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Post Drive Report We had it all yesterday. A very short drive before the first (of many) pop outs, a sharp reminder that off road driving can be dangerous and a fun filled night drive all the way into Last Exit. While I cannot claim that the drive hit IM level the whole way through - for obvious reasons we needed to tone it down a bit - the varied challenges made for a fun afternoon. Had it not been for the pop outs and the almost roll-over ... well, that's another story. Our route took us from Lisali Fort, through some of the less challenging technical dunes in the Lisaili area [yes, sorry I navigated around the edges rather than going headlong into an advanced techincal challenge] and then some of the lovely long range dunes that the area has to offer leading all the way back to Solar Park/Qudra. We had an acceptable number of refusals leading through this area, nothing too serious, nothing too concerning - although the three pop outs early in the day was a bit of a surprise, including my own. And then, as we were side slipping our way through some lovely dunes, a very calm and collected @Watteau was heard saying 'don't move an inch Jodah. Richard can you come back immediately and help'. What followed was an exemplory lesson in extreme recoveries where within a few minutes, a sideways Y62 was back on all 4 wheels a little shaken, but not stirred! Credit to everyone involved in that recovery: @Watteau for using the winch with perfect prescision, @Tero Vallasrunning up immedaitely with the flat snatch rope we needed, @Francois Germishuys making sure that the offside of the car was totally under control, @Jorge Stepniak Felippe @Thomas Varghese @varunmehndiratta for digging on the side at the time and exactly where requested, @Islam Soliman for ably assisting in getting all the parts moving at the same time and most of all @jodha singh shekhawat for remaining calm and swallowing the fears he must have felt while sitting in the driving seat while all this happened around. After that, and a few moments to recover, all credit to @jodha singh shekhawat for getting back into the swing and driving with us all the way back into Qudra. It's always a risk adding time onto a drive. It's one of those things that as leads we do not normally offer, because it feels like you are tempting the off road gods by over staying your welcome - but I take full respmnsibility for offering to extend the drive and add a night driving experience for those that had not yet had it. I truly felt that the retribution I deserved for that 'temptation' had been delivered when, within 5 minutes of the start I came down off a slip face to find that the bottom of the dune was hard packed clay and with the speed we had on the dune to clear, the resulting impact left me with 2 pop outs and @Watteau who was following closely behind with one all of his own. The time taken in sorting out all three gave @Islam Soliman an opportunity to break his fast, have a snack and say his prayers (so perhaps there was actually some divine intervention involved) before we were on our way again, incident free all the way to Last Exit. As we approached the end of the drive, it was even possible to give the experience of off roading in other countries as we made our way through the trees and bushes. All in all, I enjoyed the varied terrain and challenges and the additional learning opportunities faced. It's not often we get the chance to have a really happy outcome from an extreme recovery. Bottom line, I am exceptionally grateful for all that I and others have learned in Carnity so that we could sort out the problems quickly, efficiently and without drama. This could have been much worsefor both the car and it's passengers, but the calm teamwork used to sort the problem was a testiment to everyone on the drive and the training we have been fortunate enough to receive. See you soon in the sand.

Thank you very much @Wrangeld and I appreciate your and the team's support in taking me and my car out of the risky situation yesterday. @Watteau I am grateful to you for stopping me at the right moment and for the help you gave later. Also thank you so much to the entire team of yesterday who helped and encouraged me. @Islam Soliman thanks a lot for taking my son out of that situation and then helping me. Credit also goes to @Watteau for using the winch with accuracy. There is a lot to take in from yesterday's drive, and I believe that yesterday was an amazing day for me that I have learned a lot without causing an accident. When I was inside the car, I felt that it might be my last drive, but when I came back out and the confidence received by @Wrangeld, I felt great and was able to complete my drive. I don't have many words for this but I thank each one of you for your help and support.

Enjoy watching , keep watching , however please don’t attempt it solo unless there is a drone backing you up from the sky !

