Ale Vallecchi

Thanks @Darren Brooke. See you tomorrow.

Hi @Karthik Krishnakumar you will be #2 on the WL. Thanks

Thank you @Senthil Kumar for advising. Get better and see you soon Hi @Darren Brooke. You are IN the drive. Can you please confirm your presence?.Thanks a lot.

Dear @Hardik Mody, dear @Yusuf Esaf, can you please inform which car you will be driving this Friday? Thanks a lot.

Hi @GauravSoni. Copy that. Glad you caught it ontime. See you soon.

Hi @siddharth maheshwari. Thanks for advising. See you next time.

Dear Desertnauts. A few updates about tomorrow's afternoon drive. Please note that the time has been moved from my last PM drive. We will now meet a little later, at 4:00PM sharp. The sooner we start, the more time we have for the drive, which will not be a night drive. The meeting point will be just past the Mosque, on the other side of one of the racing tracks at Lisaili. We'll move along the pylon track as long as it will be necessary to pass the camel track to their left, which runs for quite a bit. As soon as the camel track ends, we'll leave the pylon track, and enter a small but "busy" technical area, aiming for the long range dunes. We'll pick the radio channel as soon as we'll all reach the meeting point, looking for one with as few interferences as possible. First the drive will explore the parts of Lisaili closer to Margham, roaming in a south-easterly direction, then we'll turn to the west, to drive along the plateu's cordons, for most of its length. Before reaching Solar Park, we'll hang again toward the south-east, one more time, to look at some more long range, wide dunes. If all goes well, we'll look to prolonging the drive in the Qudra area, until the sun sets. In essence, given the level of the drive's members, we'll mix a well practiced track with a couple of exploration stints. Tomorrow's convoy order will be as follows: @Kalahari in Second Lead, @siddharth maheshwari at #3 @M.Seidam at #4 @Gok Krish at #5 @Islam Soliman will drive at Center Forward @Thomas Varghese at #7 @GauravSoni at #8 @Rob H will be #9 @Ahab Shamaa is #10, and @Shaaz Sha will Sweep the convoy. Looking forward to seeing you all tomorrow afternoon. Have a nice evening.

Ciao @PaoloMaraziti. You are #1 on the WL. Thanks Hello @Darren Brooke. You are in the WL at #2. Thanks Hello @Ranjan Das. You are #3 in the WL. Thanks a lot.

Murqaab to Solar Park: Chased by the Sun - Drive Report "Strength doesn't come from what you can do. It comes from overcoming you things you once thought you couldn't." - Rumi Dear Desertanuts. When I plan Newbie drives I prefer to look into areas that can offer e variety of challenges, which can allow, on one hand, to escalate the drive to a higher level of difficulty, and on the other, to guarantee that any troubles and delays can be safely handled, with a number of exit points readily available. The former aspect, that of being able to bump the drive up, is the one that I dedicate more time to: to be able to reach a more challenging level, testing the drivers' skills beyond their perceived levels, and beginning to get a taste of what's to come at higher ranks. In this particular drive, the area of Murqaab was perfect for a nice and easy start, with its tall but humpy and gentle dunes. After the warm up, and a short drive along the sand highway connecting Murqaab to Lisaili, the latter plateau provided the perfect terrain for pushing the drive to higher levels. The low, compact and open dunes at the beginning of the Lisaili area were great for setting the drive's pace a little faster. After a while, with the convoy in full swing, the taller and tighter dunes, dotted with long canyons and deeper sandy bowls, gave the convoy a preview of what Fewbie and above drives are going to be. All of the above while we were always followed by the sun, rising higher and warmer in the sky behind the convoy. A couple of nice treats made the drive even more interesting: a small copse of Ghaf trees, in an area I strayed into for the first time, and a spectacular long caravan of camels, led by their shepherd, on the back of his "desert ship". The drive came to an end just next to so-called "Three Trees", where another camel's caravan was resting under the shade provided by these 3 lonely trees, taking the place of the caravans and tents which often occupy this great picnic and sunset area, just next to the tarmac road from Solar Park to Qudra Lakes. From the drive and convoy's points of view, I walked away from the drive with a pleasant taste in my mouth, and a smile on my lips. All drivers did great, rising to the Lisaili challenge, "overcoming things they may once have thought they couldn't". The stucks occurred mostly at the beginning of the drive, when cars and drivers were still "cold", while a number of expectable refusals, in the middle if Lisaili, were expertly handled by the omnipresent duo of @Veedooshee and @Mukundan Nair, always offering calm, reassuring, and competent advise to support the members' self recoveries. Considering the smoothness of the drive, I question myself if I made it too easy. More likely, the convoy responded greatly to the obstacles, testing themselves successfully with rudiments of ridge riding and criss-crossing, where the gentle nature of the dunes allowed them. So well done do everybody: @Alfred Alinazar (very well executed Second Lead), @Paolo Pellegrini, @Naim Aoun, @Abdul Rafay-S, @shu yang (I hope your kid recovered from the sea-sickness), @Jamil Abou Assali, @Joseph Sebastian (how is your car's gear?), @Luc Khaldoun (always drive in "snow mode" from now on), and @Ivan Pironi. Great drive all of you!! At the end of the day, with the sun having caught up with us, and well high in the sky, the drive lasted 3:50 hours, of which 2:30 moving, covering 60.3 Km, at 24 Km/h while moving (and 16 Km/h overall average speed). As far as the bonus drive provided for @Yousef Alimadadi (great thanks for taking up the lead of the extended half of the convoy), @Vanessa8580 (sweeping it to safety), @Kalahari, @Thomas Varghese, @Veedooshee and @Mukundan Nair, the Intermediates and above who had joined the extended convoy, well, there isn't much to say. In fact, almost the entire drive was done in silence, every driver just concentrated on the route, and enjoying a flawless performance. We went from the "Three Trees", across the tarmac, toward the southern long dunes of Bab al Shams, and all the way up to Qudra's exit, zipping through all kinds of terrains, covering 53.6 Km in just 1:39 hour (with only 2 minutes of stopping time (due to a piece of vegetation getting stuck at the back of Vanessa' car and setting her alarms off), driving at an average moving speed of 33Km/h. A superb and totally fun drive, worthy of Carnity's Long Range Desert Patrols, which concluded a great Friday morning. Thanks to all for joining. Have a great week ahead.

