Leaderboard

Trip Report - Started the day missing @Gaurav bhai in action which was sad. Secondly had to do the hardest thing, but for everyone's safety had to send @luwaimn back as he could not sign up for the drive. Had a good chat with him and I am sure he knows how the system works now. The best thing in all this was being able to start on time. As we headed to the deflation point we had to drop @Jamy B. dinky at the mosque as we returned to join everybody. With a few new faces and a lot of known ones we started our brief. After the brief we assigned the convoy numbers, deflated, got our flags up and started the day with the Sun just coming out. It was a beautiful feeling and I had great company in @Jamy B., she asked quite a few intelligent questions and was patient enough to hear my explanation. my second lead was our dependable @Atif bhai, with @Shamil in a very responsible position and @Srikumar in the sweep. The drive was my trademark drive with a slow and steady start and some easy tracks which I tried to bump up as we headed through. We were doing good time and everyone was managing really well. As we zig zagged our way through the beautiful dunes of Mahafiz we reached our first play area. With me in lead I kind of tried out the side slopping and it seemed pretty even except for a few bumps and places where we needed to slow down and places we could accelerate. While some of our more senior folks tried out the stunt, as @Thomas J claimed he was driving before and with confidence shown by @Srikumar we allowed him to express himself and he did pretty well and scared us a bit at the end. However he showed great control and I really loved to watch him do the stunt. Some of them were so excited they even tried it out twice. With a request from @Mohammed Yaasir to try and being his third drive with glimpse of good control I agreed to ride with him for his first ever sidey. As we waited for the traffic to clear and with some last minute advise from me we were on our way. At this point I was sure with his drive style that he would manage it well, but since I felt there was a fishtail to the left I advised him to steer left, but with the car moving upwards towards the right I embraced myself for the inevitable. In my mind the whole ordeal was over in a split second, but after watching the video it seems like slow motion now. As we stopped rolling I opened the door and stepped out, I was made to sit and have cold water. This is when i realized that I was bleeding a bit, but besides a small cut in me finger, a sprained thumb, some skin off the left elbow and a light bump on the head I was OK. As I looked around and inquired about @Mohammed Yaasir he was safe too. To my surprise his first reaction was I hoe the car is written off, I would like to go for a newer one. His second statement was he would join the following week with his friend in his Jeep Wrangler 2003 model. This was a great gesture towards have a positive outlook. As I sat and waited for the blood to stop and regained my senses, the team was already at work and loved to see the team work as everybody forgot all about the drive and were helping out in one way or the other to get the convoy moving. My greatest appreciation to our energetic @Srikumar and the now famous and promoted @Halit Mert Issever who while trying to push the windshield out learned how to honk with his rear end. Both of them worked tirelessly to get the FJ safe to drive out. Also noticed that the tire on the front left was deflated, tried inflating with no good result and could hear a leak from the inside side wall. Decided to change the tire, after I failed a could of attempts to get the FJ up, @Srikumar took over and again with the help of @Halit Mert Issever got the whole thing sorted and we were headed out. But before we headed out the breakfast and the tea was served and we had energy to continue. At this point I believe @Navinchandar was having a difficult time to do the medium dunes as a result of what he had seen earlier. @Navinchandar hope you will get over the fear and will join us again soon. This is an extreme sport, but as long as you have good people around you, there will never be a dull moment in life. After Friday prayers and a quick deflation I was on my way, used my small injuries and the video to but some sympathy from my wife as I had to be home by 10 am and I was delayed by a good 4 hours. later received a call from @Mohammed Yaasir to confirm he got the accident report from the Police Station, had towed his car to the recommended garage and was safely home. My first experience of being in a car that rolled over in 11 years, must have seen a few but being in one just took the scare away as it seemed less scary than the Tom & Jerry ride in Warner Bros Abu Dhabi or the Spiderman Ride at IMG, however the damage is very much real and hope it will be all sorted out in time. Once again highly appreciate the team spirit shown by all and would encourage everyone to keep up this strong spirit.

