Ale Vallecchi

Thanks for the info @Gertjan.

Thanks for updating @Daniel Rodas. @Santoso Marjuki you are IN (please confirm). At this stage I'd also like to add @Ashok chaturvedito the drive, if ok (also,.please confirm). Thanks

Dear Desrtnauts let's prepare for tomorrow's drive. Firstly, it plans to be a long drive. Therefore, I'd like to start as early as possible. Even though it will be hot, I have moved the meeting time at 3:00PM (considering that half an hour more or less is not going to make it any cooler). Secondly, the reason for anticipating the meeting time is that I'd like to close the drive beyond the initially planned exit location (at first in the general Lahbab's area, between Margham and Nazwa), exploring an exit path reaching out as close to the actual Lahbab's village as possible. Thirdly, about the meeting point, it used yo be easily accessible, on the left side of the Qudra Lakes to Solar Park road. However, now that the road has been doubled, and a partition is separating the two double lanes, we'll probably have to turn around at Solar Park itself, and trace the way back to the pylons close to the indicated entry point, which is on the dirt track coming from Lisaili. Please consider some extra time for this now unavoidable detour. The drive will cover a lot of ground, first through Lisaili's plateau, then on a stretch of dirt track going from the Lisaili exit point, across the Dubai-Al Ain Road, into the dunes leading to Margham first, and further onto the exploratory track to the new planned exit point. The convoy order, barring some last minute drop-outs and additions, will be the following: @Gertjan in Second Lead @Imran Kashif at #3 @Gerrit Bus at #4 @Amr Aydin #5 @Daniel Rodas at Center Forward @KAMALIO at #7 @Imteeaz will be #8 @Beide Worku at #9 @Karthik Raptor #10, and @Tom B in the Sweep position Radio channel has not been chosen yet, and will be announced at the meeting point. Please, remember the new, earlier, meeting time. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.

The Scorch Trials Part 2 - Drive Report "If you find all your roads blocked, He will show you a secret way that no one knows" - Rumi A most challenging start, perhaps the most difficult one I had so far as a leader, tested the mettle of the convoy from the very moment we entered the sand, just at the end of Lisaili's camel track. That stretch of dunes is notorious for being quite tight and soft, but this time the change of weather of the past days had greatly softened and sharpened the crests, adding some soft sand to the bottom of the alternating bowls. This made for an unusually irregular terrain, where the convoy kept getting stuck, for an impressive total of 15 times, requiring 1 and half hour to sort them all out, over a staggering short stretch of 600 meters. The reasons for the stucks were also partially to be found within the convoy itself. I will highlight the main ones. First of all, lack of distance between cars, causing problems to those following the drivers with refusals (or stucks). Secondly, some hesitancy with building or maintaining the right momentum when exiting a bowl, or while riding a ridge, which caused some slipping off the ridges, a pop-out, or the inability to exit the bottom of a soft sand bowl. Lastly, I noticed the occasional tendency to force the way onto the ridges, even though with little room to maneuver, especially with short wheel based cars, causing a few cars from getting crested, in the typical transversal position due to counter-steering onto the ridge. I trust that by reading the report, and especially by going over the drive in one's mind, all will find it in themselves to recall each mistake, and bring to mind the proper remedy, for the next drives. The second part of the drive, once exited the technical area, was the exact opposite of the first difficult part. After a very useful break, the convoy regrouped, and proceeded through Lisaili, toward the sabkhas near Murqaab, and back into the Lisaili tall dunes, with perfect unison and coordination. Ridge riding and criss-crossing were executed perfectly, and virtually no incidents took place (other than a quickly solved pop-out). In spite of the initial slow start, the day ended with just less than 51Km covered, in 1:42 hours of driving, over a total of 3:37 hours, at an average moving speed of 28Km/h (14 Km/h total). Thanks to @Prakash Anoop for his first Second Lead (just remember to perfect the safe distance from the leading car), @Thomas Varghese and @Ashok chaturvedi respectively in Center Forward and Sweep position, and to @Imran Kashif, @Haitham Khattab, @AlexM, @Shaker, @salah2u, @Amr Aydin and @Gertjan for joining the drive. See you all soon in the sand again.

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 strictly follow these guidelines. MUST READ AND TOTALLY AGREE: COVID19 Precautions Mandatory Safety Requirements Ban from Carnity Off-road Club Two Way Radio Guidelines Drive Details Level: Fewbie Plus and above Meeting time: 3:00 PM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: Dropped pin https://maps.app.goo.gl/44Pv1URngCTW9TKeA Action Plan: After a few movie themed drives, here comes the "double-lettered" drive. L like Lisaili & L like Lahbab. A fast drive from one side of the Dubai-Al Ain road to the other. From the outskirts of Solar Park, acrosso Lisaili's plateau, through the highway, into Margham's yellow and red sand dunes, all the way to E44. All kinds of terrains for more than experienced drivers, looking to get as close to Intermediate driving as possible. 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, face mask, rubber gloves, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Approximate finish time: 7:30 PM P.S. Only join if you have a compressor to inflate your tires after the drive. LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE: Limited to 10 cars maximum. RSVP will close on Friday - 12 PM. 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. Members that do not confirm the terms of the COVID requirements will be removed from the RSVP list. 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

