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Done and dusted… my IM debut and the longest drive i ever had!! Came out unscathed, all credit going to the track chosen by @Ale Vallecchi and my #3 position in the convoy.. i can remember at least 3 or 4 spots/crossings where i barely scrapped through at awkward angles and one or two wheels spinning and splashing sand .. had i been at the tail end, i would have surely ended up stuck 😬 Twas a great drive as we kept moving except for couple of planned breaks and a minor stuck.. finding enough time to just munch at my breakfast sandwich was proving to be a challenge in itself 😀😀 thanks to @Thomas Varghese at 2L , @GauravSoni as CF and @marks at sweep. looking forward to the next opportunity to drive with all fellow drivers… see you soon!!

Dear @Ale Vallecchi, thank you for the drive this morning ! This was really a full length border patrol, through areas I had never been before, except for the Little Sweihan, where we had already the opportunity to experience the tight dune cordons, the sharp crossings, and the nasty sand pockets. The drive was very fluid and in a beautiful environment including some wildlife, perfect mix for this Saturday morning ! Thank you @Gaurav Soni and @marks for the support, and all the convoy for the friendly team spirit !

All images are uploaded to the gallery. Finally, I have used 65 out of 1380 images clicked. Thanks, @Frederic for all the motivation and knowledge to push me to use Manual mode. Thanks, @samamara and @Mario Cornejo for sound advice, I have tried a few experiments and am kind of satisfied (not fully, though). I still feel we need a lot more time, patience, colder weather (a bit more) to try different experiments. I shot many on Manual mode today and from time to time switch to Auto as I was afraid to use manual - all the way, as I'm still learning and practicing. Also learned a lot from the off-road point, that is what really makes the perfect splash. Overall, I am happy with the first Passion Play experiment and with the results, I'm sure we will get progressively better and more structured as we go along. Thanks to everyone for joining it and making it possible today, really appreciate the great teamwork, cooperation and support.

It was another marvelous day. Thank you @Mehmet Volga for your valuable lessons on various approach on dunes, @Shaaz Sha than you for your help in recovery, and a wonderful show on climbing those big dunes with out any hassle. Hopefully u made it in today's leaders lead. @Josh T. as usual it was fun seeing u on my rear view mirror. @Warren Flay and @Brette it was nice to drive with u all, hope to see u next weekend too.

@Sunil Mathew it was a fantastic drive as all drives of @Ale Vallecchi are. I love the way he chooses his tracks so that everybody reaches the exit safely. As you said it was quite tiresome as most of the time we were driving. Sorry for deviating from the track sometimes as whenever I see Ale's car jump I try to find an alternate track with less jumps. As he didn't comment on them so far I suppose he approves it as you all have exited safely without any damage to your precious cars.

@Nathan Evans @varunmehndiratta @Richard Franks @Gilbert Khalil @Veedooshee @Ilya @Chinthaka Ruwan @Rawad @Anish S Please find all my good shots unedited in full res here. Link valid for 7 days only Download link https://we.tl/t-1dfXGIOwFy Carnity Passion Play - Action Photography - 8 Oct 2021 - Good Shots.zipx 750 MB

@Gaurav @Wrangeld @Hisham Masaad @M.Seidam @Shaaz Sha some pictures in the gallery

Drive Report “this drive is primarily about getting you comfortable crossing dunes and navigating your car in the sand” After that drive, I think it is safe to say that you are all comfortable in the sand. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏 We set out promptly at approx 3:10 and made our way along the track. We drove with zero issues for such a long spell that I decided I would take some more challenging routes. You handled them too. We did a little ridge ride on a nice, low , curved dune and even managed a criss-cross. Quite remarkable for a newbie convoy. Everyone handled the side slopes, no issues, we had a couple of crests, including my own (oops) and a handful of refusals but nothing of note. We even had a night drive through technical dunes , I’m amazed that only resulted in a couple of refusals , oh yeah and my nose-dive. Thanks for the shovel work to get me out of that one, we were out pretty quickly. Honestly , I’m amazed at how well you all did, especially the guys at the front, who were doing their first Newbie drive @Goh KP @Gertjan @Brendan White fantastic driving. Also, @Mohammed Mansoor @salah2u and @Alexanderrr who were handling the soft sand further back in the convoy. The Fewbie guys at the back who had the additional challenge of dealing with the churned up sand , which is no easy task, @Daniel Rodas @luis mantecon and @Zed all of you had very good drives. Big thanks to @Wade Pat2 for executing the perfect 2nd lead , I really appreciated having you behind me, to @Niki for his assistance at CF , with his calm, precise instructions to help the few who had refusals and to @Pacific for making sure everything was going smoothly at the back and helping with a couple of refusals too. Apologies for delaying you all on a Saturday afternoon/evening. It was purely down to me being over ambitious. You did incredibly well, especially when fatigue was kicking in and darkness fell. Thanks again for being an absolutely tremendous convoy. Until our next adventure.

