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Full Day Cross Border Caravan - Drive report "Not all those who wander are lost" - J.R.R. Tolkien" After a week of lots of work and little sleep, it's finally time to recount the fun we had during our Full Day drive late last week. Thankfully, a lot about it has been said already by the members who joined. Companionship, great experiences and memories, endurance, fatigue, satisfaction, breaking ones' limits, are some of the impressions and feelings with which we all came home after this long awaited, day-long, caravan across the border of Dubai and Abu Dhabi's emirates. I'll just add a few words about the itinerary and the overall performance of all the drivers. From dawn to dusk, we left from Qudra's Last Exit with the sun rising at our back, and reached Al Hayer's farming compounds with the sun setting just to our right. In between, we crossed the less travelled area of Al Qudra (the one coasting the Bab al Shams road), crossed the Solar Park pylons' track aiming for Ghanthoot, cut across the sabkhas and along the sand-track circling the military training ground, zipped through Little Sweihan, and roller-coasted our way along Faqa' plateau, before taking our picnic lunch break. By the time we took the midday break, we had travelled for 3:35 hours of moving time (4:49 hrs total time, including much needed R&R breaks every hour or so), and had covered 109.5 Km at an average moving speed of 30Km/h. A very pleasant lunch under a copse of Ghaf trees, in the middle of tall yellow dunes, was perhaps the highlight of the trip, allowing all members to joke and banter, and live those moments of companionship that often are lacking while driving (radio communication is not enough), and which were further impeded by the past Covid situation. Yet, these moments of camaraderie and ease are what Carnity has been based upon, and what had attracted all of us members in the past. As soon as the cars had cooled off, and our stomachs had been filled, we moved again to exit Faqa's plateau, crossed into Al Ain's territory, overcame the ever increasing deep tracks left by O&G exploration companies around Al Jabib, and finished gloriously, criss-crossing our way through the long range, red dunes of Al Hayer, all the way to the boundaries with the local camel and produce farms. At the time of our exit, we had driven for a total of 6:27 hours (9:55 hrs total), and covered 166.5 Km at an average moving speed of 26Km/h (both the kilometeres and speed of this second half testify to the more technical nature of this area). As far as the total driving time is concerned, it's just pure chance that the Carnity Desert Caravan Compilation (which I shared with the members before the drive) lasted just 1 extra minute. Perfectly lucky timing 😅. As for the convoy itself, I cannot single anyone out, for either good or bad things. Everybody drove extremely well, and, as hoped, each Intermediate led a Fewbie Plus member in an impeccable manner. Great tutoring by @varunmehndiratta, @Looper, @GauravSoni (who added an extra layer to his performance with great Center Forwarding), and @Mario Cornejo. Perfect following by @Mus_hus78, @Anoop Nair, @munkybizness (what a first FB+ day), @Zed and @PaoloMaraziti. Tremendous support by @Jeepie while also sweeping all to safety. So in the end, we did wander, we did not get lost, and we all grew together, both in our off-roading and personal experiences. Thanks to all, and see you soon out there.

Last week we had 4 Newbie drives, out of which 2 were not full till Friday. This week is an exceptional week to have just 1 newbie drive, as all Marshals are participating and supporting the Desert Champions Trophy. From week after, will be back to 4-5 Newbie drives every week, maybe more (if needed).

Once again an exciting drive with you leading Doc @M.Seidam. The constant reminders for safety, quick brief and breaks in between were appreciated🙏. I am looking forward for more of your drive leads👍. To the support team: @JeromeFJ for your tips, and for lending your radio, excellent support from the middle of the convoy with recovery guidance🙏 @Tbone, @TT_Dubai for guide and sweep tasks! It was a pleasure to have you on the drive. To the rest of the team, very well done for all your feedback, guidance and overall teamwork. Very nice meeting you all👍👍👍! until next time…Cheers!

