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Morning Fewbie Desert Drive - Discovering Al Bataeh, the hidden gem - Sharjah - 16 Oct 2021


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Drive Brief
Every Carnity off-roader has driven multiple times around Mahafiz and Fossil Rock and is quite familiar with the area and the landscape. What almost no one knows is that just a few more kilometers north from that area is a wonderful stretch of terrain, quite technical and with a beautiful landscape, so little known that there are practically no tracks at all in this area even in the busiest off-roading days. A hidden gem this Fewbie Drive is meant to unveil.

We will start at 6:00am from the roundabout between Al Bataeh Road and E102 Sharjah - Kalba Road near Ibn Rashid village and head north-east, making our way through an area of fairly complex dunes and soft sand, that will require a good technical effort by our Fewbie convoy. We will roam around the place for quite a while, enjoying the long ranging and yet everything but easy dunes in the area and the beautiful views from an elevated position towards the sabkha on the north east side and the further dunes behind. We will progressively make our way towards Khorfakkan Road, completing this exciting drive in a completely new area.

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General Infos

This drive is organized in full compliance with the COVID19 guidelines. We expect every member that joins this drive to go through below information and and strictly follow these guidelines in order not to jeopardize someone's health, and to ensure we can keep organizing these drives safely.

MUST READ AND TOTALLY AGREE: 

Drive Details

Level:  Fewbie and above (All Levels)

When:  16 Oct 2021, Saturday

Meeting time: 6:00 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions)

Meeting Point: Roundabout at the intersection of Al Bataeh Road with E102 Sharjah-Kalba Road - https://goo.gl/maps/jqJgB18J8xkuQg9t9    

Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance.

What to bring along: Loads of water, snacks (for yourself), smiles, face mask, rubber gloves, enthusiasm, willingness to learn and your own compressor for tire inflation.

Approximate finish time: 10:00 AM

End Point: Khorfakkan Road (Sharjah)


Limited Spots Available:

  • Limited to 10 cars only. RSVP will close on Thursday - 9 AM.
    • If the RSVP is full and you wish to join, please mention your name on the drive thread to add on the waiting list. 
  • Latecomers will be returned back - without ANY EXCEPTIONS.
  • Members without RSVP will be returned back - without ANY EXCEPTIONS.
  • Please withdraw your RSVP, if you aren't joining, so your spot can be taken by others.
  • Repeated no-show members after RSVP will have their account suspended for a month.
     

PLEASE RSVP ON THE BELOW CALENDAR EVENT 

 

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@Lorenzo Candelpergher, my sincerest apologies. I am always excited about your drives. I have to unfortunately pull out from tomorrow's drive due to peraonal reasons.

 

I hope you have a unforgettable morning drive. 

 

By the way, what was the result of your Jeep's problem during our last drive?

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Dear Desert Wanderers, 

Last minute convoy order for tomorrow:

1. Lorenzo Candelpergher

2. Sunil Mathew @Sunil Mathew

3. Mohammed Mansoor @Mohammed Mansoor

4. Josh T. @Josh T.

6 Bernard Kalaani @Bernard Kalaani

7. Munkybizness @munkybizness

8 Daniel Yang @Daniel Yang

9. Gregory @Gregory

10. Jodha singh shekhawat @jodha singh shekhawat

The meeting point as per a drive post, ie the roundabout at the intersection of Al Bataeh Road with E102 Sharjah-Kalba Road - https://goo.gl/maps/jqJgB18J8xkuQg9t9    

We will be using channel 4

Pls make sure you are ready (deflated, flagged) by 6:00am sharp, so try to reach at least by 5:45am. 

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So far, I've been quite fortunate to do Fewbie drives with the majority of the marshals. All of this week, I've been looking forward to @Lorenzo Candelpergher and the reputation of his blitzy drives. While we didn't get the blitz, we got pristine sand with no tracks - except for camels & gazelles. And then we got a 2+ hours of twisting & turning. All that tight manoeuvring would have certainly given all of the LWBs today abs if they were hitting the gym ;)

Firstly, @Josh T., I hope you were able to get help on the road and were able to uncover what went wrong with that front-left tyre. Do keep us posted. You drove such a long way to be here with us - we'll welcome you back with a redemption soon :) 

Thank you @Gregory for playing an excellent SL as always. Having been on many drives with you - and your son - I am always confident that having you either in SL or CF brings a very sensible line to the convoy. 

@Sunil Mathew, having seen you across the forums for months now, I'm glad to finally see your bright yellow beacon keeping the end tight. Having your experience a couple of cars back was enough reassurance that I had support when I needed it.

@Daniel Yang - you put those extra 25HP to excellent use today. While we didn't need a lot of throttle today, I could see you so effortlessly gliding up slopes. Always a pleasure to have another Y61 on the drive.