No worries @M.Seidam. The drive is open. Thanks for joining.

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 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 MUST READ AND TOTALLY AGREE: BAN POST Two Way Radio Guidelines Every Offroader brings his own radio, programmed to the frequencies described in below advice topic. We will not share spare radios or program your radio on the drive. If you need assistance in programming the radio, post a topic on the Carnity website with your questions and we will help you out. Make sure your radio is fully charged. It will be your only way of communication while driving. Before buying, please carefully read below advice so you are informed properly on which model / cost / shops... No radio = No drive. It is an essential tool and you should make sure you bring it on every drive and learn/practice how to use it. MUST WATCH: NEWBIE VIDEO BRIEFING Drive Details Level: Fewbie and above (All Level) Meeting time: 5:00 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/QpQXy1bXzZ6a4qKM7 Action Plan: This will be the second drive offering a Ridge Riding feast in this rarely driven area. We will enter from the outskirts of the farming town of Al Aweer, encountering from the beginning an endless field of very long and open dunes. These will reach all the way to the other side of S149 (which we'll cross), almost all the way to Mahafiz. These dunes' ridges are quite long, smooth (not very sharp), yet wavy and irregularly shaped, and can be ridden, with care, for most of their length. Besides ridge-riding, we'll practice side-sloping, and will hone our abilities to climb, as well as exit and descend with care from the dunes' tops. 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 10 cars maximum. RSVP will close on Thursday - 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 @Tero Vallas, @Thomas Varghese, @GauravSoni, @Hisham Masaad, @Amir Amiri, @Rob H, @Abu Muhammad, as promised, I have reposted the drive to make up for the one we had to exit at Faqa two weeks ago. I had to pick a different area, due to Carnity's ban on Faqa's drives, yet I believe the itinerary I picked can provide similar challenges (perhaps more) than the one we had to interrupt. Please let me know if I should add you to the drive, as I had promised I would, or if you wish to do it (or not) yourselves. Thanks a lot.

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 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 MUST READ AND TOTALLY AGREE: BAN POST Two Way Radio Guidelines Every Off-roader brings his own radio, programmed to the frequencies described in below advice topic. We will not share spare radios or program your radio on the drive. If you need assistance in programming the radio, post a topic on the Carnity website with your questions and we will help you out. Make sure your radio is fully charged. It will be your only way of communication while driving. Before buying, please carefully read below advice so you are informed properly on which model / cost / shops... No radio = No drive. It is an essential tool and you should make sure you bring it on every drive and learn/practice how to use it. Drive Details Level: Intermediate Level and Above When: 16 June 2021, Wednesday. Meeting time: 4:00 PM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Action Plan: Following the early exit of the Faqa drive 2 weeks ago, and the later Carnity ban from Faqa's area, we are offering a sequel in a similarly complex and interesting terrain, with this sustained paced drive, tackling a mix of technical dunes (the infamous Lisaili entry sector) and a majority of long range, tall dunes, starting from the Cameldrome, first heading toward the Margham sector, then back toward Solar Park and beyond, as far as the daylight will allow us. Meeting Point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/V1SQwxnUEXJLGh4X6 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: 7:30PM 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 Intermediates and above drivers. RSVP will close on Tuesday - 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. 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

