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Congratulations... @Emmanuel... he is favourite of every newbie... Great news.....

Congratulations @Emmanuel for reaching the Expert level with Carnity Offroad club. As per your last 2 years, consistent contribution, dedication, love for offroading and helping hundreds of newbies you have shown tremendous progress and well deserve this new offroad rank. Keep it up and its time to hone your leading capabilities with sound planning and navigation skills. Looking forward to seeing you growing further and helping others to learn the art of offroading in a safe environment. Expert: Number of drives 10 (46 regular drives) Level of drives Willingness to learn + Enthusiasm + Basic dune & sand reading + map reading & basic navigational skills + strategic convoy driving Off-road gear Flag, deflator, tire gauge, shovel, fire extinguisher, medical kit, radio, compressor, tool kit, tow rope, floor jack, jack board & GPS trackback Drive teamwork Capable of diverting the convoy to safe spot + part of sweep team Drive posting/joining Join any drive and lead fewbie & intermediate drives with Marshal / Crew permission Forum participation Share experience + feedback on forum and pictures in gallery + drive and route suggestions + post trip report + share route + track and waypoints + Help Marshal / Crew for alternate routing + marking safe exit Social media sharing & inviting friends & family to join offroad club is recommended for faster upgrades at all levels.

@Emmanuel hearty congratulations for a well deserved promotion. You have been one of the solid pillars since the time you have stepped in with your questions and suggestions. Looking forward to even more questions from your side to make things even better.

@Emmanuel congrats buddy ! More than well deserved !

It was definitely disappointing but the company made it worthwhile. I left around 9:30. The cars are still there if anyone wants a look. We’re going to go up later in the week and take them into the desert for a play.

Cheers Barry, Im the mechanic in question, so I will let myself know 😎

Drive Video

As only a few Carnity intermediate drivers already know Al-Shuwaib, a challenging area that offers many opportunities to play and venture through some quite technical dunes, let’s start from there this Friday afternoon. The plan is to enter from Al-Shuwaib side and to exit in Bedayer, crossing Super Bowl, Iftar Bowl and many high dunes on our way. This may be our last chance before summer to enjoy driving in the daylight without suffering too much from the heat. We will also have about an hour of night driving, in order to get ready for the upcoming Carnity Off-Road Club challenges… When: 3 May 2019 Meeting time: 3:15 PM, the convoy will move at sharp 3:30 PM Where: ADNOC station Al-Madam GPS Coordinate: https://goo.gl/maps/n9qM6UTkS8SSu6169 Level: Strictly intermediate and above Type of Car: Any proper 4x4 with front and back tow hooks and 10 inches of ground clearance. Please check your fluids levels and make sure you have the complete intermediate level off-road gear. Plan: Drive, train and enjoy till about 8:00 PM What to bring along: Snacks - whatever you like with little extra to share, water, liquids, smiles, stories, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Approximate finish time: 8:00 PM Please RSVP on the below calendar:

Congratulations!!!

Congrats @Emmanuel it was just a matter of time

@Emmanuel Congratulations!!

Silly place and not much of a show. But great place to meet up with @Barry, @sertac and @Gaurav. Loved their company and saw the monster creations which were kind of huge and served their purpose of turning heads. Well worth visiting for the great company.

Trip Report - as I walked out of the house today I felt like it was December again, pretty cool and pleasant weather. Filled petrol and was excited like a school boy to meet up @Asif Hussain after a long time. With a great big hug from him we set off to the meeting point, with the chit chat on the way I completely lost track of where we were. After a polite enquiry Asif bhai confirmed that we were on the right path. It was great to see so many smiling faces this early in the morning and set off to the deflation point. At the deflation point we split the convoy to newbie and Fewbie. As we deflated and after a newbie briefing we were off with our newbie convoy. Sadly one of the driver had a moment when he was unconscious and since it seemed he was not feeling all that well I had to turn him back home for his safety and the safety of others. The route was more or less what we normally take with small dunes and easing our way to Pink Rocks. There were some soft patches on the way and a few refusals. But it is moments like these which challenge your skills and test your patience and span of attention. It was great to see everyone following the instructions well and maintaining a good convoy discipline. At this point I would like to thank @dberclaz for helping @Emmanuel with the sweep duties as Emmanuel had to skip to the front to help stuck vehicles. Thanks to @S1DD who taught @dberclaz something about his Jeep today in the true spirit of the community. This proves that if you are paying attention and are of a truly helping nature you don't have to count on long time experience, you can do it on your second drive within the club. Also thanks to @eduardo who was actually with the Fewbie drive but took time to help Pajero drivers light up their Christmas lights on the dashboard by removing the ABS fuse. As we got closer to Pink Rocks the terrain got a bit tougher, but after a few refusals on a demanding climb all made it to the top. From here we headed to the point where all 3 convoys had decided to meet up. We had fun trying to explore what our cars could do. Once everyone was together we headed to the other side of Pink Rocks and headed out towards the 2nd December Cafeteria. As everybody took put their bag of goodies we feasted as we do at the end of any drive. A celebration to celebrate the awesome time we had enjoyed together. At tis point I was getting late for Friday prayers, so loving hug from all and I was off for the prayers. Luckily just in time for the prayers, I inflated my tires just after praying and headed home only to prepare something awesome for next week. Until next week I bid you all farewell and looking forward to catching you on the next adventure.