Good evening fellow adventurers, I hope you are all ready for tomorrow's adventure in the sand. With the temperatures cooling it should make for a pleasant enough afternoon. My proposed convoy is below. We shall use channel 3 (three) - -Meet at 1500hrs - - Radio Channel 3 (three) 446.056- - Driver Car Rank Position Angela @Foxtrot Oscar Black Xterra Marshal Lead @Wade Pat2 Black LC Fewbie 2nd @Goh KP Prado Newbie 3rd @Gertjan Prado Newbie 4th @Brendan White Xterra Newbie 1st 5th @Niki FJ Advisor CF @Mohammed Mansoor Patrol Newbie 7th @Alexanderrr LWB Pajero Newbie 8th @salah2u Y62 Newbie 9th @AlexM Rubicon Newbie 10th @Daniel Rodas Pajero Fewbie 11th @luis mantecon Jeep Fewbie 12th @Zed LC Fewbie+ 13th @Pacific Jeep IM Sweep See you all tomorrow

Hello guys, thank you all for a wonderful day. we were all set by 6 to start and thanks @Mehmet Volga for the selection of area and superb lead. we had many virgin dunes to play and enjoyed it to the max..Thanks to @Brettefor the marshal support and for all the tips and tricks and for sweeping us all safely out. @ShereenMK, @Josh T.and @Warren Flay. you guys were all amazing today and it was fun being with you guys. Thank you everyone and hope to join you guys soon .

Thank you @Wrangeld for leading us into a quite new track. We did enjoy a very diversed playground, probably not as technical as you expected though It's interesting to understand from you the steps and to see the reasoning when it comes to new modification or equipment in your car. It was good to see all of you, and given the nature of the sand, I feel we had very few refusals and stucks and everyody drove pretty good. @Charbel, very well done for you first FB+ ! Thanks @Christopher Assal also very nice to see you master your skills with your Safari too and your company at the back always pleasant @Archibald Jurdi nice to meet you. Looking at you climbing the dunes in your TJ - moreover a manual - was scenic. Same for @Anoop Nair, respect for the manual drivers @Adhir Saxena good to see you and your enthusiasm during recoveries and @Chris Wing you definitely can go anywhere with your FJ @Pacific perfect second lead (and i know what I'm talking about @Tbone very nice job, sorting out all the recoveries. Overall, from the back, the convoy really looked very disciplined and skillful. Have a lovely week everyone and see you soon !

Hi @ShereenMK it’s better to leave your mobile number below so Anna can get in touch with you to transfer the details. Thanks ! That’s a list of issues. Sounds like your usual guy wasn’t really up to the job I’m afraid.

More pictures are in the links below. Part-01 https://we.tl/t-cpvpv0iLIn Part-02 https://we.tl/t-dsFIKIcFI6

It was a great drive and an excellent crew. Thanks @Wrangeldfor leading, we may have not accomplished what you wanted to but still it was a smooth and very enjoyable one. Great you shared your tyre experience. Some folks from the convoy know that I went through a tyre misery recently I needed to change my old BF A/T tyres - they were hug, heavy and very old, couldn't pass the registration with those. I went for the golden standard Yokohama G015 A/T . I also had issues with my rim size, it was just too wide for that tyre size. Stretching the tyre to a point where deflation didn't really get reflected in the shape. After spending an arm and a leg to fix all these, our drive was a game changer experience for me.Exactly as mentioned above, I first time felt great control over my car. All the technical dunes, climbs I sorted out in the past with using brute-force and horsepower which I could manage fine. However now it felt more like walk in the park. (In some cases I got even too confident that the Jeep will climb with a slight touch on the gas pedal - that's where @Christopher Assal you saw my recovery). Long story short - don't run to change your tires but unbelievable how much different it makes when you select the right size, type, pressure, etc

@NikiCongratulations!