Dear Desertnauts, let's finalize tomorrow's drive. As you may have noticed from my previous posts, it seems this itinerary has been quite successful, so we have decided to: open it up to 2 convoys reserving Convoy A (mine) for Newbies (as this drive was originally destined to) shifting all the Fewbies and above, who had signed up or waitlisted, to Convoy B, which will be led by @Yousef Alimadadi provide a bonus drive for all Fewbies and above who wish to join it, if time allows, once the itinerary reaches the planned exit point (usually we limit Newbies drive to max 3 hours, so it's preferable not to extend their drive beyond this time limit). With this in mind, the following will be CONVOY A, led by myself: @Alfred Alinazar in Second Lead @Paolo Pellegrini #3 @Naim Aoun #4 @Abdul Rafay-S #5 @shu yang #6 @Veedooshee anchoring the convoy at Center Forward @Jamil Abou Assali #8 @Joseph Sebastian #9 @Luc Khaldoun #10 @Ivan Pironi #11, while @Mukundan Nair will Sweep the convoy. This convoy will line up on the RIGHT of the tarmac road, just past the Murqaab Mosque, and will tune the radios to Carnity Channel #2 (446.031). This is one of the more challenging areas for Newbie drives, especially the part going through Lisaili, so be ready to be fully concentrated, patient with yourselves and other drivers, in case of likely refusals and stuck, and willing to raise your off-roading skills to a higher (yet safe and achievable) level. CONVOY B, led by @Yousef Alimadadi, on the other hand will be composed as follows: @varunmehndiratta in Second Lead @Pierre de Maigret #3 @Adhir Saxena #4 @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil at #5 @Tero Vallas at #6 @Kalahari will anchor the convoy at Center Forward @Ehab at #8 @PaoloMaraziti at #9 @Thomas Varghese at #10 @Goutam at #11, and @Vanessa8580 covering the Sweeping position. This second convoy should line up on the LEFT side of the tarmac road, past Murqaab Mosque. Please make sure you are lined up on the correct side of the road, with your convoy, to minimize confusion and wastes of time before departure. The radio channel for the second convoy will be Carnity Channel #4 (446.081). Yousef and I will be in contact on a different radio channel from the ones used by the convoys, so that we can update each other with any situations about the respective convoys. All Fewbies and above will surely love this drive, in one of the more versatile areas of Dubai, with plenty of challenges, as well as opportunities to enjoy beautiful views, and relax (at times). Both convoys are planning to exit at the so called "Three Tree" 's location, just before the junction between the dirt track running along Lisaili's pylons, and the tarmac road joining Qudra's Last Exit with Solar Park. LOOKING FORWARD TO SEEING EVERYBODY, PUNCTUAL, AT 5:00 AM. Have a great end of the week.

@Thomas Varghese thank you very much for your kind request. I would love to satisfy it, but it'll have to be for another time. The way the 2 convoys have been designed is to have all Newbies in one, and the Fewbie and above in the other. As an Intermediate, you'll be in the second convoy, where support will be provided by a Marshal and an Extreme member who has completed the Leaders Lead course. It will surely be for another time, soon. See you tomorrow.

Hi @Tero Vallas. Thanks for informing me. Since we have divided the convoy, making one only with Newbies, and the other Fewbie and above, I'd rather not change it around. Nonetheless, I understand your request, so I have thought of placing you in an easy and relaxing convoy position. You'll but quite upfront (cleaner tracks) and you will not have recovery or other responsibilities, so you can just enjoy the drive. Kalahari and @Vanessa8580, will be supporting the convoy, so it should be a smooth and enjoyable one. Let me know if this satisfies you. Thanks a lot.

Hello @Ehab, hello @PaoloMaraziti. I know you had been waitlisted in @marks drive. I can accommodate both of you in the Fewbie half of my drive, in the convoy that will be led by @Yousef Alimadadi. If you want to join, please confirm here within the next hour, before I close the drive for good. Thanks a lot.

Hi @Goutam. I will add you in place of Ahab. Thanks.

Hi @Ahab Shamaa. I hope all is good anyways. See you next time.

LAST UPDATE @shu yang, @Jamil Abou Assali, @Tero Vallas and @Ahab Shamaa, you are all IN the drive. Please re-confirm that you wish to join. At this point, given the great response to the drive, we will split the convoy in 2, with myself leading the Newbies, and @Yousef Alimadadi leading the Fewbies and above. I will soon get back to all with the final convoy split, and the responsibilities given to the Seniors in both convoys. We will all meet at the original meeting point, at Murqaab Mosque, and will leave together. We also plan to reach the same exit point, with both convoys. This will be at the so called "Three trees", at the junction between the dirt road from Lisaili, along the pylons, and the tarmac road from Qudra to Solar Park. From this point on, if time permits and both convoys reach around the same time (approx. 9:30am), I would like to offer a drive extension to all Fewbies and above, from this exit point onward to Bab al Shams via Qudra (for those who wish to continue). The latest details, and convoy order, by this evening. Have a great day!!

Hello @Jamil Abou Assali. You will be #3 on the WL. Thanks a lot.

Hi @Tero Vallas, hi @Ahab Shamaa. I'll do my best to accommodate everyone. Will revert tomorrow with a possible solution. Thanks. Hi @Thomas Varghese. Let me see how I can handle the situation before dropping you. Will reply tomorrow. Thanks

Hi Hisham. This time I was thinking of starting at 4pm. Let's see if that's OK, or should shift to AM (perhaps not too early, but still with cooler temps).