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The One For Newbies Second trip out of the day, and a change of position and perspective. As I had led the Fewbie drive in the morning @Jeepie took driving resposibility. We intended to switch at some stage ... but that's another story. With an Absolute Newbie drive, it takes longer to get going. For people who have never ventured off road before, understanding all the informaiton, buying all the kit, understadning what needs to be done once you arrive can add to the excitement. So, having helped @Lisa Pemberton and @Siobhan to deflate and remove the necessary switches and fuses, a good briefing by @Gaurav and a welcome back to the sand for @tjsingh, we were under way. I have said it before that we still remember our first day out in the sand, and the terror/excitement/fun of that first drive, taking the car to places that we could not imagine. Seeing/hearing first timers, absolute newbies on this first drive brings back all those memories. While new to Carnity, it was clear that @Heisem has driven before. With @Yousef Alimadadi as 2nd lead for the first time and @tjsingh sweeping we set off as centre forward for the drive hoping for more benign conditions than we faced in the morning. I find it interesting that the sand in two deserts 50km maximum apart can be so different. Everything went swimmingly well until TJ started having overheating problems with the car. @Gaurav asked if we could lead the convoy for as long as it took to get TJ safely exited from the sand and return - to which we glady agreed. I really like team work and here was another great example. @Jeepie taking on the challenge, @Veedooshee giving up the driving seat to let Fewbie @Anish S take up sweep and the rest of the convoy, @VipinShetty and @Biju Abdul slipping into place to make the change easier and safer to handle. Once Gaurav returned (and @Veedooshee sweeping with Anish assisting by her side), we continued on our way until, with the light fading, we exited. For some, this might not have been the most exciting or challenging of drives ever - for the absolute newbies, it probably was: and that's how it should be. No matter how much experience you have, there's always something you can learn from being on a drive - and sometime more on a drive you think will be 'easy' than one you know will be more of a challenge. See you soon in the sand.

Fantastic drive @Ale Vallecchi. And this drive was made perfect mainly due to your detailed planning of the route. I also liked how you gradually increased the level and pace as the drive went along. Also kudos to the entire convoy for keeping up and maintaining the pace. It was the perfect relaxed evening drive enjoying the beautiful sunset with not having to get the tow rope or shovel out.

It was certainly exciting for myself and @Lisa Pemberton can't wait to go again! Thanks to all for their patience and encouragement.

Congratulations @Jeepie for reaching the Expert Level with Carnity Offroad Club. Based on your last fewbie drive lead and managing the drive perfectly well without any planning (surprise lead) to implementation stage under Marshal supervision deserving this new off-road rank. Your love for off-road knowledge, experience, teamwork, suggestions, and feedback has always helped everyone around in a very positive manner on the off-road drives and on the forum. Keep it up and its time for you to work on your independent lead and optimizing off-road planning to demonstrate your skills, knowledge, and passion. Looking forward to seeing you growing further and helping others to learn the art of offroading in a safe environment. Expert: Number of drives 10 (46 Newbie + Fewbie + Intermediate drives) Level of drives Willingness to learn + Enthusiasm + Basic dune & sand reading + map reading & basic navigational skills + strategic convoy driving Off-road gear Flag, deflator, tire gauge, shovel, fire extinguisher, medical kit, radio, compressor, tool kit, rated recovery rope and 2 shackles, floor jack, jack board & GPS trackback Drive teamwork Capable of diverting the convoy to safe spot + part of sweep team Drive posting/joining Join any drive and lead fewbie & intermediate drives with Marshal / Crew permission Forum participation Share experience + feedback on forum and pictures in gallery + drive and route suggestions + post trip report + share route + track and waypoints + Help Marshal / Crew for alternate routing + marking safe exit Forum participation and helping with community spirit is recommended for faster upgrades at all levels. Please make sure your Carnity user profile is always updated with all the Emergency contact details.

Definitely a well deserved promotion @Srikumar!

Congrats @Jeepie .. Very fascinated how both you and Richard complement each other in this passion ! Well done !

@Jeepie congratulations! You deserve this one. Looking forward to more drives with you!