Scorch Trials Part 1 - Drive Report "By perseverance the snail reached the ark" - C. Haddon Spurgeon While the drive was planned to have heat as its protagonist, it was actually the quality of the sand, due to the dump weather of the past days, that became the main "villain" of the day. In fact, it was only after my third stuck in a matter of 1 hour that I was made to realize that it was the treacherous conditions of the sand that would rule the day, and that we definitely would have to plan for, and overcome it, if we were to have a smoother drive. From the beginning of our itinerary I had noticed the, by now, typical tall "step" on the hard-face of the dunes, which forms when the wind blows counter to its prevailing direction, pushing soft sand from the slip-face on top of the ridge and onto the harder side. Nonetheless, even when I found a proper place to cross onto the other side, I ended up getting stuck on the ridge, no matter how much I pushed. And even with A-Trac, and a car weighting heavily on the side of gravity, I still couldn't get off the ridges. The reason brought to my attention by some members who had helped shoveling and eventually tugged me out, was that just under the initial powdery layer of freshly blown sand, there was a caked and hardened layer, produced by the recent rains, which slowed the car down, produced the stuck, and prevented it from being able to get free of it. The only other critical situation worth noticing was when 4 other cars ended up in trouble, induced by my own third stuck, with 2 more cars stuck on my same crest, another with a temporary electrical problem immobilized on the other side of the dune, after crossing it, and the car trying to tug me off the crest also stuck on soft sand, with the rope fully stretched. In the confusion that arose, one of the cars stuck on the crest was almost tugged from both sides, as two drivers, one on each side of the dune, had attached their ropes to both front and back tow-points, and almost played tug-of-war with the unfortunate and bewildered crested driver. The takeaways from this situations were: 1) always bring the radio with you once out of the car, as lack of communication was the reason for the tug-of-war; 2) do not always cut the slack completely on the rope, but use it to give more power to the tug, when the stuck is deep. Having said this, once understood the unusual and unfriendly nature of the sand, and having taken the necessary counter-measures (finding a less sharp and tall step to approach the criss-crossing, and actually preferring crossing from the slip-face (sufficiently sturdy) to the hard-face (excessively powdery), then the drive progressed, with perseverance, to its planned end at Faqa. Indeed, we were able to enjoy the cool weather, and the beautiful "virgin" status of the sand, smoothed out by the recent winds, completing a the rest of the drive with speed and no further situations. As promised, we did cross the Middle Earth (that land between Solar Park and Little Sweihan, we did laps along Little Sweihan's triangle of tall dunes and deep bowls, we reached the Faqa Plateau, and we traversed it diagonally, almost to its E44's boundary, before exiting in Faqa's northern sabkha. The drive covered 81 Km, in 2:33 of driving (3:36 total), at 32 Km/h moving average speed (22 Km/h total). My thanks go to @Zixuan Huang - Charlie and @Davie Chase, who alternated in Second Lead, adapting patiently to my search for the proper lines, to @Thomas Varghese, @Vaibhav and @Zed, who alternated at Center Forward, and to @Gaurav Soni, @Chinthaka Ruwan and @Gok Krish, who took turns at Sweep. I hope that all had the opportunity to get comfortable with their respective positions. See you all soon out there, and have a nice, "cool" Sunday.

Hello @Thomas Varghese. Please join the drive tomorrow. No problem opening up the waitlist. I'll increase the RSVP to 11 so you can sign up if you wish. Thanks

Sorry to hear that @Beide Worku. @Ashok chaturvedi will you confirm your presence? Thanks

Thanks @Morshedi for informing. @AlexM you have been added to the drive from the WL. Can you please confirm you'll attend? Thanks

Just to give you all Maze Runners a heads up, convoy positions will be switched, every hour, as follows:: @Davie Chase and @Simon Dawood will take Second Lead position after @Zixuan Huang - Charlie @Vaibhav and @Zedwill take a Center Forward position after @Thomas Varghese @Gok Krishand @Chinthaka Ruwan will alternate in Sweep. Let's all start warming up 😁

Hi @Thomas Varghese. Thanks for your considerations. As you know from past drives, and considering the couple of drop-outs we've had, I'll try to mix up positions, so that as many members as possible will have the possibility to enjoy different roles/places. See you tomorrow.

Minus the monsters.....we hope @Haitham Khattab 😅

Thanks for noticing my oversight @Daniel Yang. Welcome to the drive @Gok Krish.

