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NIGHT AND DAY - PINK ROCK EXTENDED This time every driver's maniacal punctuality allowed us to start the day....with a night drive. With the cover of the dark we snuck into the dunes leading to Pink Rock's nothern base, and easily climbed its saddle, just in time to enjoy the first hints of dawn. From there we proceeded, skirting Fennec Cave, all around the rock, in a south-westerly direction, toward the beautiful range of sand bowls and low ridges that makes up the plateau betweem our starting point and Big Red. The terrain, and the quality of the drivers, allowed us to practice all off-roading skills: streight crossing, side sloping, and the rudiment of criss-crossing. Eventually, as everybody got more comfortable, we pushed the level up, and by the time we exited, the convoy had managed to ride in and out of the lower Big Red's bowls in good form, driving smoothly , crossing over the last 3 bowls without stucks. Great job by @Chaitanya D, executing flawlessly his first Second Lead. Very good contribution by @Rinelle Sanaani in his first Center Forward position (good recovery of Islam's GMC). Also perfect job by @Febin Frederic, also in his first Sweep, keeping the convoy together, and managing its flow when some refusals demanded directing the traffic. Special mention to @Islam Soliman for the impressive handling of his "beast": after the first challanging ridge, you never looked back, and managed a perfect ride. Very good drive, cool and collected, by the "younger" off-roaders (@Tero Vallas, @muzamil hussain, @Biju Abdul and @Gregory Perkin) as well as the more experienced ones (@Anish S and @Shiju Manuel) one could see all of you gaining in self-confidence, improving at each crossing, managing the last, more fast paced ones at Big Red, with good precision and control. Well done. By 9AM we had managed to drive for 3:35 hours and 38.4Km, at an average speed of 11Km/h (20 Km/h while moving), with a maximum speed of 58Km/h, and a total of 608 meters climbed. Thank you all very much for joining, and see you next time on the hot sand. Have a great week!!

This was my first Fewbie drive and it was clearly more challenging and definitely fun. Thank you @Ale Vallecchi for your guidance especially related hill climbs and using the gears. Convoy management was great from you all @Chaitanya D, @Febin Frederic and @Rinelle Sanaani. See you in next drive.

Seriously @Ale Vallecchi this is so far my number one preferred ride.. I guess I had enough adrenaline to get through the week until the next weekend ride .. thanks a lot for an amazing one @Rinelle Sanaani thanks a lot for the recovery although I thought everyone enjoyed looking at the black beast stuck on it belly over there 😂 @Chaitanya D and @Febin Frederic great job keeping the convoy rightly together, I felt how hard was job was with the challenging track.. thanks all for the lovely morning experience and see you next time on the sand

@Ale Vallecchi thank you for a fantastic drive. Thoroughly enjoyed it! How everyone amplified their driving skills as it progressed was wonderful. Especially towards the end on Big red dunes where all drove in a convoy manner into and out of the bowls in sync. It was a sight to behold and an experience worthy of waking up early morning to join this drive. Some pictures uploaded in the gallery 👍 https://www.relive.cc/view/vmqXoXRjJL6

@Ale Vallecchi today’s drive was fantastic and the happy face of all of us at the exit point is the testimonial of the same I guess. Thank you so much for making us practice ridge crossing at safer dunes and especially with your live commentary, feels much more confident now to practice this further. Needless to say, the convoy management was very good today, thanks to @Chaitanya D @Rinelle Sanaani @Febin Frederic and I feel they share great sync in communication. @Ale Vallecchi overall this was my best drive so far and I would say this till I have the next best drive with you 😁😉 maybe next Friday ? 😉

I can't thank you both, @Frederic @Vanessa8580 it was a fun driving with you guys. They way you took care of every single one of us at the convoy and the way you guys managed to keep the wheels rolling, Hatts ofd. Learned alot from you guys and impressed by the way you guys drive. Highly skillfull i must say. Looking forward for loads of more rides with both of you. CHEERS

Everyone has been there and done that (getting crested - front heavy /back heavy / centre ) @Islam Soliman. I was always watching you considering you were right behind me. Very well driven , you have a beast but you kept it very well controlled 👍

@Rahimdad& @GauravOnce again thank you so much for supporting the drive and the location for me was an excellent choice. Wish to do more drives through the fossils..Adding some pictures of yesterday drive

