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It's been one year since I started a new chapter in desert driving hobby; leading drive with @Carnity, and last week it was my 50th when I took over @Islam Soliman's drive. It was also my 238th drive I have actually driven. These are some quick numbers to look into: Most of them as usual have been Fewbie drives but I find my sweet spot at FB+, I have been doing a lot of FB+ to balance overall ratios. -------------- These numbers below mean shared drives. Given means, I posted a drive but someone else also took a part of the convoy, taken means someone else posted a drive I took a part (or as in last week whole) of convoy. -------------- I really can't see in the dark. So, no night drives for me. I do not see any drives posted by me in the night. This chart also shows the number of drives I have done per month. Till December 2023 I was averaging 13 drives a quarter. This year however has been less due to my frequent travels. -------------- This list is the locations where I have driven. & following are some stats of those locations: Faqa'a (Includes both Dubai side and Abu Dhabi side) might seem to be my favorite location as most drives are done there. Actually, it is not, as I hate all the bushes. I have been doing this to find the best way of doing it. Now that finally have found the most optimal track, which is to start from Abu Dhabi side to go towards Little Sweihan and then to Solar Park. I might now do some drives on the reverse side. Qudra includes drives that started at Qudra Roundabout towards Lisaili, Bab al Shams and Solar Park. Liwa drive is my drive to Yellow Truck. It grouped in others to keep it up with the forum; the convoy was an Intermediate and I had spilt it for a FB+ convoy with @Kailas.

Dear desert warriors , You have all driven well and i personally enjoyed the company and the laughs with you all. As you may have noticed that this drive had several stages , starting with a slow easy pace followed by easy Technical terrain spiced up by straight down dune crossing to give you the ability to recognize better your car dynamics. Mid drive we have increased the drive pace with some side sloops followed by some ridge ridding and finally putting everything we have practiced into the test I thank you all for your discipline and punctuality for being on time . Great S/L @Emmanuel you have a good reflex and reaction @RiadJL, @Martin M you did really well for your first Fb keep it up 💪 @Jad Moussalli you really controlled that beast pretty smoothly well done 🚙 @Sandeep Nayar, @Faraz94, @Shiju Raju @Danny G, @Prithvi Raj,it was a pleasure driving with you guys keep it up @Sunil Mathew and @Cha thank you guys for the great support you helped me focus on the path . I hope you all enjoyed and learned something useful from this drive and looking forward to see you on the next drive

Dear Desertnauts I am looking forward to returning to the sand after a few days of absence and following the rains of the last weeks. It is in consideration of the latest heavy precipitations that I have not yet published the meeting and starting point for the drive. Considering its length, and the fact that I have been travelling for a while, I'd like to evaluate the situation of the various areas and terrains, before deciding where to drive. I will publish the final meeting point by Saturday afternoon. The choice will be between the souther part of Dubai's desert (Lisaili/Faqa and/or Solar Park/Qudra areas) or Sweihan's section closest to Dubai (say from Pac-Man dunes to Nagra/Nahil). In the meantime, the convoy order that I'd like to line-up will be the following: @Aser in Second Lead @Sviatoslav at #3 @RiadJL at #4 @Zak_ at #5 @Andrew John Melvill at #6 @Batuhan Kulac at Center @Johannes Roux at #8 @Mahmut at #9 @Hani Howeedy at #10 and @Luke K P in Sweep. Let's reconvene here on Saturday to share the meeting point. Enjoy the end of the week.

@Aser @Sviatoslav @RiadJL @Zak_ @Andrew John Melvill @Batuhan Kulac @Johannes Roux @Julien Recan @Hani Howeedy and @Luke K P (even though you already know the story), for more info about the legendary Long Range Desert Group (formerly Long Range Desert Patrols), please visit Long Range Desert Group - Wikipedia A few notes: Major Bagnold (Ralph Bagnold - Wikipedia) their founder, is also known for studying the dynamic of sand, which explains how dunes and deserts form and "move", as well as he's the "inventor" of tire deflation and dune crossing, discovering the key role of momentum in desert driving. Seems obvious now, but try managing desert crossing in the early 1930's, driving heavy 2-wheel drive cars!! Major Bagnold is also referenced in the movie "The English Patient", as one of the companions of another great desert explorer, Lazlo Almazy. From 1925 to 1935, Bagnold had explored the Great Libyan Desert, 1,100 miles east to west, 1,000 miles north to south, as part of an international group that included the future central character of the novel and film The English Patient, Hungarian Count Laszlo Almasy. “Never in our peacetime travels had we imagined that war could ever reach the enormous empty solitudes of the inner desert, wailed off by sheer distance, lack of water and impassable seas of sand dunes,” Bagnold remembered. “Little did we dream that any of the special equipment and techniques we had evolved for very long distance travel, and for navigation, would ever be put to serious use.” For more, read Nomads of War: The Long Range Desert Group - Warfare History Network