Congrats @Srikumar. Well deserved.

@RohanH yes I was pretty amazed. Have to say that perhaps 5/6 Km in total were on the flat, at the beginning and the end. And I planned to avoid all the technical areas (except two, where we got the stucks), to enjoy the open dunes as much as possible. I really tried to test the convoy with as many ridges and crossings as it was safe to do!! But everybody managed perfectly (even the less experienced drivers). I'll look for a more challanging drive next time, but I think most Fewbies are getting in the rythm of things now, and this is making it easier for the leaders. Hope to see you next time.

Covered 71 kms... WOW... that too with stuck only couple of times .. I think you need to learn how to get stuck LOL 😂 Seriously, Well done guys. Congrats.

Dear Carnity friends. I am sure all of you have safely reached home and are now enjoying the nice buzz from today’s ride. Thank you very much for taking part in this almost exploratory drive, in a lesser known part of Dubai’s desert. Here are the key words of today’s trip: Punctuality – I reached the meeting point at 4:04PM, and to my surprise I found already 3 drivers working on deflating their tires. With the last driver arriving at 4:25PM, we managed to leave in record time. Discovery – It was my second time in this area, and probably the first time for most of the drivers. We entered it after a short drive along the pylons (to avoid an extremely long came track hidden in the dunes), crossing a small technical area. The focus of the drive were the cordons of long-range dunes which make up most of this area, between Al Lisaili’s camel track and Solar Park. While we did encounter some bushes (which this year seem to resist the summer heat and drought like never before), we managed to drive mostly unhindered by vegetation, on surprisingly firm and hard sand. We also enjoyed great views, saw magnificent sandstone formations, and glimpsed at camels, gazelles and oryxes. Speed – The convoy managed to cover 72.9 Km in 3 hours and 17 minutes, at an average speed of 22 Km/h. So that casual readers may not think that we just drove on flat terrain, I should add that we climbed a total of 531 meters, having started from an altitude of 1 meter, reaching a maximum altitude of 97 meters. So we did quite a bit of ups and downs, with the climbing mostly done to criss-cross the long range dunes, and to ride their ridges. Smoothness – Considering the tricky technical dunes, with soft pockets of sand, at the beginning of the drive, and the novelty of the itinerary, where quite a bit of dune crossing is required, I had expected a few stuck and refusals, and planned accordingly, to reach Solar Park at sundown. Instead, apart for a stuck at the beginning, and one at the end by two unnamed drivers (as we say in Italy, mention the sin not the sinner), we proceeded so smoothly, with nobody experiencing any kind of problems, that after 1 hour of uninterrupted and silent driving I stopped to check that everybody’s radios were still on, and to enjoy a drink of water, which I had been unable to have due to the absolutely riveting drive. So, we ended up reaching Solar Park well before sundown, and decided to proceed through the lower part of Qudra, until we reached the exit point west of Qudra Parking Lot. I’d like to end the report mentioning the convoy order: @Kalahari as a precise and cool Second Lead, @Najeeb Mohammed in third, managing his FJ as well as I have ever seen him, @Chaitanya D following in fourth without batting an eye (commendable considering this was his second drive of the day) @Colin Jordan at Center Forward, whose task of practicing recoveries was denied, @Rinelle Sanaani and @Febin Fredericcompleting the Wrangler contingent, in complete control of their drive, @Mels Wolfsweeping an all too clean convoy, and, last but not least, our new Crew member @Srikumarsavoring his well deserved top rank in a relaxing Flying Sweep position. Thanks to all for another very enjoyable adventure, and see you soon out there.

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 job @Wrangeld and much deserved promotion. I remember you finishing a Newbie drive at Badayer, just before I was to begin my first Fewbie drive: you had a giant smile of satisfaction on your face. You have kept that smile on all through every step of this offroading journey, and surely will continue to smile all the way to the top. Congratulazioni!!