@Alexander Holodny @Damien Ranjit @Daniel Rodas @Mohamad Anwer @Luca Bregni @bassel el rafei @Alexanderrr @Alexanderrr @Paul Zeitoun @Pacific Thank you all for joining our drive yesterday! Great day again to start a lovely weekend. We started right on time and kept a joyful line with stops on big play stations. Rarely used ropes and shovels in a couple of occasions so we had enough time to test our offroading skills, make repeated attempts with trying different methods and tricks and get more familiar with the attitudes of our cars. We tried for better performance by discussing and practicing on timing to push, switching to right gears, keeping right tracks and cheating where required 😎 Excellent lead by @Hisham Masaad ; he took the convoy to all famous bowls and dunes of Mahafiz and we did many practices while getting a great fun on those. Thank you my friend and welcome to the leadersboard! Looking forward to support your upcoming independent drives! Flawless center support by @Paul Zeitoun and sweep by @Pacific ; you saved our day with excellent recoveries and advises so we had our time to enjoy playing. Recovery from the bush; wise move buddies! First time I watched such trimming by using a car and a rope. Experience recorded for the impossible recoveries in the future. Very well done! @Alexander Holodny @Damien Ranjit @Daniel Rodas @Mohamad Anwer @Luca Bregni @bassel el rafei @Alexanderrr; it was really nice to see that you are now fully familiar with your cars and have well control in different offroad acts. Each of you demonstrated very good performance. Well done strong fewbies! 💪 @Alexanderrr did a great start to his fewbie adventure. Excellent performance! Keep it up and enjoy. 👍 * A footnote about our "bush operation"; It was a really smart solution by Paul and Pacific. They recovered the car from a very difficult position without damaging it. Well done! However, when I shared this experience with the Carnity leads and advisors, screams came out! ... dreadful... terrible ... vandals ... how dare you do that ... you killed the environment ... Although we didn't kill any plant, it was still nice for me to hear such harsh criticism as it proves how great people our club has, with full of love and sensitiveness to the environment and nature. In this occasion, I think it is good to underline some points here to keep in our minds during offroading; As you all know, we are doing this hobby right in the lap of the Mother Nature. Thanks to wonderful nature and environment we have in the desert, we treat all our stress and bad feelings we accumulated during the whole week and get full of peace and energy to continue for the next! I think that is the reason many of us are doing this every week. But the desert is not ours; it belongs to animals, plants, rocks, sands, ... living and non-living landlords welcoming us for a couple of hours per week. As known, day by day we are losing wonderful terrains in the dessert due to new facilities occupying the nature for construction, energy, tourism, ... it is becoming more challenging to find good zones as time goes by. Therefore, the environment must have the first priority for our club as it is not possible to feed our passion without it. There is not too many, so we have to preserve the ones we have on hand. I believe that every member in our club has the same emotionality to respect the nature and environment and no one would never ever think of harming any living creature breathing in the desert. In order to do the right, I think we can list a brief guide here to consider for similar recoveries in the future; We should think about touching the plants only if there is no any other option. In our case, it was the last option as tugging or winching the car from the front was not possible in that inclined bowl. So ticked... Our bush was completely dry and dead already. So it was very easy to trim it out. But in the future, there may be some living plants blocking the way out in a similar event. Also, sometimes it may not be possible to know whether it is dead or alive, as the plants stays dry until suitable conditions come, and revive again. For such those, you can apply the same method as Paul and Pacific did, to cluster the branches together with a tugging rope (like hair tying) or gently bend it to one side. By doing so, you can make the plant volume smaller and open the way out without harming it. If tying is not enough to open a way, you can consider to trim some branches with shovels or knives to have more space. Pruning the plant doesn't kill it as its roots are still there and it can shoot forth new branches. In our case, we trimmed the upper part but its roots remained underground, meaning that it could be revived back if not dead completely. So in the future, you should deal with the upper branches of plants but shouldn't harm its roots (... it wouldn't be that much easy to pull a living root out already... also not necessary) I think these above can give a quick guide in your possible dealings with the plants for similar recoveries in the future. Happy to have environmentally sound club members, none of us allow any vandalism to the nature in our drives. As an engineer working in the environmental sector, I exactly know that real vandals are generally wearing suits and managing big companies destroying the environment with legally approved projects. Not easy to fight with, but we have to... See you all on the next!

