Ale Vallecchi

@Jorge Stepniak Felippe I added you. Thanks Hello @Rob H. I have waitlisted at #1. Thanks

Sorry to hear that @varunmehndiratta. See you next time. Hello @Jorge Stepniak Felippe. I have an open spot for this drive. Would you still like to join? Thanks

No @kiranshinde. Any area of AD is now open. The drive is still open @munkybizness, and you can add yourself to it. Perhaps just wait until Wednesday to do it (when all drives will reopen if they still have spots). Thanks

Hello @Jorge Stepniak Felippe. You are #1 on the WL. Thanks

General Info 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 and strictly follow these guidelines in order not to jeopardize someone's health, and to ensure we can keep organizing these drives safely. MUST READ AND TOTALLY AGREE: COVID19 Precautions Ban from Carnity Off-road Club Two Way Radio Guidelines Drive Details Level: Intermediate and Above When: 23 October 2021, Saturday. Meeting time: 6:30 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/sFStmkQo4wWhpNof6 Action Plan: Part of the series "Long Range Desert Patrols" this drive will connect a better known route (that near Al Ghail) with a semi-explored area (this sector's area bordering the E55), and a yet to be explored segment (from the village of Biyatah to the outskirts of Bataeh. Vegetation, animals, farms, sabkhas, longitudinal dunes, as well as massive red and yellow slip-faces will provide a challenging backdrop to a drive where very technical driving will replace speed as the decisive factor for this drive. 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), face mask, rubber gloves, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Approximate finish time: 10:30 AM THIS IS A COMPRESSOR ONLY DRIVE. WE WILL STARTING AND ENDING THE DRIVE AT THE SAME POINT, WHICH IS NOT CLOSE TO AN AIR LINE. IF YOU DO NOT HAVE A COMPRESSOR, PLEASE DO NOT SIGN UP FOR THIS DRIVE. IF YOU ARRIVE AND HAVE NO COMPRESSOR YOU WILL NOT BE ALLOWED TO JOIN THE DRIVE. LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE: Limited to 10 drivers. RSVP will close on Thursday - 5 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. 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 BELOW 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 and strictly follow these guidelines. MUST READ AND TOTALLY AGREE: COVID19 Precautions Ban from Carnity Off-road Club Two Way Radio Guidelines Drive Details Level: Newbie and above (all levels) Meeting time: 6:00 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/uvSy5FLAa6d4qAx47 Action Plan: Al Hayer (also spelled in a couple of different ways) is a rural village with plenty of farms, many of which run along E20 in Al Ain province. We'll roam the sector separating this farm area from its northern counterpart, along E14, in Faqa District, before looping back to our entry area, through unspoiled long range dunes of fine red and yellow sand. Option Two, time permitting, we'll even try to cross into the dunes of Faqa's plateau, and eventually reach Faqa town, or the nearby sabkha. Most important skill for this drive: the ability to adapt to many different driving styles - from technical maneuvers, to bowl riding and dunes' crossings 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: 10:00 AM P.S. Only join if you have a compressor to inflate your tires after the drive. LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE: Limited to 12 cars maximum. RSVP will close on Wednesday - 5 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 below calendar