Congrats @Wrangeld and @Jeepie !! I still see you on the first drive with Marjan staring at the Pink Rock ascent, and the TJ did not feel like it wanted to go up. Slowly but surely like Herbie, the TJ has accepted you and Marjan, and now shines brilliantly and with a blush and takes you both from Dubai downtown to all corners of the UAE ! Fast forward less than a year and both of you reached this level and there is no knowing who’s gonna be able to hold you guys back. Absolutely hard work you’ve both put in and for people driving in the desert in this time of year you perfectly know it has to be a passion, otherwise we could all stay in bed and on the couch with the AC on. Enjoy it and on to the next one !

Wel done @Srikumar

Congrats with the beautiful Pajero @tjsingh ! I would start with the essential first things and determine if the car is overheating while driving or mainly when idling. Following things to be checked: - radiator, is it clogged or not. - thermostat still working properly. - Clutch viscous fan. - A/C fan.

With 80% needle spike on absolute newbie drive, definitely its not normal. Ideal heat gauge needle stays at 45% and while off-roading with AC touches up to 55-60%. When in peak summer, with AC on it shoots above 60% so I drive without AC at times too, but that's normal for many cars, especially Jeep, Pajero, Pathfinder etc. At first you need a bigger radiator, and my best advise is to go to engine cooling experts Dolphin and explain the spike and ask them to provide solution. They might suggest 3 or 4 core aluminium or cooper radiator, so let them make a suggestion, so you know what really is needed. Keep pushing them for there suggestions, being expert so if it fails or work half, they don't blame you that you asked for this and we gave u this.

A very cool drive ..It has been a long time and I always remembered Sri had a unique style .. I always enjoy @Srikumar 's driving style and paths ,quite different from other leads in the group . Overall everyone did great , with just a pop out and a crest . Images and video in the gallery as usual!

Thank you to everyone for your kind words. Truly humbled.

@Ale Vallecchi awesome drive, followed by an equally awesome trip report studded with stats and beautiful descriptions. Loved reading it .🙌🤝

I have had the privilege of yet another amazing drive with the Legend @Gaurav supported by the @Wrangeld and @Jeepie. Despite a few issues which we had a few of the Pajero cars, we still had a fantastic drive and a lot to observe and learn from. The car heating issues popping out every now and then reminds us of always keeping an eye on the dashboard for anything not looking so normal. And communication is the key! Share it on the radio, you will definitely get advices and help.. The team drove really nice and easy today with a few small refusals but nothing major. We also had the pleasure to watch some stunning performances of our members @Gaurav, @Wrangeld, @Jeepie and @Anish S at the play areas. At some point, our sweep had some car issues as well and had to be exited and @Anish S helped us as a sweep today. A trip which was well managed and coordinated (as we had to change convoy positions once or twice) and over and above ensured the safety of all while enjoying the dunes. Thank you so much for a nice, smooth and enjoyable sunset drive☺️

Very well deserved.... congratulations @Srikumar for the achievement...I did my very first drive with you and you taught me one of the most crucial skill which is how to control the tail when decending....from then I always apply what I learned from you n it was an eye opener for me. Having the control over tail is very important n it is one of the thing we constantly have to do while driving on the sand. Thank you so much for your support, keep it up.

Congratulations @Wrangeld for reaching the Expert Level with Carnity Offroad Club. Based on your last fewbie drive independent lead and managing the drive with endless challenges to continuously tweak the level to the fit the convoy response under Marshal supervision deserving this new off-road rank. Your love for systematic planning, off-road knowledge, experience, teamwork, suggestions, and feedback has always helped everyone around in a very positive manner on the off-road drives and on the forum. Keep it up and its time for you to work on your independent lead and polish your planning skills and scouting appropriate area to demonstrate your skills, knowledge, and passion. Looking forward to seeing you growing further and helping others to learn the art of offroading in a safe environment. Expert: Number of drives 10 (46 Newbie + Fewbie + Intermediate drives) Level of drives Willingness to learn + Enthusiasm + Basic dune & sand reading + map reading & basic navigational skills + strategic convoy driving Off-road gear Flag, deflator, tire gauge, shovel, fire extinguisher, medical kit, radio, compressor, tool kit, rated recovery rope and 2 shackles, floor jack, jack board & GPS trackback Drive teamwork Capable of diverting the convoy to safe spot + part of sweep team Drive posting/joining Join any drive and lead fewbie & intermediate drives with Marshal / Crew permission Forum participation Share experience + feedback on forum and pictures in gallery + drive and route suggestions + post trip report + share route + track and waypoints + Help Marshal / Crew for alternate routing + marking safe exit Forum participation and helping with community spirit is recommended for faster upgrades at all levels. Please make sure your Carnity user profile is always updated with all the Emergency contact details.

