Afternoon Newbie Desert Drive - Mystery Drive - Dubai - 29 May 2022

[Ale Vallecchi]

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 strictly follow these guidelines.

 

MUST READ AND TOTALLY AGREE: 

• COVID19 Precautions
• Mandatory Safety Requirements
• Ban from Carnity Off-road Club
• Two Way Radio Guidelines

 

Drive Details

Level:  Newbie and above 

Meeting time: 3:00 PM (SHARP - Without any exceptions)

Meeting Point: Dropped pin
https://maps.app.goo.gl/zdU11j1wZpNPtdsn7

Action Plan: We will surely start within Dubai, and will surely not enter AD. We'll meet all terrains: some technical dunes and sabkhas, a few long range dunes and sand bowls. We'll snake around low bushes, drive past tall Ghaf trees, or draw lines on pristine slopes. 

We'll plan a warm up phase, to reach our main area of interest, and we'll extend the drive in the direction we'll find more interesting,  until the sun goes down. We may loop back to our original starting point....or not. We'll escalate the drive to a higher level, based on the quality of the convoy, as it will become apparent during the warm up phase. The number of cars in the convoy has been reduced to 10, to ensure the possibility of pushing the convoy a bit. 

We'll also enjoy a major break during the drive, for which you may want to bring your favorite brand of tea or coffee, and most of all, you should bring your good spirit. 

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 and willingness to learn.

Approximate finish time: 7:00 PM

P.S. Only join if you have a compressor to inflate your tires after the drive.

LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE:

• Limited to 10 cars maximum. RSVP will close on Friday - 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.
• Members that do not confirm the terms of the COVID requirements will be removed from the RSVP list.
• 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 CALENDAR

 

[Rajat Verma]

@Ale Vallecchi Start time under drive details need to be updated from 3:00 am to 3:00 pm   

[Thomas Varghese]

@georgestainton I can see that you just joined the club today and have joined for the newbie drive. As per club practice you should join an Absolute Newbie drive to get acquainted with club principles and offroading unless you have taken a masterclass. Unfortunately I cannot see any Absolute Newbie drive posted for this week. Unless @Ale Vallecchi accepts you to the convoy you cannot join this drive. I know its heartbreaking for an off road enthusiast to be dissuaded to join a drive but the club has its solid reasons to ask a fresher to join an Absolute Newbie drive prior to be included in a regular convoy. Please wait until the trip lead & marshal @Ale Vallecchi to decide and act accordingly.  

[Ale Vallecchi]

Dear @georgestainton, as @Thomas Vargheseinformed you, this drive is available for Newbies and above. Hence if you have not joined your Absolute Newbie drive you should do so. The only other possibility is if you have taken a Carnity Masterclass with one of our Marshals. If not, I'll have to drop you from this drive. Thanks for confirming the above, and for your understanding. 

[georgestainton]

Hi all, I couldn't see any absolute newbie drives this week. I have been off-roading for a couple of years so I have some experience and I have all the equipment (inflator, deflators, sand tracks, shovel, tow rope, flag pole). But I understand if you want me to do an absolute newbie drive first. 

[Thomas Varghese]

28 minutes ago, georgestainton said:

Hi all, I couldn't see any absolute newbie drives this week. I have been off-roading for a couple of years so I have some experience and I have all the equipment (inflator, deflators, sand tracks, shovel, tow rope, flag pole). But I understand if you want me to do an absolute newbie drive first. 

Dear @georgestainton, The Absolute Newbie drive is like an orientation drive where you get to know the rules and regulations of the club. Once you do an Absolute newbie drive you can apply for a promotion to other levels with a self declaration stating your experience and assessment of the Marshal whom you have driven with. I personally recommend you to go through the process of completing the required number of drives for next level promotion but @Carnity gives a chance to offroaders to self declare their experience and apply for a promotion if all criteria has been met. Kindly note this process is in place to ensure the safety of all who participates in the drives. 

Trust me Absolute Newbie drive is fun. You get to know what the club stands for, its rules and regulations, how to keep your convoy position, how to self recover, how to follow the tracks in front of you etc. We at @Carnity goes into the desert in an orderly fashion from the start to finish. Under no circumstances you are to overtake anyone in front of you. The well experienced Marshals who take you for the drive will be briefing each and every aspect of offroading and the etiquettes we have to follow in a convoy. Once you complete that drive you will be a better offroader.  

Let me warn you now - once you have driven with @Carnity you will never want to join any other club. Its highly addictive once you start driving with our club. You get to meet all the wonderful offroaders and very soon they will be like family to you. 