What a special drive that was! strongest convey i have had the pleasure to join! @Janarthan @Islam Soliman what a superb lead, route and blend of challenges! It was almost radio silent at times, with many of us not wanting to curse the drive by stating how stop-free it was..... well until @Alexander Alcala decided he needed a little drama and decided to radio in his joy a there being no refusals or stucks.... not soon after, the drama arrived in the form of an injured bikers (broken collar bone) and their convoy needing support to get him to medical help. @Islam Soliman @Alexander Alcala @Janarthan its a credit to you three for how composed and calm you handled that situation! Applying our own protocols and ensuring the UAE processes were followed is not easy when being insisted by others on what to do! flawless and this drama was enough for @Alexander Alcala to no longer use the radio I learnt a lot, enjoyed every moment of that drive and massively appreciate the 'no-pressure' approach to offering the convoy the choice to do the climbs vs insisting everyone tries. Brilliant convoy - thank you all and see you soon!

Hello All, What a fantastic convoy !!!! Amazing Drivers. We started off slowly from the farm moving towards the big red. After the initial few minutes itself I got a strange feel that no body is going to get stuck. But ultimately it was me who got stuck. Thanks @Alexander Alcala for stopping us and informing about the moto bike situation, you and @Islam Soliman handled the situation perfectly. Also I must thank everyone for obeying the covid rules, sticking to being inside the car. Last but not the least excellent support from @Niki.

Yes great to meet you man! You have an awesome FJ. Love the white accents and white rims on that thing!

That was probably one of my favourite drives, beautiful dunes, fast pace, big drops, loved it! Thanks to @Anish S , @Ale Vallecchi and @Mukundan Nair ! Great leadership and experience! Shout out to @Joe Biju Joseph for the badass hummer and great second lead! I had the pleasure of driving behind @Batuhan Kulac with his great sounding G Wagon😬 @Lakshmi Narasimhan thanks a lot, always a pleasure to be on a drive with you!

@Danish Mohammad it was a single incident of losing the track of 2nd lead , and you saw what happened. We have made such mistakes and got better at them, and I am sure it will be the same with you . Learn and forget, you will be more focused next time around. But for this one incident you were flawless for the rest of the drive. Well done!

Hello @Darren Brookeyou can always depend on me getting a sudden-death morning meeting 😅😅😭

be very careful with K&N filters in this country as these are usually not good for desert sand as they need to be oiled to maintain. I had one in my car but went back to the original filter as this one was easier to clean and i never found any performance difference (little bit better sound and low end grunt but nothing that made difference in the dunes). A better option is a so-called dry filter, which can be cleaned more easily.

Hi Lawrence, Here's one immediate difference - we side sloped here on the slip face, not the wind side of the dune. I would guess that all the side sloping you did to date was on the hard side of the dune. Other differences: Speed. IM you simply need to keep up. No one is waiting round to make sure you are keeping up. Warnings: The drive lead is not going to be telling you where every bump or sharp dune is on an IM drive. If you have any bumper angst at all, it's not a great place to be. Criss-crossing: You'll be expected to be able to do this from both sides of a dune Being hesitant to sign up for an IM - in my view that's a pretty smart tactic. Build up the skills by doing more and more FB+, where there will always be elements of IM. The best drivers around are those that patiently (and sometimes impatiently) waited to get their promotion. Thrown straight into an IM after the 'required' number of Fewbie drives means you can do the drive. There is a lot I can do, but not all of it is fun.

@Watteau @Dodi Syahdar The twins brighten up every drive!

Many happy returns of the day @Gaurav. wish you many more filled with health, happiness and loads of fun at @Carnity

It was long and action packed drive for sure. But I believe that we all learned a lot more again, especially related to special situations & recoveries. Thank you for the professional & safely managed convoy, @Wrangeld and @Islam Soliman ! Good work ! See you soon on sand again !

This was my first drive as a newbie, I enjoyed it a lot and learned a lot of things. It was very well planned and executed by@Brette . Even though the route was little difficult, it was worth it. If I could, I would do it again and did not want it to finish. By the time sun was coming up, I experienced few refusals and stucks, I even had my tire pop out. During every occurrence, the assistance given by @Desert Dweller and @Luca Palanca Falsini was fantastic. They explained a lot of things and built a lot of confidence. It was a wonderful experience, Thank you and looking forward for next week

happy birthday @Gaurav! What an awesome community you have created and are leading! Long may it continue! See you soon and hope we get to celebrate your birthday belated on the dunes one day soon!