This drive should have been called "The March of the Pajeros"! This was the first drive where I had zero refusals, I'm going to put that down to a combination of a sprinkling of good luck and a couple of other factors; driving in tiptronic and having more confidence in my vehicle and ability so paying closer attention to how the vehicles ahead of me manage and negotiate tricky areas. This was my second drive using the play areas and the first time trying the sideys in tiptronic. I'm still learning where to up and downshift to maximise my speed and momentum so I don't have to turn down so soon. As @Gaurav noted I need to even out those arcs. @Rahimdad your feedback was very much appreciated on my attempts too. Next drive I'm going to get someone to film me so I can get a better visual on where to adjust and relate this to what I'm experiencing. My buddy suggested I film my steering wheel too using a chest cam. I was delighted to see a truck @Francois Germishuys in our convoy. I have been really curious to see how they handle the desert drives. Excited to keep learning and eventually become skilled enough to join some of those longer camping drives out in Liwa in the winter. I've shared a few photos in the gallery. Thanks for sharing the video @Mohamed Seidam, nicely done!

Yesterday drive was great , certainly a level or 2 up from the morning newbie drive , great drive leadership from Sri Hari and sweeps from Vanessa and Alex .Excellent guidance on the radio.I had 3 refusals , two were due to inadequete momentum and solution of reverse and rely worked .One required steering guidance , gear guidance to 4Lo all transmitted on radio clearly .These drives build confidence , discipline and mindfulness .So delighted to have joined the carnity off road club.Look forward to more adventures , safe and fun.Thankyou Seniors and co members of the convoy .

See you guys next time ✌🏼

Hi @Bhaskar the X3 is probably happier on the road, but if the car has 8inch ground clearance (definitely to be verified as the M plus package might come with lower bumpers), and has tow points at the front and the back, he can be allowed on the drive. Please be aware and the same goes for Discovery Sport and other luxury SUV’s that any damage incurred on the car will likely result in hefty bills, and these cars have lots and lots of electronics holding back the vehicle from unleashing it’s full power in the desert. Traction controls and airbag definitely need to be disabled when coming to the drive.

Honestly and without reading the further comments I wanna give it a try of what I think first : it seemed as it’s a “ pull to flip “ rather than pull/ tug to recover 🤔 second : the recovery car and the FJC both going against gravity ( for the FJC it’s obvious , and for the Pagero what got it worse is the recovery rop from the middle was elevated by small ground hump acting like a pulley with upward direction of about 30 degree and together with the rope angle it’s plus 60 toward left ( already the FJC was stuck in a tilt right up ) third : non kinetic rope fourth : no sand clearance fifth : both vehicles needed to be redirected for better recovery sixth : rear tug abit could save all day by permitting more distance in front of FJC to later go forward using created slop momentum Seventh : if its me as a newbie I would feel comfortable to do what I am not sure of and I will ask for advice if alone ( I will not go alone off course ) or seek advice from others more experience in the group