Good morning, just had time since we left the desert Friday, to go through and type. First of all would like to thank you @Mehmet Volgafor giving me the opportunity to lead the drive, take our friends through the desert, trying to find a track which we enjoy and test our capabilities as drivers and our cars performances. i personally enjoyed it, and hope all of participants has the same. @Alexanderrryou were amazing going through your first FB drive, and look forward to see you again. @Alexander Holodny@Damien Ranjit @Daniel Rodas @Mohamad Anwer @Luca Bregni you were amazing, no issues all the way through. Except the cheating incident 😅 @bassel el rafei pleasure meeting you for the first time, other than few refusals and re attempts, you've done a very good job, specially after 6 months, and welcome back to the desert. @Paul Zeitoun and @Pacific thank you very much for looking after us in the back and centre. Your guidance was really good for every one. @Pacific I am not sure about comments kept hearing from @Mehmet Volga about your car and drive, but looks they are invalid, since nothing mentioned in the above drive report above 😉 Re the bush operation, you have left nothing @Mehmet Volgato say. From day one joining @Carnity, and while driving with all leads, it was always the comment whenever we see any animal, the comments were always "careful, dont come close, dont scare and so on"... While driving, we always take our track between small bushes, yes to avoid jumping and bumping, but to avoid going over a small creature and cause any damage as well. Thank you for the brief you have put Mehmet, and it is a good guide for all of us to follow in such cases. Great meeting and wish all the best, see you soon in sand

Congratulations @varunmehndiratta for joining the Support Team with Carnity Offroad Club. Looking forward to seeing you growing further and helping others to learn the art of offroading in a safe environment. Please make sure your Carnity user profile is always updated with all the latest Emergency contact details. SUPPORT TEAM Pre-requisite 1) Minimum 10 any level "Carnity" drives are required after your Intermediate promotion. Once you decide to join Team Carnity to excel further with your off-roading, people, and commanding skills, you will be extensively trained by the whole Team Carnity from Expert - Marshal - Crew at various stages by supporting different levels drives. Stage 1 After your Support Team promotion request is accepted, you will receive a Desert Recovery Champion training to be fully equipped to handle the most levels of support requirements: Basic self-recovery techniques Tow rope recovery – basics Recover vehicle without tow points How to fix tire pop out / change How to deal with extreme recoveries Advance survival techniques How to deal with vehicle overheating First-Aid response Firefighting response Stage 2 (optional) Pre-requisite 1) Minimum 10 "Carnity" Intermediate drives are required within the last 6 months. 2) For progressing further to Advisor level, you need to receive a minimum of 4 different Marshals / Crew approval by supporting 4 or more Newbie drives, so that you can attain adequate exposure for bigger roles that come with more responsible and commanding tasks in the future. To learn and demonstrate your recovery and self-recovery skills. Help individuals to self-recover or use tow rope or winch recoveries. To demonstrate your convoy commanding skills in difficult situations. And people interaction skills to manage the convoy with clear communication. Once you receive 4 different Marshals / Crew approval, then you will be eligible for your Advisor promotion. Eligibility criteria: Maximum two rounds of 4 Newbie drives each will be assigned to you with different Marshals for demonstrating your skills, knowledge, commitment, and team player attitude. You must attain a full consensus of all 4 Marshal / Crew in either the first or the second round as a qualifier. Full 4 drives consensus need to be achieved in either round for you to proceed, else your promotion request will be rejected permanently. You may of course continue in the Carnity Off-road Club at your previous rank.

@JeromeFJ Congratulations. Well done. 🤩

Congratulations @varunmehndiratta ! We will shovel together 😂

Congrats @varunmehndiratta

congrats @varunmehndiratta

Well deserved @varunmehndiratta !!

