Ale Vallecchi

From Red to Yellow - Margham Bowls to Faqa - Drive Report "As you start to walk, the way appears" - Rumi In an episode of the Netflix series "The Crown", King George VI, father of Elizabeth II, waking up a groggy soon to be Prince Philip, cheerly open the curtains on a cold, rainy dawn, and proclaims: "Wonderful morning for ducks!!". Well, last Friday, it truly was a "wonderful morning for ducks", where ducks stands for "desert driving on packed wet sand, through a web of crazy technical dunes" 😁. Funny how someone's most uncomfortable conditions become others most cherished opportunities. Indeed, it turned out to be a virtually perfect drive, with an exceptionally performing convoy, moving at unison from the red bowls of Margham village (those looking toward Tawi Nizwa, Big Red and Badayer), through Lisaili, all the way to Faqa. The drive consisted of three sets of long range dunes - the first, embedded within the low sand bowls of Margham, the second just after entering Lisaili, and the final set from the Chimney to Faqa's sabkha - , alternated with two sets of technical terrains - one leading to Lisaili and just past its pylon line, the second one from Lisaili to the Chimney. Especially the technical areas, and partially the red sand bowls of Margham's, were driven with a very loose driving plan, mostly based on visual orienteering, with the laissez-fair attitude of "let's see what comes next", well embodied by the above mentioned poem by Rumi. Concentration was utmost throughout the drive. In the technical area, expediency was possible thanks to the decision to ride all the ridges, even when it meant snaking around with a lot of steering, instead of going straight through the dunes, with the advantage of the crests being duller, and wider, due to the late rains, thus more steadily ridable, with the only disadvantage being that some of the crests were quite broken due to sand erosion, thus requiring some early exits, or taking them at a slower pace. Thanks to this improvised strategy, we ended up finishing the drive with perfect timing, no stucks, and only one re-attempt throughout the whole itinerary. @Ranjan Das was an impeccable Second Lead, followed by @Xavier Treasurer and @siddharth maheshwari. @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil anchored the convoy, ahead of @Sunil Mathew, @Looper, @Ashok chaturvedi and @Thomas Varghese, with @Jorge Stepniak Felippe closing the convoy, with perhaps the cleanest sweep ever. Together, we covered 90.1 Km, in 3:16 driving time (3:47 hours overall, including only refreshment breaks), at the very fast pace of 28 Km/h moving average speed (considering the amount of technical driving). Great, exemplary driving by everyone. Hope to see you soon in the sand.

Hi @Rodi. You can surely place yourself in the Waiting List. Will update you by tomorrow on your status. Thanks Hello @Miamimoe. We'll still drive, although there may be delays in the departure time, if raining is going to delay our deflation. If not, it'll be driving as usual, and even more fun.

Hi @KAMALIO. I have not posted it yet. We'll leave from near Qudra's Last Exit. TBC. Thanks

Sorry to hear that @Imteeaz. I hope all will be OK. See you next time. Dear @KAMALIO, there is an open spot in the drive. Should I add you? Thanks a lot

Hi @Rob S, the drive will stay within Dubai's border. Thanks for asking.

Hi @Niki. Of course your support is very valuable and appreciated. Will sign you in. Thanks a lot.

Hello @Miamimoe. You are correct. My mistake in editing the drive's title. this WILL BE A FEWBIE drive. Thanks for noticing, and sorry for the confusion.

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 and above Meeting time: 7:00 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/iNBWBDhifP9xfUvD8 Just exiting the ADNOC gas station at Qudra's Last Exit, before reaching the roundabout. Action Plan: On a track well tested with Fewbie Plus and above, we'll venture in a beautiful, little driven area, with plenty of local flora and fauna, where long range dunes alternate with technical areas and open sabkhas. We'll be surprised to find the remnants of abandoned farms, where date palms were grown, with many surviving trees still popping out of the growing dunes. The drive may loop backwards, toward Qudra/Solar Park areas, or stray toward the exit closest to Ghantoot (still well within Dubai's territory) along the Sih al Salam Road. 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: 11:00 AM 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 - 9 AM. 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