And then First - Ladies only - off-road drive - @Rahimdad age old dream.

Wonderful @Jeepie. You are definitely on course to bring something to Carnity that we have waited for a very long time, our first Lady Marshal. And I am sure that at the pace that you and Richard are going, it would be in the very near future.

Congrats Richard, wonderful news. You guys are growing at an amazing pace and are a very good inspiration to the ever growing group of new off-roaders. You have brought so many positives to this club interms of active participation, commitment, mentorship and ofcourse your trip reports (which I am sure everyone in the offroad club eagerly waits once your drive is done). You have also added a new dimension to drive posting by starting the trend of a pre-trip report which I have also started doing since the last drive. Look forward to driving under your lead in the very near future.

This drive was a challenging start of my Fewbie, but I think difficult starts teaches more and quicker... The first shock for me was the sand; at the beginning I couldn't see high dunes like the ones in Pink Rock or Fossil Rock but it was like driving in the deep water! I experienced that even maximum power & speed doesn't work in such a soft ground so I felt my pajero much weaker than ever. Other than the drive, it is also strange to me how the desert is different in its each parcel. Pink rock, fossil rock, al qudra, solar park, ... they are all close to each other but very different in many aspects like plants, dune topography, geology, ... It is because wind regime maybe... Many thanks to leaders @Wrangeld @AKR @Jeepie @Brette ; this was very instructive drive for me to enter Fewbie under your great coordination. And of course @Gaurav, I believe you should also have a "superman" t-shirt like @Rahimdad ; Front towing, back towing, pop-out solution, cooling down pajeros, self-recovery directions, rerouting, face-mask warnings and desert jokes - this is too much for a natural person doing all at the same time! ... and I hope this is more enjoyable than gym saloons to lose calories. I am sure you have lost 2-3 kg in a couple of hours and are much more "fit" now...

Everyone ... thanks so much for the good wishes. Since joining this club in November the seniors @Gaurav @Rahimdad @Srikumar @Frederic @Asif Hussain @Emmanuel have been so committed to helping me and @Jeepie get more and more out of the off road experience and supporting us to advance to what is now unbelievably Expert level. To the others that have truly supported along the way on this amazing journey @Ale Vallecchi @Javier M @Brette @Xaf @Shamil I cannot thank you enough. To the members of Carnity on drives we were on, on drives we supported and drives we led and for those of you to meet on drives in the future thank you for making hobby so rewarding and so much fun. See you soon in the sand.

Yes, but I am looking forward to loads more 😆

Fantastic write up. Yes it was a well organized ride. I have learned a few things such as to be patient when we are idle, steady steering while coming down, keeping the right momentum at all times, and I am glad that I did all by myself first time (deflate, place flag, use of compressor to inflate). Thanks to second lead wrangled (I didn’t catch their names sorry) for guiding me to unpack and use my compressor first time after buying. in short, I believe all of us newbies would have come out of the fear of getting our cars down the dunes and also improved our grip on steering after this ride. I have a feeling that off road rides help us gain more grip and comfort handling our cars when we hit on road too, anyone agrees?

Well done @Jeepie

Congratulations! I had the pleasure of joining his drive today and he was unselfishly and patiently sharing his knowledge and help to all especially to newbie like me.

Guys, I was finally able to get back to the desert with the new toy Pajero 3.5 SWB. I got a few things done prior to my drive but I did expect few things to pop up. I could really tell the difference between my Y61 and this in just few minutes. It felt very responsive. @Gaurav bhai test drove it. Looks like it passed his initial test but to get it to the machine that I can rely on during our off-road adventures; need to get some upgrade done to it. Please help me with suggestions or tips on how to get it to stay cool. Thanks in advance.