@Hisham Masaadthank you for an amazing drive and for giving us the chance to re attempt to take on some of the bigger dunes. I just didn't want the drive to end as it was so great, and gave me the chance to get more familiar with my car and limits and capabilities. Your car was amazing and unstoppable mashallah!! Thank you @Mehmet Volga for helping the Pajerios find a way up to the tougher hills 😀 without cheating 😇and @Paul Zeitoun @Pacificfor all your great support. Looking forward to further drives with the team. Regards, Mohamad

@M.Seidam it was pleasure following your lead,it was perfect balance drive with some technical learning and having fun.looking forward for more drives leading by you🙂

Drive report Nowadays there is no more refreshing than to have the drive brief in the open air , socially distanced off course . Everybody was on tIme ready and steady to “go like a pro” 😅 today I was honored to have @Tbone as my copilot in the passenger seat and more pleased to get to know new faces as well. Thank you all for giving me the chance and helping me leading this convoy today. starting in a slow pace and gradually increased especially in the second half of the trip where I got pretty confident for the drivers response and willingness to perform what we intended to do till we got the climax toward the end. in the first area of the long range dunes and upon the first crisscross we encountered the first refusal or almost crest sideways due to hesitation of one of the participants what made me , after nice self recovery upon instructions , to line up the convoy on the flat to explain it better ( from now onward I should keep the toy car always in my glov box 🤣) . And it worked and the crossing never stopped smooth and nice thereafter. as we continued our journey, we had to go bit technical and I have to say every one did just more than great reaching the next and after the next dunes practicing more and more as if it’s ain’t stopping . A couple of refusals and maybe two more crests all cleared in no time by self recoveries and as a matter of fact The ropes never left our trucks today 😊 Toward the end the flow took us better to enjoy the last scenery of the day which was the crescent lake where a beautiful surprise was awaiting us there. It was the “ long train “ of @Frederic’s convoy coming from Faqa which apparently without my knowing ended for the last stop before the inflation spot at Bab shams south Qudra. It was just amazing. @Waqas Parvez as a second lead you kept the proper distance just effectively to give you the proper reaction time upon taking the guiding instructions. You drove nice your prado and self recovered beautifully. Nice meeting you. @Vaibhav nice meeting you . You did great and as you see once you cross all comes fluid after that . Well done all over @Reggie Landicho we drove together in Lesile in my partial lead with @Chaitanya D’ drive . You did great today. You too didn’t need a rope to get yourself out as well . Well done my friend . @Santoso Marjuki it was pleasure meeting you today your driving was awesome today . It’s nice to see AD guys crossing all this distance to share the passion of this team sport . I hope the drive paid it off . @Daniel Rodas @Alphin Aloor @Rsjiv Samuel hardly any issue if any . Flawless . Hope you enjoyed it @JeromeFJ thank you for joining the drive and being in the middle anchoring the front and back was amazing thanks for your help and guidance to the other fellow drivers . @TT_Dubai ( Tim ) first time we meet as well what a pleasure . Thanks for watching our back and the excellent communication feedback . Last but not least special thanks to Vinod @Tbonefor your encouragement and guidance even from the passenger seat. It was a blast . Till we meet next time take care drive safe and see you soon in sand cheers Mohamed P.S pictures in Gallery and Relive below hope you enjoy

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 and strictly follow these guidelines. MUST READ AND TOTALLY AGREE: COVID19 Precautions Ban from Carnity Off-road Club Two Way Radio Guidelines Drive Details Level: Newbie and Above When: 20 November 2021, Saturday. Meeting time: 01:00 PM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/QcWUZQnkeyw6U8QF9 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), face mask, rubber gloves, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Approximate finish time: 5:00 PM PS: COMPRESSOR ONLY DRIVE. LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE: Limited to 12 cars only. RSVP will close on Thursday - 3:00pm 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. 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 below