Derive Report FB Bab Al Shams 08 Oct 2021. Thank you everyone for being on time and come with full energy and passion. We started with short instruction and convey numbering and we hit the Bab al shams desert by 6:15min. @Gregory, you played a very important role as a second lead, you were calm and droved very good with your Pajero. you followed me perfectly in technical area, kept safe distance in long dunes and changed the route when needed. Well done. @Enrico Biscaro, You droved very well with you Mitsubishi Pajero and nicely followed the second lead paths. Well done… @Alexander Holodny, I really surprised with your Mitsubishi Montero car. You droved well and hope your passenger feels better by now. Thank you and see you soon on the sand. @Peter Hager You droved good with Jeep Wrangler Rubicon and you did a great job with your car. Well done @JamesThorn I never heard anything about you on the radio communication and you did fantastic job with your Lexus LX570 Car . Thank you and hope to see you again. Finally, @Jeandre Bezuidenhout, Thank you so much for your great support. You handled nicely all the supports needed in backside of Convoy. You made me to be more relax and fully focused to my lead responsibilities. as you can see in below; I think we destroyed all long dunes in Al Qudra Once again, thank you all and see you soon on the desert.

Naice clicks Gaurav.... We got some really nice shots, a brilliant idea with theme drives like these ..👍 just to check is there any plans around Wadi drives?

Really enjoyed that drive this morning , thank you @Wrangeld. Lovely to meet some new people too. @Archibald Jurdilove the TJ awesome car , and that self recovery you did in that little bowl was awesome. @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil your driving has come on 10 fold and your position in sweep was amazing and your driving very calm and composed. Pleasure to see ! thanks everyone enjoy the rest of the weekend!

Hello all! Thanks to everyone for making this morning super fun! @GauravI'll upload my favourites to the directory For anyone that wants to sift through my shots from today, there is about 60 to download below (click the link) Download Link: https://we.tl/t-hZ2QsMYWib (They are very friendly JPEGs for Mobile and Web use, all 60 equate to about 55mb) Look forward to seeing the rest of everyones photos, super jealous of you guys with the long lenses from what I can already see they look wicked!!