Dear Desertnauts In preparation of tomorrow's Nature Drive, you'll soon find the meeting point published in the drive's post. It has been chosen to start from the area closest to the coast, just south of E611. We'll deflate on the track leading off to the right of Al Shohadaa Rd toward the Ritz-Carlton Desert Resort (signs for this destination are visible since the E611). Once you reach the meeting point, please park on the right and left side of the road, to allow traffic to still move through. We'll tune into Carnity Channel #1 (446.006). The meeting (and hopefully starting time) has been set at 6:30AM, (not 6:00) to account for the longer distance of the meeting area from Dubai, where most members are coming from. As far as the drive is concerned, the plan is to enter the area from the pylon track running south, and to start familiarizing with the terrain using a few sand tracks left by locals, amidst all kind of vegetation, growing either on the slopes of soft and tall red sand dunes (with some tricky crossing points) or on the firm ground amongst the dunes. All sorts of flora will be visible, from creeping vines to grasses, shrubs and tall trees. Camels may roam the area as well as wild donkeys. We'll proceed south, toward an area of sabkhas, separated from each other by beautiful longitudinal dunes. We'll attempt some ridge-riding of these dunes' soft humps. At this point, based on the convoy's response, the drive may be taking two different directions: either further South-East, in the direction of the Ajar Mountains' foothills (with exit at Al Ghail's Industrial Zone), or in a West/North-West direction to reach for more longitudinal dunes and the final sabkha next to the village of Biyatah, on the E55. This second option will be more challenging, due to the more difficult shape of the dunes, and a more complicated approach to their crossing (closer ridges, presence of small but deep bowls, and soft sand). I do not expect to have enough time, as the drive as it is will already cover quite some distance, but if we manage to make good time, I am entertaining the possibility of extending the drive further, for FEWBIE AND ABOVE ONLY (who abound on this drive), into the area leading further west, toward the road joining Al Zubair to Al Bataeh. At the moment the convoy order looks like this: @luis mantecon in Second Lead @Max Beloenko at #3 @Manish Kashyap in place #4 @Thomas Varghese at the Center in place #5 @topgear at #6 @Chris Wing #7 @JeromeFJ at #8, and @Niki closing the FJ contingent, and sweeping the group. Enjoy your Friday, and Carnity's Winter Welcome Drive this afternoon (if you are participating, do not go to bed too late 😜).

Exploration Biyatah to Al Ghail (RAK) - Drive Report Work in the invisible world as hard as you do in the visible - Rumi At one point during the drive a question came, asking if the nature that we were crossing is typical of the RAK region. The question stemmed from the fact that while driving along the highway, the dunes that line its length do not betray the abundance of vegetation, nor the different shapes the desert takes, and which we were fully immersed within. An invisible world was disclosing itself in front of us, with each crossing, each climb and each sharp drop. The drive ended up being divided in two halves. The first, from Biyatah's meeting point to the mid-point, was slow and extremely technical, through multiple cordons of longitudinal dunes (the very long ones with soft sand on all sides, including the top), where suitable crossing points were to be found in between sharp and narrow bowls hidden behind what appeared to be the dunes' crest, but were instead just steps up toward the actual ridge, of soft, moving sand. Most refusals in this terrain were experienced while reaching the dunes' tops, and crossing over the crests' soft ridges. Up to this point the pace was a slow, yet unavoidable, 12 Km/h. The second half of the drive, once reached the first sabkhas, and turned south-east toward Al Ghail, was more exhilarating and fast paced, with multiple ridge-riding the more accessible crests of the lower and more open longitudinal dunes. Plus, a short night drive, across the last "savannah-like" sabkha, to reach the pylon track's exit. At the end, this second half allowed us to compile a final 21 Km/h average moving speed, which speaks volumes of the speed at which we zipped along the last dunes. Great and diverse vegetation, beautiful open views, local farms and roaming camels, and a remarkable sunset were salient features of this very scenic and diverse drive. In the end, we went for 56Km, in 2:36 hours of driving, and only 30 minutes of breaks. All drivers did well: @Sunil Mathew provided a very clean Second Lead in such a challenging environment. @Shaaz Sha was a very attentive and careful Sweep. Once @Russ had his rope out, there was no putting it back, guaranteeing all the tugs of the day were made, with great care, by his monster truck. Great driving and support by @Thomas Varghese (precious help in sorting out Charlie's battery issue), @Charbel, @Anoop Nair and @Humayun Ghias, who all did great in all kinds of terrains (slow or fast). BTW, I hope that @Zixuan Huang - Charlie managed to reach the garage safely, and have his battery checked. If all is good, you are welcome to join this weekend's upcoming drive, in a similar area of RAK. If not, it'll be for another time: we were all sorry to see you go before the start of the drive. Well done everybody. Looking forward to seeing you soon again.

Hi @Niki. Thanks a lot. I added as Support. See you on Saturday

Thanks @Niki, it will be my pleasure to have you (it's starting to look like an FJ drive 😅).

Dear @Niki this is great news!! Very well deserved promotion, into a position of responsibility that I am sure you'll be able to manage with great competence, and the enthusiasm you have always shown throughout your path forward. See you soon out there with your new stripes.

Hi @Russ. No worries, you can join. Sign yourself up for the drive. See you later.

Well done @Gilbert Khalil. Keep up the good driving, and enjoy your future drives with the new rank.