Congratulations @JeromeFJ for joining the Support Team with Carnity Offroad Club. Looking forward to seeing you growing further and helping others to learn the art of offroading in a safe environment. Please make sure your Carnity user profile is always updated with all the latest Emergency contact details. SUPPORT TEAM Pre-requisite 1) Minimum 10 any level "Carnity" drives are required after your Intermediate promotion. Once you decide to join Team Carnity to excel further with your off-roading, people, and commanding skills, you will be extensively trained by the whole Team Carnity from Expert - Marshal - Crew at various stages by supporting different levels drives. Stage 1 After your Support Team promotion request is accepted, you will receive a Desert Recovery Champion training to be fully equipped to handle the most levels of support requirements: Basic self-recovery techniques Tow rope recovery – basics Recover vehicle without tow points How to fix tire pop out / change How to deal with extreme recoveries Advance survival techniques How to deal with vehicle overheating First-Aid response Firefighting response Stage 2 (optional) Pre-requisite 1) Minimum 10 "Carnity" Intermediate drives are required within the last 6 months. 2) For progressing further to Advisor level, you need to receive a minimum of 4 different Marshals / Crew approval by supporting 4 or more Newbie drives, so that you can attain adequate exposure for bigger roles that come with more responsible and commanding tasks in the future. To learn and demonstrate your recovery and self-recovery skills. Help individuals to self-recover or use tow rope or winch recoveries. To demonstrate your convoy commanding skills in difficult situations. And people interaction skills to manage the convoy with clear communication. Once you receive 4 different Marshals / Crew approval, then you will be eligible for your Advisor promotion. Eligibility criteria: Maximum two rounds of 4 Newbie drives each will be assigned to you with different Marshals for demonstrating your skills, knowledge, commitment, and team player attitude. You must attain a full consensus of all 4 Marshal / Crew in either the first or the second round as a qualifier. Full 4 drives consensus need to be achieved in either round for you to proceed, else your promotion request will be rejected permanently. You may of course continue in the Carnity Off-road Club at your previous rank.

Extremely well deserved @varunmehndiratta! Your presence, and your silky dulcet tone on the radio that @Wrangeld and the rest of us all turn to, bring new levels of calm to every convoy you're on 😎🤩

Heartiest congratulations Varun. @varunmehndiratta

Congrats @varunmehndiratta!! See you soon on drives!

Congratulations @varunmehndiratta

Congratulations @JeromeFJ

Wow ! Thank you all for your trust ! It is an honor to be part of this community 😀 Looking forward to supporting more drives, and continue learning !

Congratulations!

Well deserved.. congratulations @JeromeFJ

Good going @JeromeFJcongratulations!

Congratulations @JeromeFJ well done. you deserve it

Congratulations @varunmehndiratta well done and well deserved.

Congratulations @varunmehndiratta

Congrats @JeromeFJ👏👏

Congrats @JeromeFJ, well done!

@varunmehndiratta well done buddy, welcome to the club.

Absolutely amazing drive this one was, thanks to @Wrangeld, @Jeepieand hell of a truck from @Alex Raptor, super impressed with your ride. Also appreciated the constant motivation from all the experts to keep pushing everyone on the ascents and technical guidance to pull oneself out on refusals. Super impressed with the track as well, I believe we must have driven almost 30/35 km. Also repeating my radio feedback " experienced the best drive so far".

Many thanks @M.Seidam for the drive this morning. It was beautifully executed, and your lead was precise and accurate, rolling as per the plan, with a nice mix of side sloping, crest crossing, and some technical portions. The pace was perfectly adjusted to the group, with a quiet warm up rising progressively to an accelerated rhythm, once the drivers were in confidence. You took the time to explain carefully the technicalities of criss crossing, which is always a good reminder for everyone. The convoy performed very well, and the few recoveries were executed without the need for a rope, which shows the capabilities of the drivers to avoid difficult stucks, and to follow the guidance of the senior members to succeed in self recoveries. Thank you all for joining and keeping always a positive spirit, thanks @Waqas Parvez for the 2nd lead, perfectly executed, @TT_Dubai for the sweep, always very clear in your communication, and @Tbone for the support.

Wonderful footnote @Mehmet Volga. Many of us were indeed quick to react on it but I’m glad to see your approach and explanation, and we can keep carrying this message forward to all our members. Well done !

Thank you @M.Seidam for leading a super drive this morning and for the comprehensive trip report. The drive today had everything, including some technical sections to introduce us all of what to expect in this hobby! Thanks also for the tutorials to demonstrate the theory. The small breaks were very welcome. It was a pleasure to be your sweep but honestly there was not much to do as everyone drove really well and your advance warnings of pockets and steps meant we followed the tracks closely and maintained momentum in the tricky soft sand areas. It was great to meet everyone especially @Tbone@JeromeFJ after some time. Have a fab week ahead all - and some action pics in the Gallery now uploaded. Hope I managed to get you all!