Ale Vallecchi

Hello @Senthil Kumar. I will add you to the WL. Thanks Hi @Kailas. No worries. Will do. Thanks.

Hello @Yasas Dharmadasa. You are welcome to join. Thanks Dear @Yasas Dharmadasa, @Gok Krish, @Baskaran P.R and @Athula Dharmadada, can you please confirm that you have aknowledged the Anti Covid-19 rules, as posted on the drive's announcement (by clicking on the "totally agree" icon)? Thanks a lot for confirming, and sorry for asking in case you had done it already.

Hello @Yasas Dharmadasa. You are welcome to join. Thanks

@Shyam Karat well noted. Thank you very much.

Hello @Ilya Golubinsky. You will be #4 on the WL. Thanks

Good morning Desertnauts. @Christian Andras, @Islam Soliman, @Kailas, @Biju Abdul, @Jeandre Bezuidenhout, @Anish S, @Tamas Hoffmann, @Tero Vallas, @Rizwanm2, @tcarrimjee, @Chaitanya D and @Foxtrot Oscar it's time to start savoring next Saturday's drive 🤤. Once again, as it's happened lately, Carnity has added a new dish on its menu. In fact, this drive will take us into yet another new area. Even better, considering that we only did a partial recce of this itinerary, approximately half of the drive will be an exploration, in search of enjoyable dunes. One of the reason why this part of Dubai is little explored by off-roading clubs is that this is where on of the Royal villas is located. The property is huge and well fenced, so that this drive will develop all around it, without infringing on any of its boundaries, while we'll be looking for clean playable dunes to ride. We may also encounter locals practicing the art of falconry, as well as camel farmers. The vegetation here is enough to sustain year-round grazing, even though it will not be as abundant as in other parts of Dubai. The terrain will vary from wider open yellow sand dunes (never quite high, nonetheless intriguing), to tighter technical areas (especially in the second part of the drive), which are however always surrounded by flat stretches, that allow relatively quick exits and re-directions. The skills we'll practice on this drive, besides adapting and reacting to a new terrain in the exploratory part of the itinerary, will be side sloping, ridge riding and crossing. While looking forward to seeing you on Saturday, please enjoy your week.

Hello @David Ortells. You are #1 on the WL. Thanks Hello @andy_macdxb. Yours is spot #2 on the WL. Thanks Hi @jodha singh shekhawat, you are #3 in the WL. Thanks.

@SureshVNair well noted. Sorry for the mix up 😊

Dear Desertnauts. @Rizwan Waheed, @Syed Raza Hussain, @Kailas, @Athula Dharmadada, @Andrei, @Gok Krish, @Ashy, @Hardik Mody, @Shyam Karat, @Mikhail Lukichev, @Baskaran P.R and @Suresh Nair, welcome to this drive. In anticipation of this Friday's drive, here are some information about what we are looking forward to. As we know, arboretum means "a botanical garden devoted to trees". While it's not likely that this area would qualify as a "garden" by any botanical standards, it is actually quite full of trees. The northern part of Faqa, in fact, benefits from a higher aquifer, which allows for a very abundant presence of trees, rarely alone, and more frequently gathered in sparse copses. We will enter the long range, white sand dunes, of this area through some of these groups of trees, and we'll continue in a southerly directions, toward the heart of the Faqa region. From here we will either double back toward the entry point, or continue eastward, looking to reach Faqa town, depending on the convoy's response to the more technical nature of the terrain which characterizes the second half of the drive. This is in fact an area that is usually visited by Fewbies and above convoys. Nonetheless, the nature of the northern sector of Faqa, with waves of long range, relatively open dunes, allows for safe travel also by Newbies in search for a bit of a challenge. Hence Arboretum 101 as the name of the drive, to suggest a Newbie level outing with the chance to taste, in a safe and controlled manner, some of the challenges to come once achieved a higher rank. It will provide the convoy with ample opportunities to practice low side slopes, riding on smooth, wide ridges, and straight crossing low dunes, honing one's off-roading skills, especially in the areas of finesse and control. More info to follow just before the drive. In the meantime, enjoy your week.