Dear Desertnauts, Tomorrow we will drive in the following order: @Ranjan Das in Second Lead @Charbel at #3 @Xavier Treasurer at #4 @siddharth maheshwari will be #5 @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil will be the Center Forward @Sunil Mathew at #7 @Looper at #8 @Ashok chaturvedi will be driver #9 @Thomas Varghese #10, and @Jorge Stepniak Felippe driving in Sweep. We will meet just past Margham village, on the road connecting E66 with E44, off to the left, through an open gate, just next to an enclosed group of ghaf trees. From there we will proceed, through a couple of farms, to enter an area of small (but numerous) red sand bowls, overlooking, on their eastern side, the red sands of Tawi Nizwa, and Badayer further away. After riding in and out of these little visited area, we'll continue north first, then west, to cross a very mixed terrain, until we'll reach Lisaili. From here, after crossing E66, we'll drive along the pylon track, beyond the camel drome, to enter the Lisaili plateau, and aim directly south-east, toward the infamous "Chimney" (those who do not know the story, will be informed tomorrow). Our final goal will be the sabkha just north of Faqa town (well away from the AD border), where we plan to exit on its yellow-cream sands. The drive should be long and varied, with a good variety of technical areas, long range dunes, and sand bowls. Once at the meeting point, we will tune into through Carnity Channel 3 (446.056). Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow. Have a nice start of the new weekends.

Hi @Chris Wing. Thanks for informing. Get well soon.

Hi @Alexander Alcala, I just saw you are no longer in the Manage tab of this drive. Did you withdraw, or have you signed out by mistake? Thanks for clarifying.

Hello @Sunil Mathew. Would you like me to add you to the drive?

Solar Orbit: Second Revolution - Drive Report "The sun comes back everyday with new and powerful secrets" - Rumi Dear Desertnauts, I had wanted to do this itinerary again for some time, and was hoping to actually make the orbit flatter, staying closer to the Solar Park developments, just north and south of it, but reaching out further as far as the "perihelion" of our track was concerned. We partially managed this, in that we did stay much closer to the fields of mirrors, just east of the Lisaili plateau, and came as close as ever to the "Chimney" (one of the cores of the Solar Park developments). We also reached out as far almost as Ghantoot, well past Little Sweihan, and the military training ground. Yet the new secret that Solar Park had in store for us was its further encroachment toward the east, in Margham's direction, which precluded the convoy from cutting across an area of what once were nice long range dunes, now fenced off in light of the future advance of the ocean of mirrors. Hence, we proceeded further away from this area, getting back on the original D66 route (the desert track from Murqab to Faqa), until we managed to reach the sabkha just north of Faqa. In spite of this setback, the orbit was very well navigated by an impeccable convoy, eating up the first, and very challenging, area of super-technical dunes (partially on the legendary route of the DCT), in just 43 minutes of unstoppable driving, mostly on the ridges of the very tight dunes which connotate this area. Immediately after, that a stuck on a crest (by me) showed everybody how tricky the wet sand could be, requiring a pull with a double rope, after all possible digging had failed to clear the way from the sticky, almost cement-like, sand. with this reminder in mind, of the unusual conditions of the sand, we proceeded to cross another, easier, technical area just south of the ever looming Chimney, to reach Little Sweihan, and through it, the Ghantoot sabkhas and long range dunes beyond. From here, once arrived at the southern reaches of Qudra (where the Bab al Shams access track meets the bike track), we finally exited toward Solar Park, to complete our revolution. A total of 94.9 Km were covered, in exactly 4:00 hours (of which 3:14 driving), at an average moving speed of 29 Km/h (for a total average of 24 km/h), with a perfect Second Lead by @Werno, followed impeccably by @Anoop Nair (in his Intermediate debut), @Archibald Jurdi, @Zedand @Humayun Ghias, who having joined the drive at the last minute, was stuck with serving (nicely) as Sweep. Thank you all for joining this fun drive, and hope to see you soon out there.

Lahbab to Lisaili: The Local's Den - Drive Report "If you will find all your roads and paths blocked, he will show you a secret way that no one knows" - Rumi 😉 Dear Desertnauts, those who have driven with me before know that I like to quote from Rumi (occasionally from Shams Tabrizi) to describe the nature of the drive. This time the quote is meant as a pun, referring to the bit of struggle and re-routing we had to endure while crossing the technical area along our track, adjacent to the gas line, as well as the curvy paths we took to cross the long range dunes on the 2 plateaus we passed (one closer to Margham, the other just before the exit). I hope it was fun for the convoy as it was fun for me to lead into the tight dunes: everybody drove well, in such long convoy, and on sand already bearing the signs of the rains from the day before. The itinerary is apparently an easy one, yet the terrain offers areas of technical dunes, alternating with areas of long range dunes, the crossing of which we managed by staying high on the slopes, as close to, or often on top of, the ridges, thankfully made a bit more firm by the recent rains. It turned out to be a small training on ridge riding, albeit on the flatter dunes, which are always available for an easier crossing, if one is willing to patiently look for them. All drivers did great, especially knowing that this was an Almost Absolute Newbie convoy, with @Emanuel, @Rajat Verma and @Karthik Raptor out for their first actual Newbie drive, and @Quresh Motiwala, @ASAD., @JERINE_B, @Justin Ng, @Tareq Al Turq, @Markus B and @Mo. with only 1 Newbie drive under their belts. Well done also for the more senior Newbies, @Jose Thomas (with a excellent Second Lead), @Azeem M, @Nathan (assisting from the center of the convoy), and @Mark D at the back. Impeccable support, with just enough tugs, and a lot of good advice on self-recoveries, from @Russ. In the end, the drive covered 44.8 Km, driven in a total of 3:23 hours (1:53 of which while moving), at an average moving speed of 24 Km/h (13 Km/h total). Thanks to all for joining, and see you soon out there.