Friday morning got a SOS call for Rescue someone stuck in mud in Jabel Ali ,As I was going through CARNITY videos a night before, I desided to go and help with my Hummer H2. I successfully did it, It was only possible because of the videos and discussion on Carnity form. Thanks Carnity for helping us improve and giving us confidence 🤩😍🤩 Rescue_Friday_morning.ogg

Congrats @Wrangeld and @Jeepie !! I still see you on the first drive with Marjan staring at the Pink Rock ascent, and the TJ did not feel like it wanted to go up. Slowly but surely like Herbie, the TJ has accepted you and Marjan, and now shines brilliantly and with a blush and takes you both from Dubai downtown to all corners of the UAE ! Fast forward less than a year and both of you reached this level and there is no knowing who’s gonna be able to hold you guys back. Absolutely hard work you’ve both put in and for people driving in the desert in this time of year you perfectly know it has to be a passion, otherwise we could all stay in bed and on the couch with the AC on. Enjoy it and on to the next one !

Congrats @Jeepie 👍

Congratulations @Jeepieon your latest promotion. It was a pleasure driving in your convoy earlier. Looking forward for more drives with you and @Wrangeld.

TRIP REPORT The off-road club has been a big beneficiary of the ease of travel restrictions, which allows us to start the drives at the start of dawn. With the temperatures in the early 30s, it's the perfect time to start your weekend adventure. Such is the excitement and commitment from the entire group, that when I reached the meeting point at 4:55 AM, I realised I was the last one. After a brief introduction and greeting (while maintaining our social distancing) we had a quick brief and lined up the entire convoy, when the last remaining RSVP car just arrived. Unfortunately it was already 5:30 AM, and to hold the entire convoy would have been disrespectful to the everyone. So we had to tell him to return. @Shiju Manuel was my second lead and he did a very good job of rerouting a bit as and when needed. Newly promoted @Tbone was given the all important position of center forward and @Vanessa8580 for a change was handling sweep duties which I am sure she thoroughly enjoyed. As we were entering the desert from the Pink Rock side, it meant that the Fewbies got a chance to play at PR during the cooler hours of the day. For all the Newbies, your turn will surely come as to do the climb up Pink Rock you need good steering control and have a clear understanding of what is your vehicle's capabilities. After everyone played to their hearts content we started moving towards Bidayer. As the convoy was responding well I decided to move towards the medium-sized dunes instead of doing the small dunes. With a lot of side slopping we covered quite a lot of ground which offered something for the entire convoy. And just when you felt that you got through the entire drive without the use of the rope, one of the cars was crested on the top of a small ridge. Unfortunately @Tbone who was all geared up to handle his first recovery also got stuck with the rope fully extended. So we had to get a third car in, to recover the original stuck car and to free the rope. Other than that and a popout about 50 m from the exit, it was a perfect drive well complimented by the entire group of drivers. To all the Newbies : @David Ortells @Islam Soliman @topgear @George Francis well done. Your confidence level is so much better than when you all have started off, and the real offroading fun begins from here. To all the Fewbies, thank you for supporting the drive. Special mention to @Tbone who was active on the radio helping the cars that had refusals to self recover themselves, and ofcourse to @Vanessa8580, its always a pleasure having you onboard. See you next week on the sand.

Putting my 2 cents...Larger tires are good but comes with lot of burden..you should expect premature wear of drive components, especially on axle, drive shafts, breaks and gears (require at least 4 10) etc. Axle re enforcement is something must if u've 35s in non rubicon model, unless the jeep is just a mall crawler.

Thanks @Ale Vallecchi we had a blast. awesome pace. look forward to next drive.

@Ale Vallecchi.. thank u so much again for the super adrenaline joy ride in the desert . And for a lot of criss crossing.. it was really fun!

Enjoyed the drive and the group what a team we went today

Thanks @Brette,yes actually it clicked my mind that since @Rajeevan Vickneswaran was ahead of us, the few pictures i took still had the number plate, i zoomed it and yes indeed that's how it was tracked, i am happy he found it...and i could be of some help!