Hello all, I just got the chance to look at the forum and see the news with all your comments. They all made me get a big smile on my face. First of all, thank you for all the great wishes. But most importantly thank you for your support, feedback and guidance. I really feel that I am continuously learning in a family-like environment and I am really enjoying it. I also appreciate your recognition of my growth and efforts. You guys make me feel like I am welcomed in the Carnity family. If I start tagging people, the list would go forever, so I will just say special thanks to all the marshals, crew and all the regulars. Cheers, Mert

Not long enough, if you drive good, seniors might promote you in next 4-5 drives rather than 10, which is an outline of the structure. There is no hard and fast rule here. If drivers are good, then they do get promoted early and vice versa for infrequent or slow learners. The only idea is to promote anyone at any level is when we are 100% sure that he/she is ready for the next level based on their drive skills, techniques, teamwork, and offroad gear.

Absolutely. @Halit Mert Issever took charge and helped @Srikumar all the way. Well deserved promotion. Everyone on the scene played their role like a well tuned team. @Shamil was quick to bring out his medical kit so well prepared and @Jamy B. and Divya like nurturing mothers applied medicine and addressed the wounds. Loved the atmosphere. Sorry to hijack the post. A very well deserved promotion and ready for Fewbie level.

Congrats Well deserved. You are a good team person and you showed it last week while helping to recover Yassir's FJ.

I am already calculating in my mind how many months it will take for me to join you. Looking forward!!!

Indeed an amazing drive ! For one reason or another, every time a Sweihan drive got posted, I wasn’t able to make it. So that meant I was really looking forward to this drive, and knowing that I would be in this great company made it look even more promising. The wet sands brought a different feel to the driving experience. I needed less power and hence enjoyed taking that drive at 80% engine power, except for a few climbs 🤪. After being in pursuit of the mighty Velociraptor, I got the chance to lead for a while. The area was a bit technical with lots of pockets and smaller dunes, which is something I enjoy doing, but I’ll need to learn to make sure the whole convoy with LWB cars involved can deal with that. Emmanuel has mastered this skill brilliantly, and I keep learning every time while chasing him 😅 As correctly mentioned, Brette did great, and I’m glad to see the Cherokee doing Grand things in Sweihan. @Javier M had the Sweihan dunes for breakfast, and did brilliant textbook recovery work. You’d be Iceman in our Top Gun, but in a good way of course 😉 At one point seeing what I first thought was a child on top of a nearby dune, we quickly realized this was a mighty big vulture. We tried to follow him for a while, while he kept circling around us. Makes one wonder Who was following Who....? Anyways to cut a long story short, it was indeed a wonderful day with a magnificent team, enough to make me drive home with a big smile on my face. On to the next one !!

team ! this was my first ever experience of experiencing the dessert - inside out- and I totally loved it- (though I was not driving) and was accompanied by @Navinchandar- the most memorable part was- everyone on the group- was so warm and friendly and welcoming that I never felt- that It was the first time I am meeting them- I myself is an introvert and take my own time to meet and open up with people- but I was happily surprised to see the warm welcome and an amazing hug from @Rahimdad - big thank you to all of you to extend the love- and I hope @Mohammed Yaasir you are all good and best of health ! @Atif , @Shamil and all of you whose names I still don't remember you guys and this group is amazing !! your team spirit and "one for all and all for one" is out of the world ! keep it up and see you all next week !!

Well done @Halit Mert Issever!

My first experience in over 11 years of driving off-road. I have seen a few flips, but being inside the car during the roll was my first. When the car started to fish tail I remember telling @Mohammed Yaasir to turn left and go down, but just than I felt an upward movement and I knew at that speed we were in trouble. It was over in less than a second in my mind but video seems like slow motion. @Mohammed Yaasir also feels that he turned left, but when we got out from the car the wheels we pointing right. Like his spirit though as he has not let this incident dampen his spirits and is still looking for some action shortly. Big thanks to @Mohammed Yaasir allowing us to share this video for learning purpose and @Jamy B. for not wasting any time doing so. Just to understand better if @Mohammed Yaasir was nervous at that point as we have often noticed that when panicked people normally confuse the left and the right. Just one more thing to add, as the car had started fishtailing the sand would have gathered in a way to automatically steer the car to the right, it could be a Loose grip on the steering wheel that could also result in this roll over.