Dear Desertnauts. A quick rundown of tomorrow exploration. We'll meet and deflate on the side of E55, in the village of Biyatah, in the direction going from Al Dhaid to the small towns Al Lebsa and Kabir. From there we'll look for an appropriate entry point into the long range longitudinal dunes. We'll choose the radio channel on the spot. The convoy order will be the following: @Zixuan Huang - Charlie in Second Lead @Sunil Mathew in position #3 @Charbel at #4 @Thomas Varghese will be #5 @Anoop Nair #6 @Humayun Ghias is going to be #7, and @Shaaz Sha will Sweep. Meeting time will be 2:30PM; please consider the longer distance of the meeting area from Dubai, to reach as much on time as possible. Have a great night, in preparation for a relaxing (Inshallah) afternoon immersed in a typical, yet unusual, Emirati nature.

Hi @Chris Wing. Considering the number of open spots, I can add you to the drive as of now, if you wish to confirm. Thanks

Faqa to Ganthoot: Border Patrol Run - Drive Report The path of least resistance is the path of most allowance - Abraham Warning: this post contains self-criticism questions that I kindly ask the members to help me answer 🤭 As transpires from some post-drive comments, this was indeed "The" longest drive. For most members who joined, as well as for me. Spurred by a background in long-range trips, I have tended to push my drives longer than average (within the half-day time constraints we usually have). Yet, only a handful of drives made it over the 100Km mark, and only one was longer then 110 Km. This "Border Patrol Run" actually beat the previous record (BTW, on a similar Faqa to Qudra route) by 2 KM: 116 Km of total driving, in 40 minutes less driving time than the previous 114Km record. These drives express my philosophy of desert driving: getting from A to B in the shortest possible time, using all available off-roading skills in a safe manner, and being able to visit all the interesting spots along the route (beautiful dune formations, areas of peculiar vegetation, local fauna, geological features). To manage long distance drives, I tend to plan and commit to a "path of least resistance". As the saying goes, this should allow to achieve more, more easily. So, does this mean that these drives are easy ones? This is a question I often ask myself, vis a vis other drives I have done as part of a convoy, led with a more extreme orientation in mind (longer climbs, riskier crossings, taller side-sloping, etc.). Should I favor, at least at Fewbie Plus and Intermediate levels, more daring maneuvers (reaching for higher and faster criss-crossing, or attempt extreme side sloping)? I kindly ask the members who joined, either this or previous long distance drives, to provide me with their view and feedback to the question: did the drive provide the expected challenges, or was it too easy, in the attempt to last longer? Should we have delved longer in play-areas, and providing more challenges in terms of specific skills, at the expense of completing the planned itinerary? Your view will help me perfect my future FB+ and IM drives. Having said this, I must admit that I DID enjoy yesterday's drive a lot. The terrain of choice proved diverse as far as landscapes were concerned, and all-encompassing in terms of the skills necessary to manage it. The convoy behaved in an almost perfect way, both in terms of discipline (only one time the order was broken, when facing a delicate exit from a criss-crossing into a deep man-made track), and driving skills (only one pull off a stuck into an unavoidable sand bowl, and virtually no refusals.....hence my questions: was it too easy, or the drivers were just great?). Perhaps most drivers did not notice that almost from the beginning (except a short initial stretch in Faqa, and the final part of Little Sweihan) we crossed the cordons from the slip-face, hence the drive acquired an additional factor of difficulty. One small disappointment came from the deep man-made tracks we encountered and crossed in most of the Faqa segment. A limiting factor throughout the drive was also the blinding refraction of the sunlight off the sand, forcing me to reduce the drive's speed, in order to avoid dangerous blind spots. Other than these few issues, it was a great drive, covering, as we said, 116Km, in 4:14 hours of driving (with only 40 minutes of breaks), and with an average moving speed of 27Km/h (24 Km/h overall). My thanks for this record-beating drive go to @Thomas Varghese for the Second Lead (well executed, at the perfect distance to guarantee re-directions and corrections), @GauravSoni for anchoring the convoy, and @marks for the Sweep (glad you both saw relatively little action, and could concentrate on having fun). My hat comes off for @Sunil Mathew (I hope you enjoyed your IM baptism), @Ashok chaturvedi (welcome back), @JeromeFJ, @Looper, @Matt.T, @Arman, @Lawrence_Chehimi, @Ranjan Das and @Russ, all of whom drove almost in silence, which I take as a sign of concentration and enjoyment. Thank you very much for your participation. While I wish you all a great week, I am looking forward to your feedback regarding how to improve these IM drives, if you think some adjustments should be made.