Edited May 24, 2022 by Thomas Varghese

[Ale Vallecchi]

Dear Desertnauts

@Anoop Nair, @Thomas Varghese, @Wafi Ziadeh, @Rayas Ali, @Ali Shah, @Stan Hassett, @Ahmed Wagdy, @Nitin Mohan and @Murad Hamed in consideration of the quality of the convoy, with a lot of Fewbies and above, I would like to update the Mystery drive to a "Oryx to Oryx" drive. This will take us through an initial stint in Qudra, looking for oryx around Crescent Lake, all the way to the large (hopefully) Oryx herd that usually roams near E14 (Faqa Rd.) In the Ghantoot area. Here we'll find several date palm trees, and if time allows, this is where we'll take a break to enjoy tea or coffee. 

More updates to follow on Saturday. Have a nice week. 

[Murad Hamed]

@Ale Vallecchi Thanks for the update

 look forward to driving with you

 

[Ale Vallecchi]

Dear Desertnauts 

Mystery solved! Based on the strength of the convoy we'll push a bit harder and a bit further, heading from Bab al Shams' Oryx feeding ground to Ghantoot's Oryx herds.

Meeting point posted here:
https://maps.app.goo.gl/zdU11j1wZpNPtdsn7

It's the usual place where we meet for Absolute Newbie drives. From here we'll reach by dirt track the Crescent Lake, to proceed south west toward Ghantoot's outskirts.

Convoy order will be as follows:

@Ahmed Wagdy in Second Lead

@James Lovell #3

@Wafi Ziadeh at #4

@Anoop Das #5

@Thomas Varghese at Center Forward

@Stan Hassett at #7

@Nitin Mohan #8

@Murad Hamed at #9

@Farook Veettil #10, and

@DP1011 , Deepak wrangler will Sweep.

Please reach the meeting point a bit earlier than 3:00, so we may deflate quickly and depart ASAP.

Radio communication will be on Carnity Channel #1 (446.006).

See you tomorrow. 

[Thomas Varghese]

THE MYSTERY DRIVE  by @Ale Vallecchi.

Beautiful drive as usual from @Ale Vallecchi. Started the drive by 3.15pm after waiting for @Wafi Ziadeh. The sun was blaring mercilessly at more than 44° C when we reached. Even the skin was getting burned while we deflated and put up our flags. But that was the only time we got troubled by the weather. 

As soon as we started and headed towards Crescent Lake we were greeted by a lone Oryx and some Gazelles as if they had come to watch our convoy entering the desert. As Ale' commented on the drive thread there was Oryx at the beginning and bunch of them darted out of the desert to say good bye when we were leaving. So the target of the drive was achieved. Probably Ale has some magical call to summon them. The target was to enter the desert at Qudra and exit at Ghantoot. This was also achieved in the stipulated time. To take a newbie convoy from Qudra to Ghantoot and exiting at the pre determined time is not a small feat. Even though it was a newbie convoy everybody rose up to the challenges put forward by Prof @Ale Vallecchi. The refusals & stucks were just minimal. Altogether 7 or 8 to the max which is nothing. 

The 2nd lead @Ahmed Wagdy didn't shy of his responsibilities and was following Ale's lead as instructed. @James Lovell was absolutely impeccable in his drive. Didn't see him facing any situations. @Anoop Das with his monster Ford F150 also negotiated the challenges with some advices put in by Ale. Poor @Anoop Das went back home minus his front number plate which was spotted and picked by me who was behind him. Longer trucks sometimes hit the front bumper while coming down a slope. He will master the art of negotiating such tight spots soon if he continues his passion of offroading. @Stan Hassett who was behind me drove very well. I kept him entertained with some slight upgraded offroading like climbing up higher on slide slopes and keeping both sides of the wheels while ridge riding and to my surprise he was tagging along perfectly on his Prado. He never shied from following me. Great future for him. The drivers behind him probably must have followed him but I couldn't watch their line properly in the rear camera. @Nitin Mohan, @Murad Hamed, @Farook Veettil who were at the back didn't have much issues and even if there were a couple nicely dealt with instructions from @DP1011 , Deepak wrangler the sweep of the convoy. After sometime into the drive it became apparent that @DP1011 , Deepak wrangler can deal with most situations and me as a center forward was much relieved he is competent enough to take care of the rear. I have only driven with him once which was yesterday and I can predict he will be soon in the support team. Clear and precise instructions. Watched him tug also and it was perfect from a difficult place. Well done buddy. 

Although I was apprehensive in joining a newbie drive in the afternoon and was prepared with all refreshments to keep me charged if at all there would be difficult recoveries I didn't use much as there were not much recoveries. I really enjoyed it. Kudos to all the drivers.

Ale gave a 15 min break at his favorite  Three date palm tree spot and it was perfect time to get to know each other as most were new faces to me. Will I join another Newbie drive? Absolutely yes. With new talents like all of them coming up and learning how can I be not part of the action. 

SEE YOU ALL SOON DRIVING AGAIN TO MASTER THE DESRT TERRAIN.

Some pictures will be posted to the gallery as soon as I can get it offloaded from the camera.