@Mohammed Mansoor - two drives in two days! Both @Bernard Kalaaniand I heard your V8 roar, not to mention that you also steamrolled the vegetation and the any bumps that came with them. You also added some extra fun for us in the back by churning up more sand through those beastly wheels.

And finally, Lorenzo, thank you for exposing us to this entirely new area. From the views to the twists, for all of our driving time, my attention was only in the drive. A second of diversion meant discovering a nasty step that had caught me unaware. And I guess that's where you took one for the convoy in what must have been a pretty nasty nose rub. I can't wait to be on another drive with you where we retain your blitzy reputation but even if we don't, I'll happily take doing crunches with my Y61 in your convoy. Safe travels tomorrow!

And to the rest of the convoy, see you all out on the sands again soon :)

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@Lorenzo Candelpergher thank you for the amazing drive today. As always in every drive, I learn and develop new skills and boost my confidence, for todays drive it was a good technical workout. @munkybiznesstotally agree with you, had to squeeze through the twists and turns good workout for LWB. 

@Sunil Mathew Thanks for your support when i had a refusal and started digging in. @Lorenzo Candelpergher thanks for winching me out and saving my car from the large bush 😊.

@Josh T. hope you have fixed the issue in your tyre and hoping to see you in the next drive.

For the rest of the convoy, all did amazingly well. 

Hope to see you all in the next drive again.

 

 

 

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DRIVE REPORT 

Dear Desert Wanderers, 

The area of Al Bataeh is always surprisingly beautiful and surprisingly technical everytime a new bunch of drivers accepts the challenge to drive through it with me (as I'm the only @Carnity Lead venturing in this area). 

We had a relatively short convoy and a beautiful clear day, with no fog at all, which started with a magic sunrise:

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We moved on the sand at 6:15am, a bit later than planned due to a couple of last minute arrivals. Just 5 minutes into the drive we had our 1st stop as @Josh T.'s front left tire had suddenly deflated. After a quick reinflation, we moved again only to acknowledge that the tire was probably punctured or leaking and not sustaining the pressure beyond just a few of mins. It was then decided, as sad as it may be, to drive back to the entry point and let @Josh T. reinflate again and drive on tarmac to the nearest tire shop.

After greeting our friend, we headed back into the dunes to start the journey of the day, across complex mid-sized dunes with unpredictable shapes and lots, lots of large bushes. 

The drive, as always in Al Bataeh, immediately became really technical, requesting all drivers to focus 100% on the driving to control their cars in tight maneuvering spaces, steep climbs, steeper descents, complex passages and tricky slide slopings, all of this while dodging bushes almost everywhere. 

Despite all the challenges, the convoy did amazingly well, with almost no refusal and, for a long portion of the drive, not a single stuck, despite the difficult terrain and the soft sand. 

We smoothly moved north, cruising around way better than I had expected. This gave us the chance to reach quite close to Khorfakkan Road on the north, cross the relatively flat central area near the farms and head south again for a while after climbing on top of the high dunes overlooking the sabkha on the east side. 

The views from there were stunning, and photos don't really give the idea of how majestic the place is:

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After a couple of daring climbs, @Mohammed Mansoor, who otherwise did exceptionally well on this drive, his 1st Fewbie one, got crested in a difficult spot which required some winching. 

A few minutes earlier @Daniel Yang had brilliantly self-recovered from another tricky refusal, in soft and churned-up sand. His overall drive was remarkable at the back, given the difficult conditions. 

Other than these two episodes, there were just a few refusals here and they were all brilliantly managed. 

Our 2nd lead @Gregory had quite a lot of work today as I was often forced to ask him to redirect or hold as finding the way wasn't always so obvious. Always responsive and cautious, I couldn't have asked for better. 

At the center of the convoy @Bernard Kalaaniand @munkybizness did both well. A lot of workout today, steering around so much in tight spaces, but both brilliant. 

Last but not least, @Sunil Mathew was an excellent Sweep at the back. Getting through the churned up sand might have not been that easy, but I don't recall a single refusal today. Lots of timely radio communications, on the other hand, very exhaustive and therefore appreciated. 

Around 9am we were doing very very well and I was about to shift more to the west side, to then start our final stint across the complex dunes that lead to Al Khorfakkan Road in the north side. Everything was going as per plans: too good to be true.. 

All of a sudden, coming down from an innocuous descent, I couldn't avoid smashing into a small, hidden and tricky pocket.. Quite a strong impact, I must say, but no apparent damage to the car, however, as we moved further on, I started to hear a strange noise from the front suspensions.

Having no senior support in the drive and having to face quite a challenging last 30 mins stint, I opted to cut the drive a little shorter and avoid any risk. 

By 9.30am we were out on the tarmac on Al Bataeh Road. We overall drove 3h 16', stopping for 40' in total, at an average moving speed of 17.6km/h, not bad given the terrain. 

Eventually, I took my car to Jeep and found out that one engine support was broken, so exiting earlier was the right thing to do.. 