@siddharth maheshwari Thank you so much. That's what teamwork is about! oh ya about the pictures it is as much as we can manage, i did upload some in the gallery however not too many, as the soft sand required us to keep moving. See you on the next drive..if you are ahead of us, get ready to be clicked😉!

Thank you @Chaitanya D. Very nice to have had you in the drive. You are now in total control of your new car. Well done. Hope to see you next week.

Just back from a refreshing drive and fully energized - everyone drove like on highway in the desert! Thanks @Ale Vallecchi, @Srikumar and @Colin Jordan. Well driven everyone, almost 70+ km at 40 to 60 kmph through most of it. Some pictures uploaded in gallery.

Hahaha. Yes. That's the right word. Thank you.

Congrats @Srikumar!!!

DRIVE REPORT As Al Qudra is in in my backyard, I arrived around 4:40 and saw during deflation @Gaurav passing by on his way to the Solar Park. I was really happy to see everyone coming on time, and starting deflation by themselves. After having appointed @marks as my second lead, which he did great, and @Mels Wolf as my trusty sweep, we headed out around 5:30 and the first initial reactions I heard on the first two or three dunes was "I am stuck" from a few guys, as they suddenly came to realize that driving on sand feels totally different than driving on the road. Just to clarify again, a Stuck is only called a Stuck if we need to recover you with a rope or shovel you out. A Refusal is when you're able to recover yourself. Which most of our drivers have did amazingly well today. The first 40 minutes I took the convoy to some small technical dunes, which was actually not my intention but alas on some drives I follow my instincts, and realized that even in this area hardly anyone struggled. Later on, we headed deeper into Al Qudra where the long "Seif" dunes allow for mini side-sloping, which we kept on practicing until everyone was confident and I saw huge smiles on their faces from mastering this essential technique where momentum and steering control is what it's all about. Very nicely done by all ! We covered about 39 kilometers in 3 hours, which is a good average speed and thanks to @Mels Wolf who kept an eye on the entire convoy and deflated some of the vehicles a bit further, we were able to manage this distance by having almost no stucks or refusals. @Nabil Bishara @Incognitoes @h1fny were all driving very capable Jeep Wranglers. @Jeandre Bezuidenhout his Wrangler Rubicon finally felt at home doing what it's meant to do. Serious Offroading. Well done guys ! @Taha Elghuel had a bit of a nose dive coming over a dune, no serious damages, but let's say the bumper is now baptized for Desert driving. @Sreejith Sreenivasan drove very well with the Landrover LR2. The low profile types meant we could not deflate very low but nevertheless he managed without too much effort today. Great work ! @Melenany is the PERFECT example that it's all about technique. He drives the F-150 with so much finesse that again you have amazed me today. @Adam Koster never broke a sweat as his Landcruiser Diesel easily pushed his way through the dunes. @Christian Andras you were the only FJ cruiser today, so you had to prove yourself against the Wrangler, Pajero, and Xterra army. But you drove great ! @Ahmed Farghaly and @Mukundan Nair with the Black and White Xterra was providing the Yin and Yang on the drive. Both drove very well too ! We ended the drive from where we started and said goodbye to the people who went to inflate at the Last Exit gas station. @Mels Wolf called me 10 minutes later that he was doing a recovery at the lakes as two guys were standing at the road looking exhausted and in need for help as their sedan got stuck in the soft sand. I am glad to see the Carnity values being carried forward: we never leave anyone behind, and if a person is in need we will always help out. Proud of you Mels !! Like I always say: Al Qudra never disappoints and the new members I take there never disappoint too: always fun to be had, and always stuff to learn. We will be back !

@Srikumar you were there on our very first drive and have been a constant source of inspiration and guidance since. It was you who told me to drive higher on the dunes to find that place where the momentum carries you, it was you who told me to use less power and better lines, it was you who totally understood that being in the sand was as much about clearing my head as having fun. You are so incredibly generous with your advice, your support, your friendship and this promotion is so deserved because you embody the DNA of this club. Thank you for everything you bring to this club that makes it such a special place to belong.