TRIP REPORT Another amazing drive in Sweihan, thanks to @Frederic, @Javier M and @Brette ! We met almost on time at deflation point, all very excited in spite of early morning temperature - I don't know to how much it dropped, but I was shivering even with my fleece jacket. After a short briefing mainly about safety and driving in wet sands, we took off, maybe a quarter of hour before sunrise. As it was Brette's first intermediate level drive, I thought it was better to start at a moderate pace, but as soon as we crossed a few high dunes, I understood that our one and only Grand-Cherokee new shape driver had became a confident and skilled off-roader. All in all, on a distance of 60 km across Sweihan dunes, sometimes with very technical crossings, Brette got crested only twice, I guess, maybe 3 times max. Very well done, buddy. As we increased the pace, we reached Nagrah hill in no time (at about 7:30). Climbing to the top wasn't possible because the place was completely messed up, with big bumps and cross-tracks everywhere - not to mention the garbage, shame on those people who can't see the difference between a dune and a dump yard ! Anyways, Javier and I barely reached 80% of the hill, but this time, I have to admit that Xterra has been beaten by Wrangler, since Javier was the higher and won our little challenge... After Nagrah, Fred took the lead for a while and of course it was amazing. We crossed a sabkha to continue in another set of very nice dunes. At one point Brette had a pop out, problem solved in 5-10 minutes, thanks to a perfect team work - well, to be honest, I smoked a cigarette watching Fred, Javier and Brette working ! Another surprise, and this one was really nice : we had the chance to see a massive griffon vulture (see in the gallery) proudly standing at the top of a dune. We were very lucky since this particular vulture is one of the endangered species in UAE. At a few kilometers of E95, Brette unfortunately found that he couldn't engage his 4 wheel anymore and he got a check signal on his dashboard. We tried to disconnect the battery but this didn't solve the issue. Time was close to 11:00 am, so we decided to exit. Again, thank you guys for your amazing support. You made this drive so smooth and fun. BTW, sorry that @Shamil couldn't make it and that @Atif was afraid for his bumper 😜. You missed us. Waiting for both of you another time.

Gaurav, I would just like to add that when we add suspension lift, we have to keep 2 things in mind. 1. Make sure you select the correct springs for the weight of your car. Too stiff and you'll be bouncing all about making the car hard to control, too soft and you'll feel all the bumps and it won't ride well on the road and will have a lot of body roll. 2. Everyone always remembers to lift the car but everyone forgets that in order to maintain the OEM center of gravity, you need to widen the wheel base too! A good quality wheel spacer will cost you 800-1000 for 4 Pcs. When we widen our track width, it allows the car to have a lower center of gravity which helps in such situations. A good example is to take one finger and roll it on the table sideways, see how easy it rolls? Now put 2 fingers and do the same, the force required to turn the fingers is much harder! Physics is your best friend! "Drop a Gear and Disappear"

Congratulations @Halit Mert Issever for reaching the fewbie level with Carnity Offroad club. Based on your regular newbie drives you have demonstrated skills required deserving this new offroad rank. Looking forward to seeing you growing further and helping others to learn the art of offroading in a safe environment. Fewbie: Number of drives 10 (16 Newbie + Fewbie drives) Level of drives Willingness to learn + Enthusiasm + Basic dune reading Off-road gear Flag, deflator, tire gauge, shovel, fire extinguisher, medical kit, radio, compressor. Drive teamwork Observe recovery from a safe distance and offer help when needed Drive posting/joining Join newbie and fewbie level of drives only Forum participation Active participation on forum. Share drive experience + feedback on forum and pictures in gallery Social media sharing & inviting friends & family to join offroad club is recommended for faster upgrades at all levels.

Agree 200 percent with @Srikumar and @Rahimdad bhai. This promotion is very well deserved; you came through in the situation last week as a strapping team player by helping out with the recovery process in various capacities. Kudos to your new rank!

Well done @Halit Mert Issever. Congrats for reaching this level.