Congrats everyone for the brilliant drive. Look forward to seeing you soon on my next Fewbie drive! 

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Thanks for a great drive @Lorenzo Candelpergher. Beautiful, unspoilt area, and a session to practise skills in technical dunes. Glad you have found the cause of the noise on your suspension after that tricky pocket - and can have it sorted ASAP. 

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17 hours ago, munkybizness said:

So far, I've been quite fortunate to do Fewbie drives with the majority of the marshals. All of this week, I've been looking forward to @Lorenzo Candelpergher and the reputation of his blitzy drives. While we didn't get the blitz, we got pristine sand with no tracks - except for camels & gazelles. And then we got a 2+ hours of twisting & turning. All that tight manoeuvring would have certainly given all of the LWBs today abs if they were hitting the gym ;)

Firstly, @Josh T., I hope you were able to get help on the road and were able to uncover what went wrong with that front-left tyre. Do keep us posted. You drove such a long way to be here with us - we'll welcome you back with a redemption soon :) 

Thank you @Gregory for playing an excellent SL as always. Having been on many drives with you - and your son - I am always confident that having you either in SL or CF brings a very sensible line to the convoy. 

@Sunil Mathew, having seen you across the forums for months now, I'm glad to finally see your bright yellow beacon keeping the end tight. Having your experience a couple of cars back was enough reassurance that I had support when I needed it.

@Daniel Yang - you put those extra 25HP to excellent use today. While we didn't need a lot of throttle today, I could see you so effortlessly gliding up slopes. Always a pleasure to have another Y61 on the drive.

@Mohammed Mansoor - two drives in two days! Both @Bernard Kalaaniand I heard your V8 roar, not to mention that you also steamrolled the vegetation and the any bumps that came with them. You also added some extra fun for us in the back by churning up more sand through those beastly wheels.

And finally, Lorenzo, thank you for exposing us to this entirely new area. From the views to the twists, for all of our driving time, my attention was only in the drive. A second of diversion meant discovering a nasty step that had caught me unaware. And I guess that's where you took one for the convoy in what must have been a pretty nasty nose rub. I can't wait to be on another drive with you where we retain your blitzy reputation but even if we don't, I'll happily take doing crunches with my Y61 in your convoy. Safe travels tomorrow!

And to the rest of the convoy, see you all out on the sands again soon :)

Agreed and great report @munkybizness ! A great collection of drivers today.... a special shoutout to @Mohammed Mansoor - would not have guessed this was your first Fewbie drive until you mentioned! I for sure didn't drive like that on my first Fewbie - I remember lots of shovelling 😂

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Thanks @Lorenzo Candelpergher for this drive in an entirely new area in Sharjah. The place had some amazing  and breathtaking views of dunes, and at the same time  - quite technically demanding terrain.

The sweep duty was a first for me, and all that experience on my lower level drives, at the back of convoys helped me in navigating the soft and churned up sands. I should say that all the fewbies did exceptionally well today without any issues barring a couple of small refusals which were managed quite well. Hence, did'nt have much to do except the boring announcements of "we are moving at the back" :-) :-) ...i note that Lorenzo has classified as these being "exhaustive", i increased the frequency of updates because i remember being asked whether all ok at the back, so didnt want to give another chance for being asked for an update!!

From the back i could see everyone driving nicely and here are my 2 cents..

I can remember @munkybizness had a minor refusal on a side slope which he beautifully self recovered, but i think was a bit late in steering down, as i could see that your first effort was to go forward, which may result in the rear end sliding down and forcing you to come down in reverse. So , always remember to steer down immediately , as long as your car is still parallel to the slope. And, good to finally meet you too. i have seen you also quite active on the forum, and passionate about your Y61..👍👍

 

@Daniel Yang also had a good opportunity to practice self recovery under Lorenzo's guidance, beautifully done with the right and timely bursts of throttle, use of steering and diff lock etc. Good work!!One thing i would suggest is to plan your climbs a bit earlier and strategically by looking at the car in front of you. If you remember, Mayank's wheels were spinning when he navigated that churned up side slope, which should be an indication to you to climb higher with enough momentum and allow for a bit of sliding down.

@Mohammed Mansoor, i believe it was not me who was guiding you, probably @munkybizness, because by the time i reached the place, i could already hear instructions over the radio. You did a great job handling your heavy car. Mayank was already out with his shovel and i also parked near your car, to have some shovelling action, but Lorenzo decided to winch you out :-) , saving us from a sweaty saturday morning !

 

Have done a few drives with @Gregory  who was a great SL , commended by Lorenzo already and also good to meet @Bernard Kalaani again.

 

Sorry to see @Josh T. exiting early and hope he has it all sorted , ready to join drives next week.

 

Also good to hear that the decision to exit early was the right one, and saved @Lorenzo Candelpergher's engine mounts from having bigger issues!!

 

See you all soon , next weekend if our paths cross!!

 

 

 

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