Hello everyone. I would like to thank @Gaurav bhai for letting me support this wonderful drive today. @Mohamed Seidam it was wonderful to see you and your son enjoying the drive. Thank you for the beautiful video I really love the way you have captured the amazing moments today. We are all out there to learn and enjoy, good to see you're willing to learn and appreciate the safety precautions we have in place. @sheri lovely to meet you. It's so wonderful to come out and meet so many wonderful people out there. Great to see you enjoying learning the art of driving in the sand. Your enthusiasm will see you doing better on every drive and growing in confidencein yourself and your vehicle. @Dagdag Sofiane pleasure to see you drive. As long as you stay calm and listen to the instructions of the seniors you will learn quicker. Looking forward to enjoying many more drives with you. @Ashok chaturvedi yet another Pajero. So confusing. But a pleasure to have a short chat with you. Learning is a 2 way process, feel free to ask the seniors whatever you don't understand, we are more than happy to share our experiences and best practices. @Tamas Hoffmann Pajero also. But your drive style you pick up will separate you from the pack. Nice to see you do so well. Looking forward to your feedback and questions to help you grow in this sport. @sertac great to see your wife and mother support you with a smile in the sport you've learned to appreciate and love. Always a pleasure driving with you and your support is highly appreciated. @Lisa Pemberton what a pleasure to finally meet you. Really love the control with which you negotiate the dunes. I understand that it is hot nowadays, but a great time to join as by the time winter comes you'll be prepared to take on more challenging times. Since you're learning driving in soft sand, it will be easier for you when weather gets cooler with forgiving sands. @Ajiesh George Kannankara Y62 rules. Today my T-shirt matched the back end of your car. The Superman sticker did give extra 10hp to come put of difficult situations. Lovely to see how you drive around the tank in the desert. @Ashy mixed feelings when I see a Jeep in the desert which is not a Wrangler. I had one, I enjoyed it, I suffered due to it. Strange how Jeeps sell these desert capable vehicles and cramp all technology I. It to make it comfortable for road and take away the element required for off-roading. My highest regards to handle the JGC so well. Maybe @Brette can help you regarding most of your vehicle questions as he too is a JGC owner. @Francois Germishuys sorry for getting the pronunciation of your name incorrectly. You were a great sport and lovely to see your V8 roar through the desert. The F150 is one of my favourite trucks around, specially with the V8. I was impressed with the way you recovered towards the end of that huge stuck. Well managed, would only advise you to be aware of your surroundings as we are there to help and would like to avoid any injuries. @Hennie Schoeman having a LWB Wrangler is one thing, bit the ease finesse with which you handled your ride was a treat to watch. Like I said being on the South African trails might mean you have to still learning driving in the sands, but you have an excellent off-roading ettiquettes and I loved your humble attitude. Surely looking to learn from you and grow with you in this amazing sport. @Mukundan Nair your Xterra looks brilliant. But more awesome is your willingness to learn and grow within this sport. Sorry to hear that you received a call from the CID instead of you giving them a call, hope that is sorted out soon. For me it's more about the people on the drive as I must have done a few thousand drives already. Loved the people on the drive with love for the sport and willingness to learn. Thank you once again @Gaurav bhai for ordering the cloud cover this morning which kept the drive comfortable for most parts of this morning. I have shared my pics in the Gallery. Enjoy. https://carnity.com/gallery/category/280-newbie-fossil-rock-sharjah-21-aug-2020

DRIVE REPORT Some days go better than other days, and today was a day where the going got a bit tough... I was glad to see everyone meeting on time, and most brought deflation tools and pressure gauge and were self-reliant in the deflating process. @Derek Fernandes I am sorry to hear you ended up at the wrong deflation point (for evening drive). In the future I will leave my mobile number on the pre-drive briefing drive topic so you can call in case there are any issues. Please always double check which drive topic you open as we have many drives every weekend, and maybe this caused the confusion. @Bhaskar as a proud new owner of this Montero Sport was my second lead today, and did really well. My apologies for the long waiting times. I hope you got to enjoy the scenery at least a bit @Athula Dharmadada your Pathfinder was a bit stubborn today, but you kept a smile and shovel handy, and your son took amazing photos. Near the end we had to dismantle the bumper but I am glad to see the shop was able to put it back on. Please do some trials with the traction control settings, as I am sure they were switched off, yet the car refused to rev beyond 1500 rpm which eventually led to pulling you back up to the dirt track. @Ameen Ahmed your Landrover Discovery Sport is a fantastic vehicle and you really drove well today. As we spoke about please bear in mind that these vehicles are very expensive to fix in case you'd ever lose a bumper or more. We have seen other members joining with same car, and most of them left the car home eventually and bought a cheaper dedicated offroad-toy for ease of mind. @izzumonv Your Jeep Liberty was not feeling it today, after first having smoke from underneath the hood because of the expansion bottle cap that fell off / flew off, and then refused to go in Reverse, and I felt sometimes the 4low gear was also disengaging without any reason. I would highly advise you to bring it to a competent mechanic and get these things sorted before coming back on your next offroad drive. As you have seen a 4x4 is being stressed to the limits during summer in the sand. Hope you can get things sorted and the recovery truck brought you back home safely. @Shaaz Sha congrats with being the first member with an Omani License plate You handled the terrain really well today and never heard or seen you struggle. Super done ! @Dineth Kalukapuge your Xterra is a very powerful car, and I am sure in a couple of weeks you will get the trick on how to use the momentum and steering a little bit better. But overall well done ! @Rizwan Waheed with the Pajero never broke a sweat and handled the terrain like he has done it before. Very impressive for a first drive ! @Vanessa8580 was my trusty sweep and we both burned quite a few calories. Having your life partner on your drive to help out is truly a blessing as we understand each other without words. As I have mentioned during the de-briefing this is really a team-sport and we never leave anyone behind in the desert. I am thankful for your patience and this drive was an example on how unforgiving the desert can be sometimes. But at the same time we keep learning week after week and I hope your next drive will be more "smooth sailing" For your next drives at Newbie level, please have a look at below topic which describes the tools needed for every level: You can also join the Carnity Whatsapp Drive Notification to get the latest updates on the drives and so that you can RSVP on time for the next weekend's drive. See you guys soon in the sand !