Dear Desert Drivers, Thank you you joining the drive today. As expected, the desert was still showing the effect of the rains of last week. Starting with the meeting point, still totally flooded. Once everyone reached, we drove on the tarmac a few km and entered a bit further. The sand was generally still very compact, offering a good grip beneficial for the high climbs. The crossings were also generally facilitated, but the edges were sharper than usual, requiring a perfect accuracy for the driving line. A few other traps in the form of steeper pockets than usual, salt crust remaining from evaporated water ponds in the flat areas, water or sludge on the flat sabkhas. All this did not prevent us to enjoy fully the area. We had our share of high climbs, steep descents, ridge riding and crossing and beautiful desert views. The first portion with bigger dunes, more thrills and sensations, the second portion more technical with totally virgin dunes. Very well driven all of you. @Shaun J, @Aser excellent focus and control for your first FB+, @Julien Recan @Deepak Eswar you had one crossing a bit hazardous, but well done for the rest, @Luke K P @msa @Robk @Frans M, excellent control in both portions. Special thanks to @Luke K P as Second Lead, and @Deepak Eswar for the Sweep, both of you very reliable today. Enjoy the rest of the weekend and see you soon!

Good afternoon all, hope you are excited for this drive/dive. do bring your fishing rods just in case. I hope to see some nice blue lakes 🤞. We will be swinging on looper's constant (Radio Ch 2). We will leave for the dunes at 6:45 sharp (latest) so don't be late; the convoy wont wait. @Marek, @Batuhan Kulac, @george charbel, @Julien Recan, @Mahesh_, @Gautam Banka, @msa, @Imran Asghar, @Dodi Syahdar, @Senthil Kumar, @Gary F, @Stumpy I expect the terrain to be rigid underneath a layer of soft sand; the tops of the dunes will be uneven due to those heavy rains. It will be a long drive as we have to cover a lot of distance, and expect to end the drive near Bab Al Shams.

Thanks for the fun drive yesterday everyone. Was glad the heat didn't rise to much and we could enjoy smooth flowing dunes. We made around 75km across big dunes, technical dunes, long range dunes, and some sabkhas. I have the average moving speed at 33.4 kph @Looper, so I think the high speed on the sabkhas helped move it higher 😅 See you all again sometime soon.

@Simon D @Mahmoud Taha @Shiju Raju @Batuhan Kulac @Frans M @Anish S @Deepak Eswar @Ishak @Rk ram @Mohit Gurnani. A short video of the drive. Hope you guys like it.

throwback to the last known photo of LRDG back in 1943,,, i mean 2023 😆 hope to see you all for some further lomg distance patrols soon. 💪

Taking this opportunity to show more global charts: 1. Which day? This one shows from start on September 25, 2020. As our weekend used to be Friday and Saturday, I have a lot of Friday drives as well. Having said that I was always on a Monday to Friday week since I came to Dubai - now it makes me wonder how I managed so many of them Friday drives 😁 What time of the day? Clearly Moring and Afternoons. Number of drives by drive level - I drove a lot at Fewbie level. and very less Fewbie+; till April 2023. Now adding up those Fewbie+ & Intermediate drives to balance them. Drives by Driver level: I spent a very little time as Support Team member but a lot at the advisor level, a lot more than what others do or did from my observation. Expert is my current level. Drives by Participation role: Obviously a lot more drives as an attendee than in support or lead roles. Average drives per month: May seems to be my favorite month. Also happens to by my wife's birthday month - I don't know if it has anything to do with my excessive drives. August is my birthday month 🤣. number of drive a month. There are a couple of months when participated 10 drives in them and there are 3 months when i took sabbatical. A couple because I was off and one just because. Following two are my vehicle analysis: Car Brands of the participants (excludes my drives) Car Models by current participants (excludes my drives): Some analysis of leads (DISCLAIMER: this is my own personal experience and is not a good matrix) Number of drives by leads (obviously excludes mine) Average distance covered and speed. Ale is the king of both. Average drive time and moving ratio. (Obviously with those leads with whom I have supported a lot of (absolute) newbie drives are going to be slower on average than those with who I have done mostly Intermediate drives.