Dear Desertnauts while the weather seems to have gotten in the way of a scorching trial this weekend, we'll still do our best to enjoy the cooler spell among the dunes. We don't expect this drive's theme to change into The Big Chill. So we'll warm up by crossing the technical dunes just after the camel track into Lisaili's plateau, we'll bring up the temperature of the drive a notch, by venturing out to the sabkhas close to Murqaab, and will keep the drive hot by turning back toward the Lisaili pylon track, perhaps driving through the tight, soft dunes close to Solar Park, where the Carnity Desert Trophy was decided. The convoy will line up as follows: @Prakash Anoop in Second Lead @Imran Kashif at #3 @Haitham Khattab #4 @Trekado at #5 @Shaker at Center Forward @salah2u will be #7 @Amr Aydin #8 @Gertjan #9 @Beide Worku #10, and @Morshedi in Sweep. The radio channel will be chosen at the meeting point. Have a great end of the week, and stay cool!!

Dear Desertnauts while the weather seems to have gotten in the way of a scorching trial this weekend, we'll still do our best to enjoy the cooler spell among the dunes. We don't expect this drive's theme to change into The Big Chill. So we'll warm up by crossing from Solar Park to Little Sweihan, we'll bring up the temperature of the drive a notch, by navigating the soft, tall and tight dunes of this triangular shaped formation just north of the eponymous AD area, and will keep the drive hot by speeding through the Faqa plateau, before reaching our exit. The convoy, truly quite an experienced one, will line up as follows: @Zixuan Huang - Charlie in Second Lead @ASAD. at #3 @Waqas Parvez #4 @Davie Chase at #5 @Simon Dawood #6 @Thomas Varghese at Center Forward @Vaibhav will be #8 @Zed #9 @Daniel Yang at #10, and @Chinthaka Ruwan in the Sweep position. The radio channel will be chosen before starting the drive. In the meantime, enjoy the evening, and stay cool.

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 strictly follow these guidelines. MUST READ AND TOTALLY AGREE: COVID19 Precautions Mandatory Safety Requirements Ban from Carnity Off-road Club Two Way Radio Guidelines Drive Details Level: Fewbie Plus and above Meeting time: 3:30 PM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: Dropped pin https://maps.app.goo.gl/GmwJTkPkgV2cPTQf9 Action Plan: My most vivid, earliest, memories of my going in the desert are...heat, heat, more heat (and some dust). Unless one is going into an artic desert (yes, there are some), that's what everyone expects from a desert: to be hot. Coupling this with my distaste for early morning wake-ups, here come The Scorch Trials - summertime afternoon desert drives, as hot as they can be. The reward will be the a beautiful sunset, and a slowly cooling temperature, before heading out to a nice dinner with your loved ones. 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, face mask, rubber gloves, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Approximate finish time: 7:30 PM (with the possibility of a 30 minute extension to reach the exit) P.S. Only join if you have a compressor to inflate your tires after the drive. LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE: Limited to 10 cars maximum. RSVP will close on Friday - 12 PM. 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. Members that do not confirm the terms of the COVID requirements will be removed from the RSVP list. 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

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 strictly follow these guidelines. MUST READ AND TOTALLY AGREE: COVID19 Precautions Mandatory Safety Requirements Ban from Carnity Off-road Club Two Way Radio Guidelines Drive Details Level: Intermediate and above Meeting time: 3:30 PM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: Dropped pin https://maps.app.goo.gl/ATc8SASUigiP8xo28 Action Plan: My most vivid, earliest, memories of my going in the desert are...heat, heat, more heat (and some dust). Unless one is going into an artic desert (yes, there are some), that's what everyone expects from a desert: to be hot. Coupling this with my distaste for early morning wake-ups, here come The Scorch Trials - summertime afternoon desert drives, as hot as they can be. The reward will be the a beautiful sunset, and a slowly cooling temperature, before heading out to a nice dinner with your loved ones. 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, face mask, rubber gloves, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Approximate finish time: 7:30 PM (with the possibility of a 30 minute extension to reach the exit) P.S. Only join if you have a compressor to inflate your tires after the drive. LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE: Limited to 10 cars maximum. RSVP will close on Friday - 12 PM. 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. Members that do not confirm the terms of the COVID requirements will be removed from the RSVP list. 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

@ASAD. wish her all the best. See you next time,

Welcome to the drive @Ashok chaturvedi. See you later.

Dear Desertnauts there is a saying in Italian that goes "meglio pochi ma buoni", that is "better few but good ones". This is certainly the case for this drive, with 2 Support Team members - @munkybizness and @Ranjan Das - and an experienced Intermediate @ASAD., taking on the majestic star-dunes between Shuwaib and Madam/Badayer. A small pack of off-roaders thirsty for climbs, dips, criss-crossing and side sloping, on sand that seems to have returned to an almost pristine state, thanks to the dramatic drop in drives in this often overcrowded area, and the help from some strong winds. Departure is from the Bezhad Ranch site, just off of E55, connecting Al Madam with Shuwaib. Meeting time should be as close to 3:30PM as possible, with the goal of leaving well before 4:00PM. The challenges offered by this area may be compounded by the softness and depth of the layer of sand freshly blown by the recent winds. We'll start the drive with the following posse order: @munkybizness in Second Lead @ASAD. at #3 @Ranjan Das in Sweep. Positions wil be shuffled throughout the drive. Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. Have a restful night.