Great smooth drive with excellent pace ! Thanks @Emmanuel and @Kalahari for the last bit . All drove like pros ! Pics in the gallery!

Also check if he has low-profile tyres, as these cannot be deflated sufficiently to tackle dunes safely without risk of multiple pop-outs.

Thanks @David Ortells! And thanks @Rahimdad it was a pleasure to meet and learn from you!

Breezy evening drive at Faya, thanks for a great lead @Gaurav. First half of the drive was super exciting around Faya. Hill climb and some driving in the dark was added bonus. No shovels and tugs speaks how well everyone drove👍. https://www.relive.cc/view/vWqBJrkZ7Yq

In case there was any doubt about the meeting point, 2 December Cafeteria in Sharjah, this is the Google Maps link: https://maps.app.goo.gl/Z7wYX4mBs9nCNno77 See you to...Night 🌙

@Jeepie @Wrangeld @Brette and @Nizam Deen in leading and all the other drivers; thank you all for such a smooth drive. High tempo, less problem and full of fun! Lucky that it was a trouble free drive in my first sweep 😁

@Lisa Pemberton nice to finally see you in action today. Well deserved promotion and lovely to see your enthusiasm for this sport.

Thank you @Frederic for this well-worded drive report. It was a fantastic first drive and has really kicked in the enthu button for more such drives. Kudos to you and @Vanessa8580 for being such strong leaders for the drive today, you guys really deserve all the appreciation! Great to meet and drive with everyone, hope to see you all again soon!

Many hands make light work.

‘Able’ @Brette to the rescue under the watchful eye of @Jeepie “Your best teacher is your last mistake”

Hi @Athula Dharmadada glad to see your bumper back on 😉. I remember checking if the traction aid was really off when driving your car. So I am not really sure if this was the culprit. Nice photos ! You can also post them in the drive gallery (choose gallery in the main screen). Every drive has its own photo gallery.

After checking into a garage, the front bumper was reassembled with ease using a handful of clips. The steering lock and the drop in RPM was caused by the accidental activation of the traction control button. Sorry about the inconvenience caused by this today. Some pictures from today's session.

South Qudra and the soft sand, After being away on holiday and riding on different sets of two wheels, it felt great to be back in the soft sand on 4 wheels again. Big thanks to @Wrangeld for all the preparations and admin and @Ale Vallecchi for coming with us to do an exploration drive on Wednesday. Everyone was on time and after a short briefing we were rolling towards the long dunes of South Qudra with@Nizam doing his job as second lead for the first time and @Mehmet Volga his first job as sweep, I think you both did great and were a little lucky as well, because we only had two tugs and one pop out. @Brette probably having the most to do as center forward. Which means the whole convoy was driving well or I didn't make it difficult enough😉. Still, considering we had 3 new fewbies and we did about 43 kilometers and managed to exit on time, I feel quite happy with the result. The only negative I can think of is inappropriate equipment. Guys, you all think bigger is better and in this case it is TRUE, GET A PROPER BIG SHOVEL. SEE YOU NEXT TIME

Great drive @Emmanuel, again to a few previously unexplored dunes. It was a great drive in a convoy that kept the pace up all the time. Thanks for allowing me a short taste of leading in an easy part - it certainly brought much more appreciation for the leaders that lead convoys every weekend across multiple sandy trails!! Well done to everybody!