Good morning all, @Luke K P @Shaun J @Aser @Julien Recan @msa @Robk @Gautam Banka @Frans M @Cristian @Deepak Eswar @Amr A In preparation for tomorrow's drive, please ensure your car is ready and anything loose or unnecessary is removed from the backseat and trunk area. All your offroad gear shall be securely strapped. We will see how is the desert after the rains of last week. There might be water remaining at the starting point. Please assess to avoid getting stuck in the mud. If there is too much water, just wait before crossing, and we will enter from a different place. The convoy order will be We will use Channel 5. Please let me know during the day in case you changed your plan. See you all tomorrow !

Dear @Mahesh_ @Frans M @Deepak Eswar @Mahmut @Marek @Mahmoud Taha @Stumpy @Ishak @Zulfikhar Naiyar @Aser @msa Due to recent heavy rain in the UAE and waterlogged conditions the desert terrain is currently tricky with muddy conditions, broken ridges, and hidden pockets, which isn't ideal for a safe adventure. Hence, we are canceling this weekend's drives, look forward to seeing you all soon on the next one.

Hi All, Due to recent heavy rain in the UAE and waterlogged conditions the desert terrain is currently tricky with muddy conditions, broken ridges, and hidden pockets, which isn't ideal for a safe adventure. Hence, I am canceling this weekend's drive, look forward to seeing you all soon on the next one. @Nicolò @Sviatoslav @Vipin M @Pramod B @Sameer D. @TIMMY @Jeevan Koshy @Martin Schwaiger @Giacomo @Benjamin @Andrew John Melvill @RiadJL @DTG Please acknowledge by any emoji.

Dear Desert Wanderers, RSVP is now closed for this drive, @Andrew John Melvill, @ZakWarah, @Wilfredo Perez, @Misha Puskar, @Mark B, @Aser, @Sandeep Nayar, @Hani Howeedy, @Nizar Shawwa and @Gary F we will be using Ch4 446.081 for Sundays drive, please be at the meeting point deflated and flags up at 0700. really looking forward to seeing you all Sunday morning and having a great drive through the Al Fayah desert. Convoy order will be as below:

Thank you @Ale Vallecchi and the whole convoy for the drive. Challenge completed. It was fun seeing and recovering @Hani Howeedy and @RiadJL. Have a great week ahead. Keep digging. Keep clawing.

Thank you all for joining the drive today. The sand was still very compact from the rain in the previous days, so the conditions were generally favourable for the climbs and the ridge riding. the drawback was that the dunes were becoming slippery after a few cars, making the track a bit more difficult for the back of the convoy. The first portion offered high dunes with long ridges, perfect terrain to practice ridge riding, sometimes a bit impressive with the deep void on one side or the other. Concentration and precise steering were key, as a wrong line was immediately inducing fishtailing. Crossing the sabkha, we climbed that massive dune, with a succession of small bowls, step by step until the top. Everyone was focused, getting the required momentum for the next climb, and the 12 cars reached without refusal, a nice performance! The rest of the drive was a long run going West, crossing a large portion of desert staying high on the dunes as much as possible to avoid the bushes. with open dunes and white sands, until we reached the exit on the E75. No stuck, a few refusals, great driving for all of you, including the 1st FB+ drive for @Stan and @Mahmut. Still we could see a lot of fishtailing and uncontrolled ridge riding. We have discussed this on the sand, so you where to improve. It will come with practice. Thank you @Mohit Gurnani for the SL, correcting my lines, @Mark B for anchoring the convoy from the middle, and @Zulfikhar Naiyar for watching the back, @Shaun J @Stan @Mahmut @Julien Recan @Rk ram @Deepak Eswar @Cristian @Ishak thank you for excellent spirit and participation. We can program the same drive at the end of June, to add heat and soft sand for a more complete desert experience !