Thanks everyone. Always a pleasure to drive with you. No words can express my deep gratitude to the kindest and the most inspiring people I know in this country, @Rahimdad, @Gaurav, @Srikumar, @Asif Hussain, who teached me everything I know about off-roading... and also many many things about life !

Congrats @Emmanuel well done. Keep it up and see you soon in marshal list.

Do record some videos of those monsters playing in the Awir sand, that must be like Transformers swimming in the swimming pool. If you really like to test them, plan to take them to Liwa or Sweihan for full-scale testing.

Awesome video @Asif Hussain good to hear you're back !

A great drive as usual! Loved the VIP convoy :) Looking forward for more drives together! Thanks @Srikumar and @Javier M

With the summer coming closer, we will go a little deeper into the dangers of being exposed to the extreme heat UAE brings to us. During off-roading, some activities such as recovery work, replacing tyres, and dealing with pop-outs, are physically demanding, and many of us who are in office jobs are not trained to cope with this amount of heat. Luckily with the help of some basic things, we can minimize the risk of below mentioned issues. The following risks are identified: Heat exhaustion: Warning signs: A person may suddenly look pale. Heart rate will increase and the victim may complain of feeling dizzy and nauseous. A feeling of weakness is also common. What to do: Seek shade immediately and lie down, especially if you’re feeling lightheaded. Apply a cold compress to the forehead and remove extra layers. Heat Stroke: Warning signs: Heat stroke is a type of hypothermia where the body temperature is greatly elevated. If not treated immediately it can be fatal. Symptoms are similar to those of a heart attack, along with nausea, headaches, hallucinations, difficulty in breathing, and agitation, What to do: apply cool water to the skin and place ice packs under the arms to reduce the temperature quickly. Preventive Measures: • Sip some water all day long, rather than just when you are thirsty. If you are thirsty it means you are already dehydrated. • Wear light clothing that can "breathe", but also wear sunblock and keep your head protected with a cap or hat. • Some fruit and vegetables can re-hydrate the body even more than water. Carry some in your cooler. • Water is important, but too much water can be dangerous as it can cause electrolyte depletion. Limit yourselves to 2-3 liters per day. • When recovering a vehicle in full sun, limit your exposure time and take some rest every couple of minutes. Because you are focused on the task at hand, you might completely forget the heat and become dizzy and exhausted. • If at some point you feel unwell, inform your club members immediately. When driving, inform immediately over the radio so the convoy can be stopped. • Keep an eye out for your fellow club members. It is relatively easy to recognize above symptoms in somebody else. Let them take appropriate rest. Please do share your tips, hints, experiences !

Use what it says to use in the owners manual. Using something else might save you 50-100 dhs now but it could result in a 3,000 dhs rebuild next year. Dont just rely on the thickness, ie 85w90, check the other specs of the oil and see if they’re suitable to your vehicle. Oil is the blood of your car. It’s like being thirsty and drinking coke instead of water all day. You will get sick. Stick to what it says in the owner manual.

@Gaurav @Rahimdad you know my off-road capabilities. I’ll follow anyone anywhere but I scared myself too much following you guys on the last expert level drive. I’ll let you know when I’m going up, Insha’Allah I can get you a drive in the 2 big cars. I’m working on the flamethrowers so you can fight over that truck 😂

@Emmanuel congrats & thanks for all the help & tips!

Great! Congrats Emmanuel.

congrats @Emmanuel

Can I drive @Barry. pretty please.

Hi, Thank you very much. It was a nice drive and I very much appreciated meeting new people and taking time to relax after the drive. Look forward to more drives especially the one coming during Ramadan. Take care.

