Despite the difficult terrain, the landscape was beautiful and, as we moved away from the most popular routes, we started to find more virgin dunes and I must say it wasn't easy to choose the route, as every ridge and every crest were calling for my tires to leave the first marks of the day. 

Today's drive was all about momentum. Climbing these great dunes can be exciting and give a great sense of accomplishment, but it can also be very frustrating if the car in front of you struggles and you are forced to slow down, sacrificing your precious momentum..

As the climbing wasn't easy we indeed had several refusals and a few stucks, which took a bit more of our time, but overall the convoy's response was great. 

@amir amiri, in 2nd lead for almost 2 hours, had certainly a tough experience in his first Intermediate drive. The pace, the speed and the technical complexity, all combined, challenged him a lot, but he came through well. It will be only with practice that his hesitation at this new driving level will fade away and he will develop the sensibility of what his tires can take and what it takes to avoid pop-outs.. 

@Arman was the star of the day. Today's drive was way more difficult than the last Fewbie one we did toghether on Feb 26th in this area, but he showed a great improvement in his driving skills and managed his car superbly in almost all situations. 

@Hisham Masaad had to fight his underpowered own car until he figured out he was driving in ECO mode. Since then things got much better, even if - from time to time - the churned up sand gave him some hard time. 

@Mario Cornejo today finally found enough challenge for his Patrol Y61 to get eventually stuck. This was, I believe, his first stuck ever in Carnity.. In a way, this was a memorable drive! 

@Goutam was hitching to drive. During recoveries, wherever there was enough space, he would roam around in his yellow Wrangler restlessly, anxious as a father waiting for the delivery of his newborn. I'll take it as a sign he really enjoyed the drive and he couldnt wait to get more of it. 

@Shehab Alawadhi was having great fun and driving excellently well, as far as I could see, until he was forced to leave the drive ahead of time.

@GauravSoni was often in search of his own lines today, as - understandably - with so many cars in front the tracks of the convoy were deep and churned up. As always, this small rerouting some times works out well, some others a bit less, but it was - I am sure - a lot of fun. 

@Shaaz Sha, now driving a Nissan X-Terra and not anymore a Jeep Wrangler SWB, held swiftly the last Intermediate position in the convoy. His long experience within Carnity today shined.

Just half way through our approach to Suhail Dune, @Shehab Alawadhiunfortunately noticed his front right tire was losing pressure, a problem that had apparently surfaced in a previous drive.

After a good 20 mins fighting with the crazy bolts on his wheel, we were just ready to replace it with the spare, only to discover that the release mechanism of the spare wouldn't work... It was then unavoidable the decision to escort @Shehab Alawadhi to the nearest exit point on the west side, along the dirt track leading back to Tawi.

After greeting our unlucky friend, we took another dive in the dunes, making our way to the top of Suhail Dune, reaching which always gives great satisfaction. At this point @markshad moved in 2nd lead and @Jeepie was our new sweep. 

We then had a very nice stint, approx 30 mins, riding really nice, almost virgin, ridges as we slowly made our way towards Iftaar Bowl.

It was not far from there that @amir amiri had his 2nd pop-out. This time, the lesson learned from the first one allowed to fix it fairly quickly. 

Unfortunately, by the time we were back in movement, our time was over. We made our way to Iftaar Bowl, where everyone made a single attempt to the top, where only @Goutam made it with me, and then quickly exited on the tarmac by 10:15am on the east side, towards Hatta Rd. 

Overall we drove for 3h 55', of which only 2h 15' moving and 1h 40' stopped. We covered 41 km, against the approx 70 that had been planned, with an average moving speed of 18.2km/h and a total ascent/descent of 440 / 520 m. 

We didn't make it to Shuwaib, but it was in any case a nice and challenging drive. I'm sure, even if we didn't have the chance to go along all the crests we were supposed to, the drive was still worth the title, as for most of the time we were at very high points, with nothing than the sky higher than us. 