Dear team LMQ ! , @Zak_ @Wilfredo Perez @Prithvi Raj @lucas amat @Nizar Shawwa @Jad Moussalli @Faraz94 @Haneef Thayyil @Mahesh_ Thank you for showing your interest on tomorrow's drive ! I, @Islam Soliman and @Benjamin are looking forward to seeing you tomorrow ! Some points for tomorrow's drive ! - Be on time ! 6am ! Please dont be late - The briefing will be held inside the desert and not at meeting point - so if you are late , you will just end up with a short drive from home to meeting point and back home ! - Meeting point : https://goo.gl/maps/khH7pHF3DipEsapN9 - from this, just get inside the entry road. Please note the meeting point is just on the highway, so slow down as you approach about 500mts of meeting, once arrived take left. - Get your gas tanks full !! : There is Emarat and EPCO station Just about 12kms before meeting point while coming from Sharjah/Dubai😂 and EPCO on other side if coming from Abu Dhabi. - Please make sure your radios are fully charged ! and you dont forget the mandatory off-road gears ! - Please do carry sufficient water - Its getting hot and highly important that we keep ourselves hydrated. also do carry light snacks for yourselves ( for others also is not prohibited ) - And also fill up your patience tanks fully - It will be a drive of patience and resilience too - considering the recent heavy rains, hence mixture of exploration + technical and lot of vegetation too - which of course we will try to avoid Passengers are highly not recommended for this please , UNLESS the are used to long duration drives. Convoy order will be published in couple of hours ! See you all tomorrow !

@Emanuel, @Alphin Aloor, @Zulfikhar Naiyar, @Gurcharan Mehta, @Ranjan Das, @Anoop Nair, @Amir Amiri, @Mahmoud Taha, @Stumpy. I will be driving for the first time on an Intermediate drive with some of you. The drive plan is to march straight to the end of the desert as fast as we can safely and turn back. In between we will climb all the dunes we encounter. Hope the desert sand has dried up a bit in the meantime. We will plough on Channel 2 and following is the tentative convoy order:

@Luke K P @Julien Recan please read my prev article on this if you haven't >> https://carnity.com/forums/topic/16736-diff-lock-simplified-center-rear-front-explained/ The Standard Order is Central Diff Lock > Rear Diff Lock >> and last Front Diff Lock. Am sure there's a very technical reason for this, one involving blowing out diffs, but for shortcut let's just say this is how it's done in Mercedes G-Wagon and Toyota Land Cruiser 80, so let's follow Mercedes & Toyota engineers regarding this order of pressing the buttons Here's my take on your new orange Ford: 1. First check if your Center + Rear Diff Locks are automatically engaged when you switch to 4Lo. My Nissan Y62 Patrol did this, everytime I turned 4Lo, it automatically enganges Rear Diff Lock (thus also Center Diff Lock). My Jeep Grand Cherokee doesn't do this, so if I go 4Lo, it doesn't engage any diff locks. How to test? You can't test on sand. In your parking space, turn on 4Lo then move forward 3 steps so it fully engages 4Lo. Then turn your steering wheel full-left (or full-right) and accelerate. If your tires are slipping or you hear screeching sound, means your rear diff is locked. Remember the purpose of Differential is so that left tyre and right tyre can spin at different speeds (which is needed for turning full-left/full-right mechanism) 2. If #1 doesn't make any sound means you are in 4Lo but in open diffs mode (no center and no rear diffs locked). Great, you can drive in 4Lo at high-speed to get more torque. 3. Why would you ever want to drive with diff locks engaged at high speed ??? Read Point #1 above, the purpose of having differential is to allow left-tyre to spin faster/slower than right-tyre, which is needed for full-turn. Yes in low-traction platform like soft sand and water, the tires still slip but they will not screech and make sound like in your concrete car parking or highway asphalt. But still, do you want to risk it? Example: you're riding on a ridge with soft sand with Center + Rear Diffs locked, then suddenly you have to make 90-degrees left-turn to exit the ridge riding. If the sand is hard (due to rain), now you're turning on a non low-traction platform. The tires will slip to make the turn, but because you're no longer in soft sand, you will be turning like a Rally Driver, with that drifting effect, which is fine on horizontal levelled plain areas (sabkhas), but on a ridge? Only the braves will risk it.... I've asked some "crazy" drivers why they turn-on Center Diff Lock when driving, and these are their reasons: 3.1.They want to drive in a STRAIGHT LINE very fast. Rally drivers do this. You can also try when you're climbing up in a straight line, but not when you're going up then decided to make a loop. 3.2 They want to drift when they're side-sloping, only doable with beadlocks. I've seen this in front of my eyes: so the car looks like fighting gravity, but in fact they are SLIDING horizontally with the nose facing 45-degrees up. Very cool for videos, but even I don't want to try that 😂 PS: we can do a 30-mins "testing session" after an official drive to test the various modes of your mighty Raptor 😁