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: 7:00 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: Dropped pin https://maps.app.goo.gl/FjeLaVA65eXp3iScA Action Plan: Dubai's sand changes from the red hues typical of its eastern border (close to Big Red and Pink Rock), to the yellow and creamy shades of the south-western border (Qudra and Faqa). We'll go from red to yellow, moving in the east-west direction, entering at Margham "bowls", crossing toward Lisaili, and proceeding to Faqa, where the infamous "Chimney" will be our beacon, indicating our final harbor from the desert high and colorful waves of sand. 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: 11:00 AM 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 - 9 AM. 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

@Werno, @Anoop Nair, @Archibald Jurdi, @Zed and @Humayun Ghias for those who have Spotify, here is an "all rainy" compilation to exorcise the rain from today's drive 😄

PS. Access to the Solar Park is possible from the Private Access road (1 exit on the roundabaout after the usual exit to Solar Park).

Good morning @Werno, @Anoop Nair, @Archibald Jurdi, @Zed and @Humayun Ghias. There are problems going through from Qudra's ADNOC (it can be accesseacceo the meeting point. I will call you in a few minutes with instructions. If you are already in the area, I am refuelling right now (can meet at ADNOC). Thanks

Hi @Humayun Ghias. You are welcome. See you tomorrow morning.

Dear Desertnauts. HAPPY 2022!! May this new year be prosperous and peaceful. In preparation for tomorrow's drive, as informed on the first post, we'll make a full revolution around Solar Park, following a clockwise rotation. Differently from the first time this itinerary was completed, we'll start from the closest point to Solar Park (our "perihelion"), to attempt what initially will be a shorter, more direct path toward Faqa (compared to the first time), this time through a more technical area. Once completed the segment through Faqa, we'll proceed in a south-westerly direction, and based on how much time we have left, we will decide if we'll continue in the direction of Ganthoot, which would be our farthest point from Solar Park (our orbit's "aphelion"). Whenever possible (on sabkhas and long range dune, we'll drive straight and fast, while on the technical dunes we'll have to sacrifice speed to follow their curvy lines, and ride in and out of small bowls. We are hoping that the wet sand factor will not be too much of a hinderance, considering it may contribute to churning the tracks a bit more than the usual. The convoy numbering will be the following: @Werno will be in Second Lead @Sunil Mathew will follow at #3 @Anoop Nair at #4 @Archibald Jurdi will take #5 @Ashok chaturvedi will be #6 @Zed in place #7, and @Rawad will close the convoy in the Sweep position. We will meet under the pylons along the tarmac road from Al Qudra to Solar Park, with the goal of starting as soon as possible. We'll be communicating through Carnity Channel #5 (462.887) Have a great first day of 2022, and see you all tomorrow morning.

Yes @Emanuel. We will drive. No worries.

Dear Desertanuts, find below the final convoy order: @Jose Thomas will be my Second Lead @Azeem M at #3 @Quresh Motiwala #4 @Emanuel will drive at #5 @Rajat Verma at #6 @ASAD. in place #7 @Nathan will be Center Forward @JERINE_B is #9 @Justin Ng at #10 @Tareq Al Turq #11 @Markus B in place #12 @Mo. #13 @Karthik Raptor will be #14 @Mark D #15, and @Russwill Sweep the convoy. Once arrived at the meeting point we will communicate through Carnity Channel #1 (446.006). Looking forward to seeing you tomorrow in time to depart as close to 7AM as possible. Have a nice evening.

Hi @Harshad Ashraf. I am sorry to have to update you that you were inadvertently jumped into the drive in place of Charbel Ghattas, due to a glitch in the new Waitlist function we have just added to the drives' RSVP system. Since this would not be your first drive of the weekend, I'll have to put you back in the WL, to let its first listed member with no prior drives during the weekend, join the drive. Sorry for the inconvenience, and thanks for understanding.