Congratulations to everyone for getting through this challenging drive, especially the newly promoted Intermediates. 

A great thanks to @marksand @Jeepie for their great support. 

[Hisham Masaad]

Many thanks @Lorenzo Candelpergher, @marks and @Jeepie for the nice challenging drive, with all difficulties faced, I have really enjoyed, and thanks for all for the being with us today. Will post few photos on the gallery. 

[Shaaz Sha]

Thank you @Lorenzo Candelpergherfor a challenging and superb drive. It was my first ever drive with you and it was a memorable one. enjoyed every moment of it. Thank you @marksand @Jeepie for your very well executed roles and hope to join you guys soon in the sand. Some pics in the gallery.

Edited April 23, 2021 by Shaaz Sha

[Varun Mehndiratta]

Missed all the fun due to horrible Covid situation in India...woke up early morning with messages from some friends back in India, had to spend some time helping them with the challanges. So had to drop out ..i hope the situation worldwide gets better soon...all plz stay strong and stay safe. 

Looking forward to catch up with all soon. 

[Imran Asghar]

Guys wow this trip report had me at the edge of my seat it sounds absolutely fantastic and full of every kind of situation.....damn!!!!! Next time 🎻

[Shehab Alawadhi]

Alright. So update.

1 I figured out that my rim was dented at one of @Ale Vallecchi drives that’s why when I went under 23 or 22 psi I would leak air. Anyway I got that fixed.

2 I changed all my lug nuts to new ones. 
 

3 So apparently I did have all my tools to take my spare down however I didn’t know how to use them (yes embarrassing as an intermediate driver 😳) I learned how to take my tire down. The rod I was using was correct however we were using the wrong end of it.

4 I figured out I can drive my car with 3 wheels at 11 and one at 25. Cool thing to know 😂

5 Thank you @Lorenzo Candelpergher for the drive (although short for me) and thank you everyone else with trying to help and being patient with me. 

See you all soon inshallah!

Edited April 26, 2021 by Shehab Alawadhi

[Lorenzo Candelpergher]

1 hour ago, Shehab Alawadhi said:

Alright. So update.

1 I figured out that my rim was dented at one of @Ale Vallecchi drives that’s why when I went under 23 or 22 psi I would leak air. Anyway I got that fixed.

2 I changed all my lug nuts to new ones. 
 

3 So apparently I did have all my tools to take my spare down however I didn’t know how to use them (yes embarrassing as an intermediate driver 😳) I learned how to take my tire down. The rod I was using was correct however we were using the wrong end of it.

4 I figured out I can drive my car with 3 wheels at 11 and one at 25. Cool thing to know 😂

5 Thank you @Lorenzo Candelpergher for the drive (although short for me) and thank you everyone else with trying to help and being patient with me. 

See you all soon inshallah!

Great learning experience @Shehab Alawadhiand thanks for sharing it so candidly. It shows your commitment to grow as an offroader and confirms even more that the positive consideration that you have earned from me and surely other Advisors is definitely well placed. Kudos! 

[Shehab Alawadhi]

1 minute ago, Lorenzo Candelpergher said:

Great learning experience @Shehab Alawadhiand thanks for sharing it so candidly. It shows your commitment to grow as an offroader and confirms even more that the positive consideration that you have earned from me and surely other Advisors is definitely well placed. Kudos! 

You’re welcome! I’m not afraid to say “I messed up” or “I don’t know” because in the end someone might enlighten me or I might learn from the internet. Hope this was helpful to everyone. Furthermore if you have a rod meant to do a task and one end is not working, try the other end 😂

[Hisham Masaad]

Thank you @Shehab Alawadhi for sharing the same. I think many of us never changed his tyres with the spare one, and might have difficulty to do that for the first time. From what I saw, was telling my son, we should try to take our spare to learn how does it work in case required. And I think all who has never done it as well. Take care

[Shehab Alawadhi]

@Hisham Masaad very true.