Hi @Looper and the entire convoy I just want to say that today was brilliant A mix of tech, dunes and speed. A really fun drive it was my birthday so my wife agreed to join me lol which was nice she enjoyed it too Anyway have a great week all and stay safe. I hear the weather could be iffy towards the end of the week

Good morning guys ! What a nice looking convoy ! And with @Zed already baking cookies in preparation for this 100th drive, i am sure we'll be having a good laugh as well @Looper@DanielN@Abhilash Kottakkal@Nizar Shawwa@Batuhan Kulac@Ahmed Farouk@Hani Howeedy@Zed@DP1011 We will be using Channel 4 - 446.081 Mhz for all comms. Please make sure to bring all your off-road gears according to your current level. As the weather is getting a bit hotter, i would like to ask to start arriving approx 15mins prior to the meeting time, this allows us to deflate, set up the flags, do the briefing, and get moving by 07.15 latest so we can enjoy while the weather is still enjoyable. See you soon !

Congratulations @Gary F for joining the Support Team with Carnity Offroad Club. Looking forward to seeing you grow 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 to become eligible for the Support Team. 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. Activities for Support Team Members Support different Marshals and Crew at Newbie level drives to demonstrate: Your ability and willingness to support new offroaders. Ability to gain control of commanding situations. And clear communication skills to help manage the convoy. Possible progress toward becoming an Advisor Once you have proved to be a regular Supporting Team member and have supported different trip leads on several Newbie and Fewbie drives, we will gather your periodic feedback. Based on this feedback and reviews you might receive an invitation to become a Carnity Advisor for further advancement within our community. You will also need to have completed a minimum of 10 Intermediate Level drives, and be a regular club member (minimum supporting 6 Newbie or Fewbie drives per quarter) to become eligible. Being invited to an Advisor role means we put our faith in you as a passionate club member who displays maturity and passion to carry your knowledge on to new off-roaders who are still progressing through the ranks.

I travelled back to Dubai and landed at mid night and barely had 3 hours of sleep. But the love for dunes pulls me towards deserts. The initial section was a bit underwhelming for me, I wont lie - doing the same thing again in such a short time - I guess the wow factor was going to be missing a bit, but I think we more than compensated with a run across the dunes thereafter. Even during the technical patches between the Sabkhas we kept a fantastic pace. It was great to see so many of you showing up for the second instalment hope you enjoyed it as much as I did. The sand however was very bright in the eyes and I wasn't able to figure out the terrain much, even dark glasses did not help - yet the drive was lot less bumpy than previous. Thanks @Varun Mehndiratta for being part of the drive, your presence gave me peace of mind that even if I fail to join this drive - you would have taken over. @Ranjan Das & @Imteeaz thanks you both of you Support Team members for your help and well support. @Batuhan Kulac, @Ishak and @Luke K P see you once again for the drive. @Juan R see you once again after a long while. @Benjamin sorry to miss you. Been there done that, hope you have already fixed the issue. @msa, @Gertjan & @Shiju Raju hope to see you guys next time.