DRIVE REPORT Dear Desert Wanderers, The day started at Mahafiz in a beautiful dawn with the skyline of Fossil Rock over the horizon: All convoy members made it to the meeting point quite early, so we would have been ready to move quite soon hadn't it been for the missing flag mount on @Manish Kashyap's Raptor, which required a bit of engineering effort to figure out a way to fix the flag with tie straps and gorilla tape, as I really didn't like the idea of sending Manish back at his very first drive just because of a missing flag. As soon as this artwork was completed with the help @GauravSoni we were ready to go trhough our briefing and eventually hit the sand by 6:30am. The first bit of the drive was quiet and easy, across the bushy and innocuous dunes of Mahafiz, until we reached the first play area were we could practice a few rounds of sidesloping: As we proceeded further east, we approached several other bowls where we indulged in more half-moon climbs, until I got crested in a moment of distraction trying to figure out the best way forward. On the last of these play areas @Ferl Brown's XTerra remained stuck on a slope and had to be winched down. Probably due to the high inclination and an excessive quantity of fluid in the circuit, the coolant of his engine had been overflowing and therefore spilling out, so once on the flat ground, we took a break to check that there were no leakages and that there was enough coolant to proceed the drive. After a good 30' break, we were able to move again and we quickly made our way to the glorious Long Dune. There we practiced as many half moon climbs as we could possibly think of, as can be seen from our track: As we moved further east, we eventually reached the pylon track on the west side of Fossil Rock and the new fence around the Natural Reserve there. Once on the south side of the fenced area, we had a chance to give a last glance to Fossil Rock, with the company of some very scenic camels: We then headed south, aiming at the evocative Camel Rock, where we stopped for a good convoy photograph: We then moved again, driving by the Sphynx and then entering Faya area: As we moved south, the sand got more and more soft and churned up, with tons of tracks from other convoys, which made our life way more difficult than expected. The convoy, however, was excellent, so we kept marching on with very few refusals and stucks along the way. Faya is a fantastic place, with higher and higher dunes that our Newbie convoy successfully climbed all the way to the south side, where @Prakash Anoop got crested at the edge of a nasty bowl, which required some shoveling and some maneuvering to get out of.. Eventually we made it to the famous Faya climb, which was as badly full of tracks and bumpy as I had never seen it, to the extent that none of us could make it to the top, so after a couple of attempts, we eventually made our way out to the tarmac on the Mahafiz - Kalba Road by 10:15. The convoy was excellent today: @Joji varghese was an excellent second lead, always careful and responsive to my instructions. Kudos! @Manish Kashyap was undoubtedly the star of the day: on his 1st Newbie Drive after the Absolute Newbie one, he found himself on the heights of Faya and made it through them like a pro in his blue Raptor. Well done for your 1st drive! Just remember to follow convoy discipline and stand still when the convoy halts for a stuck/refusal and to never overtake the car in front. @Waqar Sarwar is gaining confidence at every drive and did very well today in a challenging terrain like Faya with his Wrangler. Still some temptations to fight gravity here and there, but definitely a grest performance today. @Prakash AnoopAnoop had his 5 minutes of celebrity in that final bowl, when reversing out, but all is well what ends well. For the rest, some refusals today were totally part of the game, and they only demonstrate that you were pushing yourself to the best of your current capabilities. Keep up the good work! @Ferl Brown certainly won't need the gym today after performing an endless left & right steering recovery attempt when stuck on a side slope. Luckily your coolant issues were just an overflow, and I'm glad you could complete the drive, as otherwise you would have missed the best part of it! @Mohammed Mansoor is also showing great progress at every drive. Less fishtailing, less fighting gravity, better distancing. Keep it up, as you are doing great. @kiranshinde is coming to terms with his Y62. As with Mohammed, controlling fishtailing will be your most important achievement, as it is also the biggest challenge with your back heavy vehicle. For the rest, the car has tons of power, you just have to learn being less shy on the throttle! Well done today, it wasn't an easy one. @eldose baby pushed his Lexus where probably 95% of these luxury cars never get, and did it very well and effectively, with few hesitations only on churned up sand. @Raman_Dbx, quiet but sure at the back, came through everything that was thrown at him today, while still finding the time to enjoy the newly discovered landscape. @Rsjiv Samuel was an excellent Sweep at the back, always responsive on the radio, and never hesitant along the way, even when having to face incredibly churned up sand. Great job! We overall drove for 41.3km at an average moving speed of 15.3km/h, stopped for 1h 6' out of 3h 49' of total time spent from tarmac to tarmac. Great distance and pace for a Newbie Drive. Last but not least, a great thank you to @GauravSoni, on his 100th drive with @Carnity in just 365 days. Invaluable support as Center Forward, all over the place helping everyone, giving clear and effective instructions and meaningful insights during the drive. Fantastic! See you soon again in the sand!