Very nice to hear that. As much as this extreme sport require skills, dedication and patience, it equally requires a team player to trust and watch each other back all the time. Well done @Halit Mert Issever keep it up.

I have to add that the info and instructions given during the briefing couldn’t be more useful and accurate to avoid mishaps like this one. Rahim and Sri’s words recommending drivers not to fight gravity when the car is fishtailing were stuck in my head after the incident, as I saw what might happen if drivers don’t do so. The driver bought the car with the mods already done. Which can be an inconvenient such in this case...

Enjoy the drive guys!

Call RTA and ask for procedure to change insurance on the registration card. Its doable. Then cancel the current insurance and go for RSA or AXA insurance. Just before you cancel check with RSA or AXA if they offer you comprehensive insurance for your car model year, as they have certain rules depending on driver background and how many cars you have with them. I have 2009 model with comprehensive insurance, but heard from a friend that they are not offering comprehensive for more than 5-7 years of age of cars.

Hi Amit, can you advise if you have third party or comprehensive insurance cover. If it's third party insurance then don't bother with off-road cover. But if it's comprehensive insurance, then it would be a decision that you would have to take on whether you wish to drive without off-road cover. I don't think it's possible to have two insurance from different companies at the same time. More importantly, you need to see if you have free recovery service. This is one of the most useful option if you intend to regularly off-road.

Even if you can't join every weekend due to your demanding job, there are still a few things you can work on either from office (A380 ) or at home in-between shifts: - Research the areas we drive with Google Maps and look at the dune formations, sizes, wind direction, etc... this will help you later on when leading drives. Learning about topography is also useful (you might have learned that already as a pilot). - Research online (Youtube, Carnity, others) information about off-road recovery, tools, gear, tutorials, etc... There is lots of information available. I like for example Ronny Dahl his videos and tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/user/RonBacardi666 I always feel bad when I can't join drives and my balance of work / family /hobbies takes serious juggling sometimes, like for most people here, so I try to make the best of it

So great to see these wonderful reviews from my fellow offroaders ! Well deserved @Halit Mert Issever ! Your CAN-DO attitude will bring you and that mighty LR4 very far ! See you soon in the sands !

Congrats @Halit Mert Issever ! Very well deserved.

No one got hurt, and that helped us all get over it and still enjoy the day and have some laughs

Yes everyone is doing well, thank god. Mohammed got the cops paper and it will be sorted soon with insurance. Does anyone spotted big dip or bush at 0.07 sec that bounced the car heavily....? Watch in full screen. Also intention to steer left than climbing up as desertdude rightly mentioned would have saved it completely. FJC in stock state is very tipsy, added with 3-4 inch lift is a recipe for disaster. We have mentioned and pointed same last week at Qudra exit and we never knew this could prove fatal so fast. Sad. However, such incident always remind all of us that every sport has some associate risk and soon we acknowledge, embrace and learn to stay clear from such risk, better it is for everyone.

I hope that Mohammed and passengers are doing well.

Check the gallery 😅

Due to some unforeseen situation, I won't be joining the drive tomorrow. @Rahimdad will lead the convoy and also welcome @Jamy B. to ride along.

Dear Off roaders ! and experienced club members- I am a new big here and I was planning to get my Pajero to the drive next Friday - first thing first- I checked my insurance and to my surprise- I don't have it for Off road ! (actually never been to off roading ever in my life- so never checked on the fine prints even)- to add to my curiosity- I checked all my past insurances and they were from Oman Insurance and they had it !! unlucky for me this time- I got it done in haste at the 'testing center' 4 months before the expiry of my current insurance just because my car registration was expiring next month ! now I have an insurance from Al-Wathba national insurance company !- and I did download their app and even called their call center- and at last- got to know from them that they don't even have this insurance !! so I can't even top it up ! now I need your help and advice on how to take the 'off road insurance' for my 4X4- any help / advice /direction is most welcome. regards. Amit

Yes this appears to be the issue.

hi all, sorry but i will have to cancel my participation from this drive as a last minute change has come up and my kid needs to be with me, so since i will have to bring him along for the drive, i will join the newbie drive