Dear Desert Wanderers,, @ZakWarah, @Wilfredo Perez, @Mark B, @Aser, @Sandeep Nayar, @Nizar Shawwa and @Gary F Firstly thank you all for being on time this morning that meant we were able to get the briefing done and move off in short order enjoying more of the beautiful Fayah desert. We managed a whopping 53.6 KM's with a moving speed of 20kmph so once again well done to all You guys drove amazingly well with only a handful of refusals and one stuck that @Wilfredo Perez managed beautifully to self recover from/ so great job all and great driving you guys rocked it. Thanks @Aser for the great second lead, amazing job my friend, kept the right distance to allow quick changes in direction or to allow a hold for the rest of the convoy whilst i sorted myself out. thanks was sensational. @Gary F thanks for sweeping us today, amazing job for your first support drive, was not that busy but busy enough to keep you on your toes, great instructional commands from the back to allow those in front of your to learn as they drove. great job look forward to having you support one of my drives after my vacation. @Mark B superb job in the Center keeping everyone together, unfortunate that we had to exit you with some car trouble, but it is a jeep :), hope you get it resolved quickly and it does not break the bank, Great job supporting the drive today thanks and see you again soon. So drive stats and a relive video to enjoy below, and some pics in the gallery https://www.relive.cc/view/vRO7eAxoEKq

Thanks @Ale Vallecchi for another interesting and exploration kinda drive around this area. Second time here in as many weeks. We saw many interesting things and a couple of unfortunate ones like the Jeep that rolled over, thankfully he was ok and his friends were towing it out. With the terrain at times forgiving yet others weren't with very soft patches here and there and others we couldn't quite see well enough to know what was starring right at us because the sand was so bright. You did great getting us around the various fences and eventually over to see Sweihan Pond. We have to take what she gives and make the best of it sometimes, and we did a great job of it today. Good to see you again @Rob S and thanks for supporting the drive. It was a good team effort up there helping @Andrew John Melvill from that last refusal. @munkybizness I think we met on a drive last year or the year before. Thanks for sweeping our drive. As always, good to see and chat with you again @Marek. One new thing I learned today as I was starting my drive home. The car was wobbling and I went to the Sweihan petrol station to check my tire pressure and all was good. Felt too tired to bother hooking up my compressor again. Still wobbled on the way home so I stopped on the side of the road to have a better look at things and found about half the mud flat stuck inside my rims. I was loosening all that up when @Sreenath G pulled up to check on me, Thank you for that. 👏 Have a look at all that sand from one tire...

@Ale Vallecchi thanks for a fantastic drive this morning, that we all managed the complete over 100km through the technical terrain covered is testament to your navigation skills. Proud of the LRDG sticker, my grandfather was a navigator in the LRDG during WW2 in North Africa.

Glad to see you guys completed 100kms. Quite a challenge. 🦾

A very intense drive. Thank you all who could manage to join this drive. My initial idea was to go to Shuwaib and turn back so that we could end the drive at Badayer Shops. But I got so engrossed looping at the dunes before we reached Iftar Bowl that, this plan was not executable anymore. I did however wanted to go all the way and reach Shuwaib, exactly what we did. We started on the dot at 7:00 am which seemed a bit late due to the temperatures and finished exactly at 9:30 as planned. @Emanuel & @Zulfikhar Naiyar you drive very well, kept up with the pace. Behind you were the experienced lot, @Anoop Nair, @Amir Amiri and @Mahmoud Taha - the last two have been on every Badayer drive I have done till now Thank you all for one more exciting drive today. See you soon in the next one.

RSVP IS NOW CLOSED @Brett Eicher@Lea Degner@nithish468@Matt - monkeywrench@ChrisW@Srikumar@Damian@Juzer Talib@Ahmed Farouk@JohanE@Jerry Han@lucas amat@Asif Hussain Thank you for signing up for tomorrow's drive, it's great to see new faces and reconnect with some older ones Some important pointers: 1) We would like to start our briefing in the sand by 7.15 latest, so kindly arrive before 7 so you have time to deflate and setup your flag. The weather is getting hotter each week so it's important to be able to start as early as we can. 2) Bring your offroad gears. A flag, radio, shovel, pressure gauge, and compressor will be mandatory. 3) Get adequate protection from the sun (sunblock, hat, long sleeves). We will be using Channel 4 - 446.081Mhz for our walkie-talkies. The plan is to head East direction Sweihan and try to find some clean terrain and some challenges along the way. We will then loop back to the starting point. See you all tomorrow morning !