While offroading, we cross dunes by using different methods, based on how the dune is formed and what the drive level is. Once you have spent some time in the desert, you will slowly start to pay more attention to the dune formations and how we cross them. Once you reach Intermediate and Advance level, you'll need to start learning how to read these dunes in order to navigate and create your planned routes in the desert. As a rule of thumb, the prevailing wind in UAE is blowing from a North-Western direction to South-East direction from 10AM onwards. At night and in early morning it will be reversed and blow from the South-East to North-West. This is something you should remember and you will notice when you zoom into certain areas with your navigation app (Google Maps, Gaia, MotionX, Mytrails,...) you will notice that the wind from that side has caused the dunes to take on their shape. This is a general rule and will not always apply, as you will see that in certain areas where wind is coming from different directions, you will see for example "star" dunes appearing. There are different types of dunes which are separately described below. As you can see in below picture, a dune is formed when the prevailing wind blows on a mound of sand, where the grain will move into the wind direction and create a ridge. The sand which falls on the other side of the ridge, creates a slipface, and this sand is not compacted by the wind. This is the main reason why we generally drive on the prevailing wind side or the convex side of the dunes on the Newbie level. "A dune is a curiously dynamic creature," wrote Farouk El-Baz in National Geographic. “Once formed, a dune can grow. It can change shape and move with the wind. It can even breed new dunes. Some of these offspring may be carried on the back of the mother dune. Others are born and race downwind, outpacing their parents. [Source: Farouk El-Baz, National Geographic, February 1982] The shape of dunes is affected by things like the strength, direction and consistency of the winds; the consistency and amount of sand; the hardness of the terrain and the amount of vegetation. Below we will describe the most common dunes found in the UAE. Different Dunes Crescent or Barchan Dune This is the most common dune. It forms the shape of a crescent moon when the wind blows from one direction. We generally use the words concave and convex to describe both sides of the dune: * Concave is a shape that curves inwards. * Convex is a shape that curves outwards. Crescent-shaped mounds generally are wider than long. On the concave side you will have the slipface. These dunes form under winds that blow from one direction, and they also are known as barchans. Parabolic Dune A parabolic dune is similar in shape to a barchan, but it is just the opposite. The tips of this dune point into the wind, and its main body migrates with the wind, forming a depression between the tips. Because of this formation, parabolic dunes are also known as blowout dunes. These dunes often occur when vegetation stabilizes sediments and a U-shaped blowout forms between clumps of plants. Example of Parabolic dunes near Faya: https://goo.gl/maps/ob8xu3y8VJJvF6hk8 Longitudinal or "Seif" Dunes They are also often referred to to as "sand ridges" or "seifs". Their length can range from a few meters to many kilometers and their height from a couple meters high to a couple hundred meters high. Wind pushes the sand and forms ridges parallel to the prevailing wind direction with slip faces either side of the crest. Linear dunes are straight or slightly sinuous sand ridges typically much longer than they are wide. They may be more than 160 kilometers long. Linear dunes may occur as isolated ridges, but they generally form sets of parallel ridges separated by miles of sand, gravel, or rocky interdune corridors. Some linear dunes merge to form Y-shaped compound dunes. Many form in bidirectional wind regimes. The long axes of these dunes extend in the resultant direction of sand movement. Barchanoid Dunes These ridges are similar to Barchan dunes. They are connected in long crescentic waves as the sand supply is much greater than that which forms a Barchan Dune. Star Dunes These dunes are formed when there are several prevailing wind directions - there is a complex wind regime. Typically there are three or more slip faces, whilst the dunes do not migrate they grow in height. Star dunes are radially-symmetrical, spyramidal sand mounds with slipfaces on three or more arms that radiate from the high center of the mound. They are created when the winds blow equally from every direction, causing the sand dune to grow many extensions and resemble a star. They are rare and are fairly stable and remain in the same place. Some are landmarks with names. Example of a Star dune: https://goo.gl/maps/jRnYghQc8ACzVz6T7 With this knowledge, the next time you step into the desert, you can start looking at the different dune formations, and this will give you lots of knowledge that you'll be able to apply in the future when leading and navigating off-road drives.

Great results everyone. Amazing shots for my car that made feel guilty that I haven't done the same for you The gallery is a gold mine for stories, reels, posts, and profile pictures👍👍

Thanks @Yousef Alimadadi for the drive and @Jeandre Bezuidenhout for the support at the rear. Overall a nice flowing drive - a few refusals and stucks, which were sorted quickly. Lots of actual driving time, over some long and large dunes! Will post some photos in the gallery later. @Enrico Biscaro hope you find a solution with the additional fan/air con issue on your vehicle. Have a good week everyone and looking forward to the next drive.

Bought "Wolfbox" brand off Bezos' online shop because it had good reviews ;-D. (I was not finding time to do proper research or visit Dragonmart). Using for the first time, it got fried while inflating wheel number 4. Waiting for Amazon guy to collect it since it has return option. Avoid at all costs.

The Ace in Festival City has the Campingaz CP250 Cartridges