Hi all today I came along with my family to this nice drive , for them it was enjoyable and they liked it . Mostly impressed by the safety and patience , so do I from first time . Thank you @Gaurav for the valuable instructions that I respect . Also thank you @sertac for back pull when I got Encrusted ( was slower this time 🤚) as well as thank you to @Rahimdad for the continuous update and care all along . Thank you all fine people and see you soon in another Sand Epic And yet safe and healthy. below is edited clip I hope you enjoy it

Thanks a lot Christian .. remind me to hand you the 100 next time 😂😂

Islam carrying the sun😀 If only I understood how to turn the picture right in this system...

The Drive from my Eyes.. Today was actually my first Qudra area drive and i had an amazing time learning.. I really felt the difference on the steering wheel while driving through the soft dunes in Qudra and also somehow it feels that the colour of the sand makes it difficult for you to judge the dunes... And as expectations were set of driving through the long range dunes, with the sideys, and little ridge riding and criss crossing and i think it was all met 👍 i had loads of fun as well as a nice practice to improve the skills ... Thank you to an amazing leadership of @Jeepie and with the support of @Wrangeld, @Brette and @Mehmet Volga, we indeed had an excellent morning drive with very less stucks and refusals, job well done to the whole convoy! @Newton Rozario for the fact that you said "it was a pleasure to watch me drive😇", thank you so much☺️, i really feel grateful to @Anish S who brought me here and thankful to the carnity family and all the amazing leaders! See you all soon in the sand...☺️

Thanks Marian @Jeepie Richard @Wrangeld @Brette @Mehmet Volga and all the drivers for a nice drive.. was real fun.. enjoy your weekend and meet again soon on the sand

TRIP REPORT Qudra offers the perfect play ground for Absolute Newbies to start learning the basics of offroading. With a nice looking convoy signed up, I was eagerly looking forward to a wonderful drive. Such was the excitement that I had reached the meeting point at 4:30 am to only find @Vanessa8580 already waiting since 4:20 am. As we started deflating our own tires the entire convoy of Absolute Newbies started trickling in well before the meeting time. With a quick introduction @Vanessa8580 started helping deflate few of the new offroaders who needed assistance. Upon checking the tow points, we came across @izzumonv who unfortunately didnt have tow points at the back of his car. Tow points is the most important requirement to start offroading and its mandatory to have them at the front as well as back. Hope you get them fixed by next weekend and we look forward to having you onboard. With @Pancho as my second lead, @Rahimdad as center forward and @Vanessa8580 in sweep we lined up the entire convoy. After a quick absolute newbie briefing we started moving on some nice easy tracks. Within a km of entering the desert while helping recover @Juan Carlos Elizalde Reyes we found that one of his tyre's sidewall was peeling off. As it was unsafe to drive the car in such a condition in the desert, Rahimdad and Vanessa escorted him back to the road. Juan, your car had some serious lack of power, and probably it is the Oxygen sensor. @AKR had a similar issue and maybe he can share some light on what he did to get it sorted. With the convoy settling down and the increase in confidence, I started increasing the pace in some of the medium range dunes at the back side of Qudra. With plenty of opportunity for side slopping the convoy responded extremely well with a minimal of fuss. Well done. @[email protected] impressed me both with his nicely lifted Pajero as with the drive skills that he displayed. Nicely done. @Hardik Mody was our adventure man for the day with a couple of jumps and going off the track. Luckily nothing happened. However, for me the highlight was how you self recovered yourself out of the pocket. @Tamas Hoffmann was the quietest guy in the convoy and he didnt break a sweat to manage his Pajero throughout the drive. @Gaurav Tomar joined in his JGC. Though it has a lot of power, its a beast that needs some practice to tame. But you managed it well. @Sara EL FANIDI did pretty well in her Wrangler. Couple of moments while doing the side slopping, but overall good driving. @Javier Lucero really enjoyed himself at the back of the convoy despite the cross tracks as he was riding a but higher than the other cars and testing the power of the Wrangler. @Probir Mukherjee joined with the mighty V8 LC and he sailed through most of the dunes with the utmost of ease. Thank you to @Pancho for supporting the drive in second lead position. Big thanks to @Rahimdad and @Vanessa8580 for managing all the refusals and stucks quickly and to ensure that the convoy keeps moving at a good pace. Well done everyone. For the next drives at Newbie level, please bring along a deflator, pressure gauge, flag and radio as a minimum. Also like I mentioned during the debriefing, join the Carnity Whatsapp Drive Notification to get the latest updates on the drives and so that you can RSVP on time for the next weekend's drive. Till then drive safe.