@Zak_ @Wilfredo Perez @Prithvi Raj @lucas amat @Nizar Shawwa @Jad Moussalli @Faraz94 @Haneef Thayyil @Mahesh_ + @Benjamin + @Islam Soliman - Please note the convoy order as below ! See you 6am or earlier . We will use Channel 2 : 446.031

No long til the weekend 😁🙏 see you all Sunday..

DRIVE PLAN Although I usually like to go without a plan, exceptionally this time and given the massive change in the topology the plan or intention of the drive is to explore the changes to one of my favorite tracks in the Dubai vicinity starting at Faqa and heading towards Qudra. It should be fun to watch and document the changes to the dunes, newly formed river beds and lakes as well as the changes in the eco-system and wild life as a result. There are lots of risks involved in driving after such heavy rain so we will be humble and extra cautious watching out for all kind of unexpected surprises like invisible pockets, trenches, moving sand spots, water flows, wildlife,.....etc. Finally, the colors, depth and clarity of the water is very inviting to jump in and dive into these lakes. GENERAL OVERVIEW We request every member that joins this drive to go through the information below and strictly follow these guidelines, etiquette and responsibilities. MUST READ AND COMPLY Environmental Policy Offroad Flag Guideline Two Way Radio Guideline Off road Driving Etiquettes Emergency details for all off roaders Off Road Driving - Roles & Responsibilities DRIVE DETAILS Level: Fewbie Plus and above When: 28 April 2023, Sunday Meeting time: 6:30 AM - Sharp Meeting Point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/MBRWvN3aDSSsaHRb7 (24.733092, 55.565264) Approximate finish time: 10:30 AM approx. 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), smiles, enthusiasm, and willingness to learn. RECOMENDED OFF-ROAD GEAR: Tire deflator & Tire pressure gauge Compressor (MANDATORY) Walkie-talkie radio (MANDATORY) Off-road flag (MANDATORY) Shovel, Tow Rope & 2 Shackles First-aid kit Fire extinguisher. Swim shorts (extra charges apply!) 😀 LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE This drive is limited to 10 cars only. If the RSVP is full, you can add your name to the waitlist, once anyone drops, you will be moved to the RSVP list. RSVP will close a day prior to preparing a convoy list. Latecomers will be returned - Without any exceptions. Members without RSVP will be returned - 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:

Normal shovel. This is basically our most useful tool in desert driving. In 95% of recovery situations in the desert, a sturdy shovel will get you out. I know in the US winches are used along with tree straps etc to self-recover. Winches aren't very prevalent here as a self-recovery tool since we very rarely have something to strap on to in the desert. Land anchors for sand tend to be large, heavy and impractical and I've only ever seen a handful of people with one There are quite a few people who have winches on their rigs here but they are mostly used to help recover someone else

Thanks everyone for a excellent drive. @JeromeFJgreat leading taking us into some exciting and new (for me) terrain. Really spectacular scenery. The FB+ debutantes @Aserand @Shaun J drove supremely well, and were very handy with the shovels digging my car or from the full body cresting on the ridge! I claimed first stuck of the drive 😎 Both myself and @Robk got to enjoy the full pleasure of long wheel base vehicles in technical dunes with some shovels and ropes. The big bowls were great fun, as were the back and forth crossing of ridges towards the end of the drive. Was great to see big combo of FJs, jeeps, the big patrol, and the retro livery LC71 dominating everything that Jerome put in our parh Here's a couple of captures videos of the convoy... I'll get some more of my camera tonight I hope. Cheers and see you all in the sand again soon. https://photos.app.goo.gl/gTS4rsRDK2pW3i1h7 Side sloping https://photos.app.goo.gl/nRtnjCE9gZAvxry5A Briefing sky time-lapse https://photos.app.goo.gl/6VsNe46o3uZczysdA Team loops https://photos.app.goo.gl/kJqXDdDDf7BrjSQAA Ridge crossing with refusal