Sorry @Barry i was out of the country for business trip and only landed this early morning. Shame i didn't see those 4x4 monsters in real life. Would 've been great to meet up with you and the Off-road clubbers. As you can see, the Carnity forum and the Offroad club can perfectly live together next to each-other after all and there’s no need to leave Carnity because of the popularity of the off-road club 😉

Nice video.

Awesome!!

Congrats @dberclaz !!

Congrats @dberclaz you deserve this promotion.

Thanks @Asif Hussain for sharing, kindly share the video you have been working on here please.

https://carnity.com/gallery/category/125-morning-newbie-drive-pink-rocks-26-apr-2019# Uploaded Few Pictures ☝️

It was fun off reading with great company. Everytime its it's good to meet newbies with enthusiasm

Started off the day with some lovely weather. @amir.rophail was the first guy at the deflation point. With a short convoy of me in lead, @amir.rophail in second position and @Javier M in sweep we headed out to explore the area around Big Red. The sand was hard in some sections which helped in a relatively easy climb. After spending some good amount of time exploring the area we headed in the direction of pink rock with some nice rolling dunes along the way. All the drivers managed extremely well and there were minimal refusals and stucks. The pace that was set was extremely good and we almost touched every possible dunes that were between the Big Red and Pink Rock area. We covered close to 40 km in a span of two hours as we played back and forth in this area. As we came close to the meeting point we met with the Newbie convoy lead by @Rahimdad. While we were waiting for the Fewbie convoy, @amir.rophail and @Javier M took multiple attempts at reaching to the top of pink rocks and were quite successful. We then were able to hear the Fewbie convoy on the radio, so we decided to take some nice set of dunes while searching for them. Finally after the merger of all 3 convoys we exited out and shared some nice food and drinks brought by all the drive members. I thoroughly enjoyed leading such a set of good drivers who were able to keep a high pace throughout the drive.

If you’re fitting any suspension parts when the car is on a lift, make sure the mechanic leaves the bolts loose and only tightens them when the car has all 4 wheels on the ground. This means your bushings etc will be unstressed. If the bolts are tightened when the car is in the air, when the wheels touch the ground, the rubber parts will be under stress and will wear out faster.

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Heat stroke is not cool. Last time it happened to me I ended up in bed for a week and I couldn’t move. It feels like flu but worse. Water isn’t always enough if you’re sweating so much. Pocari sweat or another isotonic drink is a better option sometimes.

Excellent write up and at a great time @Frederic much appreciated.

@Frederic Thank You for the much needed advice.

You will love Geolander A LOT as I'm using them for 6 years for off-roading and they never failed to impress.

This is not the issue of oversize tyre. This is a common problem with the Pajero after a desert drive. You had hit the front bumper and it has moved in a little. Since it's made of fiberglass you cab just pull it out. No point spending money in a workshop. If you plan do offroading i suggest to remove the lower plastic black lip (where you have circled). There are only two bolts and would help a lot

It was after my last desert drive. I think of going to some workshop to check.

Wow. 😍😍😍 thanks @Emmanuel @Srikumar @Asif Hussain @Gaurav @Rahimdad.

Nothing is nonsense here at Carnity @Jayakrishnan. People like you, Emmanuel, Frederic who ask a lot of questions help many other users in clarifying their doubts without even asking. Insurance is more or less the same as the road coverage: the Third party will not cover your car and Comprehensive will most likely cover your car for any offroad damages. Yes, you do need a police report for any damage done in offroad so that insurance can open a claim. If it's a collision it's a straight case of red and green paper like on road. If it's accidental damage hitting the dune, trees etc. then police report will come with a fine amount of 400 dhs (I guess) as it's your fault and the insurance will take care of the damages within the stipulated excess amount you have as per your policy. Most insurance companies don't cover offroad damage, and others like RSA, AXA and Oman do cover offroad damage and one needs to read their offroad coverage clause carefully as some mention 5 meters away from the road and others have no distance limitation. If you behave well and follow all the rules and convoy discipline chances are you will never damage your car. Almost all the accidents I have seen are caused by drivers who either think they can venture by themselves or just like to try some more adventure by breaking the convoy. In my last 12 years of offroad, I have accidentally damaged my car twice - first was in 2006, when I was learning and broke the convoy to go little left and right and ended up on nose dive. The second was in 2017 when dune ended with a sharp drop and soft sand resulting in nose dive again because I was too fast in technical dunes (my mistake).

Here's our new Velociraptor in action on his first lead. Well done @Emmanuel and Jawaher (Xterra) Emmanuel First Lead.mp4