For a first time fewbie drive I think you will be an amazing sand driver. You had courage and bravery whiles still being safe. You sir... were flying through the dunes! It was a pleasure driving with you I WAS WAITING FOR SOMEONE TO PICK THAT UP!!!!! Speed aaaaaand powaaaaa 😂

Hi Wade @Wadepat2, You asked how this happened. Albeit this situation was behind me, the most likely explanation was simply lack of momentum when crossing the slip face. No doubt the slip face was on a sharp angle, but having just made it through myself (and this car was in 2nd lead so it was not horribly churned) it was passable with the right amount of momentum and commitment. There may be other factors, but it did not look like the steering was wrong. A common explanation of vehicles tipping or getting close to tipping is a driver trying to fight gravity. I do not think that was the car here as the sand wall on the driver's side of the vehicle had a build up of sand that was consistent along the whole length.

Happy birthday dear @Gaurav🎂🍰🍨

Happy birthday Gaurav

Happy Birthday @Gauravbhai.. 🥳🎂

Happy Birthday @Gauravbhai!

u r welcome..pleasure is all mine...it was indeed an amazing drive as the pictures depicts it. Well done to the team👍 Am happy I could click it... it was indeed fun to watch...cheers very well done👍

@Anish S, @Ale Vallecchi, @Mukundan Nair, @Joe Biju Joseph, @Batuhan Kulac, @luis mantecon, @Humayun Ghias, Please find attached video recording of the drive.

Many many happy returns of the day @Gaurav!

Congrats @Darren Brooke! Good to see that someone is bringing some American muscle. 05 Tahoe. One of the strongest chassis out there but also very heavy (thats one thing our cars have in common . Cant wait to see you in action 💪

Thanks Richard @Wrangeldfor your advice. Honestly when I swapped the wheels from 20" to 17" with AT tires, the drives became much easier, smoother and can actually find traction everywhere. The pace on fewbie+ is just perfect for me, not sure if I'll enjoy it if it is a bit faster as I'm running on stock soft suspension. I'll have to try as it defers from Marshall to another or terrain to another.. I've done few side sloping on the slip face where the sand was super soft and more momentum was required which isn't a big issue. I'll stay away from intermediate for the time being until i get my rear bumper sorted out, currently have a departure angle of about 25 deg, so I always slow as much as possible when exiting a steep decent.

hi guys, In my opinion stick to original Air filter, my friends experienced even the dry filters have caused MAF replacement at some point (air flow sensor damage). so ya, Stock are the best to go. Cheers.

I am using AEM dry flow on my Xterra. Very easy to maintain. No need to clean repetitively like K&N

Wish you a very happy birthday @Gaurav!!!!!! 🎉🎂

@Wadepat2, the Y62 was slidesloping and ended up like this. The recovery was done at the expert instructions of Richard @Wrangeld which made the car back on its four wheels and drive away without a scratch. The team executed all of Richard's instructions without a hitch and recovery was done very smoothly. The 1st thing when you face a situation like this is level headiness and calm composure which the Marshal & the team displayed at all points. 2nd is the correct technique and using the tools at our disposal required after assessing the situation. 100 marks to all of us for this. The Y62 was winched to the side where it was lifted and eased back on its 4 wheels. After that normal recovery procedures like shovelling, left right steering, blip blip acceleration was employed and the car safely came to flat ground. At the end nobody was hurt, car was recovered without a scratch and we continued our drive. Luckily for all of us the angle of incline didn't cross the threshold of center of gravity and made the car tip over. Kudos to the driver for remaining calm in a precarious position of 45 degree angle tilted to 1 side and holding his position without panicking and not trying something on his own and worsen the situation. I suspect he even breathed carefully without any movement so as not to upset the balance. To tell you the truth I have never seen a car in this position and recovering it without a scratch in less than 15 to 20 min. No mishaps happened and nobody was hurt as GOD ALMIGHTY watched over us. Big thanks to @Wrangeld for his experience, @varunmehndiratta, @Islam Soliman & @Francois Germishuys for their ground support and @Watteau for his excellent handling of the winch. All other team members respected Richard's instructions and watched from their cars considering COVID 19 restrictions. Anymore technical explanations our more expert colleagues will give.

From a complete Newbie, Would like to hear how this situation came about and the steps taken to be resolved?