@Deepak Eswar and @JeromeFJ's Blue Jeep Bowl

STATS 59.0 km Distance 2h 43m Moving Time 3:46 min/km Pace 3h 42m Total Time 58m 57s Stopped Time 21.6 kph Moving Speed 15.9 kph Avg Speed 400 m Ascent 318 m Descent

Welcome to your first Fewbie drive @Martin M and @RiadJL. You and the rest of the convoy drove well. Looking back every now and again we were mostly evenly spaced out and moving nicely. Here is a Relive video of our drive. https://www.relive.cc/view/vXOdXPeBAkO It was driving with you again @Simon D @Sunil Mathew and @Cha. See below drive stats

Dear Friends , @Emmanuel, @RiadJL, @Martin M, @Danny G, @Prithvi Raj, @Sunil Mathew, @Jad Moussalli, @Sandeep Nayar, @Faraz94, @Shiju Raju within less than 12 hours we will meet in the sand,. As always emphasized and required that everyone make sure of your car is in a perfect shape and have all your gear as per your rank. Meeting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/KGF6L8VwXMza3tJz7 Meeting time is 07:30 AM Sharp ( late comers will be sent back ) We will use Carnity Radio Channel 7. The convoy order will be as the following :

Hey mate. Just recently changed from pajero to ranger raptor. It's definately ready to go out of the box. Rated very good on the @Gauravscale of power to weight for desert play. Great clearance. Suspension is unbelievable when off road (and on) My only issues at the moment are trying to find most comfortable driving mode in sand. I find that the baja mode holds the throttle a bit longer than you would expect when you take the foot off (to keep the turbos spooled).... Might just take more getting used to. Rear end can feel a little loose as there is very little weight over the rear wheels. So I've noticed a bit of changes to my driving style. Using Baja suspension mode, 4H, sand mode with full time rear diff lock enaganed, ESC turned off seems to be the sweet spot for me. 'Off-road cruise' set to 2kph with front and rear diff lock engaged will automatically crawl you out of any refusals allowing you to focusing on just getting wheel angles right and turning left right to clear sand. Let the truck handle the blip blip. Spent a weekend just making stucks to play recovery and was greatly impressed. Only upgrades required is a thicker bash plate to cover the engine and trans as the factory one is like 2.5mm aluminium. Price point to power and features I think U get a very compelling package compared to the offerings in other truck brands and the jeeps. let me know if you want more info or anything cheers mate.

The finale for today are a couple of my videos - a feature and raw footage. Enjoy and smash the Like button if you enjoyed them. https://youtu.be/5-O6tp3OzUk https://youtu.be/E45Gna2aivA

It was great to drive with you again @Islam Soliman with you in lead and @Mahmoud Taha in sweep. After much time we finally met @M.Seidam and work together to recover a couple of stucks. A big welcome to the new joiners @SShan, @JanS, and @nithish468! You all did well on your first drive. Some had more practice than others at finding the sweet spot between just enough power and a wee bit short. 😄 Being one with our cars takes time, patience and practice. Here is a Relive link to our drive. https://www.relive.cc/view/vQvx5RXE79O

Dear Desert Wanderers, RSVP is now closed for this drive, @Andrew John Melvill, @ZakWarah, @Wilfredo Perez, @Misha Puskar, @Mark B, @Aser, @Sandeep Nayar, @Hani Howeedy, @Nizar Shawwa and @Gary F my bad just back from Travelling and had it in my head it was Saturday today So yes Sunday 14th April is drive day thank you for pointing that out and noting the deliberate mistake

Thank you all for joining the drive. I am currently travelling and WILL BE BACK tonight. We will use ch 2 for the drive and leave at sharp 7:00 am if not early. Following will be the convoy order.

A screw driver did the trick to lossen it all up to get balance back. Speed limit again after that. All that sand looks like my parking spot. 😂

Well dine Gary! well deserved! Now there are two gladiators supporting rounding up the wranglers 😜😜 looking for to the next one mate

Good drive, gents! thank you for the opportunity! @Andrew John Melvill you were on top of things today! @Shaun J I hope you managed to get yours washed before picking up Mrs from the airport: And the entire crew during rescue mission: @Luke K P, I'm intrigued by your red beast! Awesome looking ride!

@Rob S and @Luke K P in action