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 Ban from Carnity Off-road Club Two Way Radio Guidelines Drive Details Level: Newbie and above Meeting time: 6:30 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/46fWhG5bFY9VCQdz6 Off Al Shohadaa Road, past Sheik Khalifa Specialty Hospital. Action Plan: The drive's challenge will be mainly searching for the right path through an area rich with vegetation (trees, shrubs and grasses), animals (wild and raised), and with extended longitudinal dunes, with their very powdery, humpy and broken crests, and a few, spectacular, sabkhas. We may often use driven sand tracks taken by locals moving in between farms. The style of driving will be mostly technical (requiring finesse and control), with some safe ridge riding, testing a more complete set of off-roading skills, and providing a good opportunity to make you a more complete desert driver. We will make stops at specific locations to explain a little about the different flora we'll encounter, and learn a little more about a unique Emirati desert environment. 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: 10:30 AM P.S. Only join if you have a compressor to inflate your tires after the drive. LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE: Limited to 12 cars maximum. RSVP will close on Monday - 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

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 Ban from Carnity Off-road Club Two Way Radio Guidelines Drive Details Level: Fewbie plus and above Meeting time: 2:30 PM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/zxDkhhQHo2jtrgNx5 Action Plan: In preparation for a future drive, I am planning to look at the area East of E55, and south of the Ritz-Carlton RAK Desert Resort. The track should eventually run into an older route, already driven at all levels under the "Sand to Mountain" title. The drive's challenge will be mainly searching for the right path through an area rich with vegetation (trees and shrubs), animals (wild and raised), and with extended longitudinal dunes, with their very powdery, humpy and broken crests. We may often use driven sand tracks taken by locals moving in between farms. The style of driving will be mostly technical, with the overall goal of the drive being that of putting together a potential new route, while enjoying a relaxing afternoon in an unusually (and atypical) Emirati environment. 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: 6:30 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 Monday - 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, as you may have seen, the meeting and deflation point has been added to the drive's post. It's https://maps.app.goo.gl/uL39XkdFUb2rGHMX6 which is in Faqa town, next to one of the mosques, just past Faqa's Police Station. From here we'll move into Dubai's side of Faqa, with the following convoy order: @Thomas Varghese in Second Lead @Sunil Mathew in position #3 @Ashok chaturvedi at #4 @JeromeFJ will be #5 @Looper #6 @GauravSoni will be Center Forward @Matt.T will drive as #8 @Arman at #9 @Lawrence_Chehimi in place #10 @Ranjan Das as #11 @Russ in place #12, and finally @marks will Sweep the convoy. Our communication will be tuned into Carnity Channel #1 (446.006). The meeting time will be 6:00AM, with the plan to leave ASAP, considering that first light will break at 5:43, and the sun will rise, behind us, at 6:04. See you all tomorrow. Enjoy your Friday evening.

Thanks @Rawad. Sorry to miss you.

Dear Desertnauts. A first round of info about next Saturday's drive. In particular, about the route, it'll copy and paste four previously driven tracks (Faqa's lower area, the crossing of a technical area just south of Solar Park, Little Sweihan, and the Ganhtoot route) with a few likely addittions (the approach to Little Sweihan, and the exit toward the Qudra/Ganhtoot road). The length of the drive will be considerable, and will depend, in terms of time, on the quality of the convoy, the amount of concentration we'll manage to keep, as well as our speedy, yet safe, driving skills. You will find a rough drawing of the planned track in the attached image, with the areas circled in red as possible exploration locations. If anything will work against this plan, there are plenty of opportunities to exit sooner. At the moment, I am welcoming to the drive @Russ, @Ranjan Das, @Lawrence_Chehimi, @Arman, @Matt.T, @Looper, @JeromeFJ, @Ashok chaturvedi, @Sunil Mathew, @Thomas Varghese, as well as @GauravSoni as support. Also, @Rawad and @Niki, waiting in the wings, will be welcomed as soon as I can sort out a suitable convoy order and support positions. In the meantime, enjoy the rest of the week.