Thanks to you @Yousef Alimadadi and @Chaitanya D for leading us on Friday. The drive went very smooth and I had a lot of fun! Hope to see you soon on send again.

First of all I would thank @Chaitanya D for your trust and giving me this opportunity to be on second lead** (hope I did as per your expectation) and yes @Chaitanya D @Ahmed Mostafa I agree and apologize at one point as I got confuse by some previous track mark and for which car number three got side stuck. (Sure I will pay more attention in future drives) Thanks to @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ @Alexander Alcala and @Foxtrot Oscar for your unlimited support, guidance and help during refusal/stuck/pop-out and making sure that whole Convoy is safe and moving smooth. (Excellent team) @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ Also please convey my thanks to "Raffay" for his great help during shovel and pop-out. Appreciate the patience of each member in this Convoy during refusal, stuck or pop-out, it was amazing night drive with good learning. (Thank you all) Insha’Allah See you in next drive

Happy birthday to our off-road guru and ultimate Jedi master ! 😜

Trip Report Convoy 2. On my way to the meeting point I kept thinking if attempting this area with 4 drivers who would be doing their first newbie drive was in fact a good idea or if I was trying to be over ambitious. I had also worked out an alternate route incase it turned out to be too much for the newbies but wanted to give it a shot and I also knew I had an excellent support team in @Desert Dweller and @Luca Palanca Falsini. On reaching the meeting point @Luca Palanca Falsini was already there deflated and ready to go while the rest of the convoy arrived. Everyone was done deflating and ready to head out by around 6:15 so after a quick briefing and getting the convoy into position we headed off towards Fossil Rock. The entire convoy drove pretty well and we were closing in on Fossil Rock in less than an hour. With summer around the corner and knowing fully well that the sand is going to keep getting soft and sticky of the next few months, I decided to give everyone a taste of what it would feel like to get into these sticky patches so rerouted and went towards the really soft patch just before fossil rock. Here is where we had our first few refusals and 1 stuck that was handled and sorted out very well by Luca and Jamy. Moving on we did not attempt to climb Fossil Rock but headed straight towards Camel Rock where we bumped into Freddy and Richard with Convoy 1 and then headed towards Faya. I think everyone enjoyed this area as we kept a good pace and covered almost half the distance without any refusals or stucks. Seeing we had a lot of time still on our hands, I deviated west into a bit of the technical area. Here we again had a few refusals, a stuck and @Nafly Azhar had a pop out too that was fixed in under 15 minutes and then we made our way again towards Faya. The final stretch to Faya is all about keeping the momentum around the bowls. I went all the way to the top, @Luca Palanca Falsini positioned himself halfway through while @Desert Dweller stayed down with the convoy while everyone made their attempt. A few refusals later we were at the top taking in the beautiful view before heading down. Once down those who had a few drives under their belt got to make an attempt at making small climbs while the rest watched. After everyone had their fill we headed out to the inflation point. @Chris Wing thanks for being an excellent second lead and congrats on your promotion to fewbie. @Nafly Azhar , @Christopher Assal @Lucas Neo and @Wadepat2 you all did very well considering this was your first newbie drive. Don't worry about the refusals and stucks, it is all part of the learning process and in time you will get better at it. @Pmaraziti , @Chinthaka Ruwan and @Rjducos well done, you guys had absolutely no problems at the back. @Desert Dweller and @Luca Palanca Falsini Thank you both for being an excellent support team and look forward to supporting you'll on drives soon. Take care guys and see you'll in the sand..

Hi @Janarthan and @Islam Soliman thank you both for providing yet another great driving adventure. I had tremendous time driving and learning yesterday. Thank you and also to all other fellow off-Roaders in the drive. Looking forward to the next one

Hi @Darren Brooke, in consideration of the fact that you had responded to the RSVP more or less at the same time when you were being promoted, in second thought I think it is fair that your are added to the drive as 11th attendee, as an exception. See you in Wednesday!

@Thomas Varghese I am sure Nissan will be very happy with a copy of your picture for their 'go anywhere' marketing campaign.

Thank you Luca.. Look forward to see you soon too...

Hi @Dodi Syahdar, you are the 2nd waitlisted after @Darren Brooke (subject to his promotion to Fewbie level)

Happy Birthday @Gauravbhai... 🎊