Hello @jodha singh shekhawat. I will add you to the WL as #1. 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: Fewbie and Above When: 3 October 2020, Saturday. Meeting time: 6:00 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Action Plan: We will explore another BRAND NEW AREA. We will drive through a stretch of desert usually visited only by locals, where we will practice controlled driving over technical dunes, side sloping, principles of ridge riding and crossing (low dunes), at a leisurely pace. Meeting Point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/ZmTBPqSLqiX3nHKL8 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: 10:00 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 Fewbie and above drivers. 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. 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 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: Newbie and Above When: 2 October 2020, Friday. Meeting time: 6:00 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Action Plan: Navigate around and through some long range dunes, with opportunities for straight crossing and some side sloping. We may cross occasional technical dunes, where more precision and finesse will be required. The pace of the drive will be leisurely. Meeting Point: https://maps.google.com/?q=24.727729,55.558290 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: 10:00 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 12 Newbie and above drivers. 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. 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

What an epic drive in technical dunes' hell!! Wicked idea by @Gaurav (apparently inspired by @Srikumar) to choose the Lisaili to Faqa drive headline as a bait 😉 for a fun filled itinerary, while actually designing an excruciatingly difficult challenge for the last Leaders Lead session. Almost entirely focused on the super technical dunes between Lisaili and Murquab, this was one of the most difficult drive I had to do while with Carnity. My hats off to all the soon to be leaders for facing up to the challenge without batting an eye, always responding with a positive, energetic and calm attitude to the difficulties revealing themselves dune after dune after dune. @Chaitanya D, @Tbone, @Kalahari, @Brette and @sertac all displayed leaders' qualities, by driving with flair, control, unwavering determination and resilience, plus supporting each other when needed. I was also very impressed by everybody's calm and clear communication skills, even under quite a deal of pressure. I dare just giving them one advice: you can never plan enough, even the unplanned. I realize that nobody wishes to take a convoy in little fun, hard to navigate, technical areas, but on any drive one can find himself ending up in such an unplanned situation. This is why I suggest you always mark on your maps multiple exit points, especially in proximity to the technical areas. Take your time to look back at the maps, especially while driving through these areas, and at the same time take visuals of the surrounding terrain, so that anytime you find yourself in a tight spot, you may have one or more ways out, even though this may mean not reaching the planned exit point. As we said today, you cannot control all aspects of a drive while planning it at home, but you can do your best to be prepared, and minimize any risks you may encounter. Having said this, I congratulate all of you guys with today's achievements. You led in one of the most difficult terrains you may find in this area, and you came out successfully. Great job. See you soon with your new stripes on.

THE JOY RIDE - Lahbab to Margham Relay Drive Report There are times that drives become a source of pure joy. Like yesterday. A thoroughly enjoyable itinerary, in a brand new area of Dubai, with a smooth beginning on long low yellow dines, and an exciting finish on a large, intricate bowl area of red sands. Joy was starting from Lahbab, through an entrance just past the truck resting area, moving in a south-westerly direction, to cross several low long range dunes, just as the sun was coming up the horizon. After a short technical briefing about dune crossing, joy was practicing what we had just preached, on a mixed terrain of low dunes and open sabkhas. This is an area visited only by locals, and joy was seeing them practicing the art of falconry, or making a living with camel farming. Joy was reaching some higher dunes, a bit tighter than the earlier ones, just after crossing an oil (or gas?) interred pipeline (through a fenced passage with the look of a mine field). Great joy was to hear Richard's voice crackling on the radio, just before seeing him come up from behind a dune, followed by the other half of the Relay convoy, for a meeting that took place at an unplanned location (we missed the original one due to the different timing of the two convoys). And finally, elating joy was riding the numerous bowls, lined up one after the other on the red sand pyramid dune facing Nazwa (and at the back of Margham), with the all encompassing view of Pink Rock and Big Red in the hazy distance. A perfect ride in a beautiful location, with a very well synced group of drivers. Thank you @Kalahari for the impeccable Second Lead and recovery support, as well as to @Nivin and @marks, respectively at Center Forward and Sweep, for their enthusiasm and efforts in managing the few refusals and stucks at the back of the convoy. Great job by new Fewbies @Hatim Patharia and @Mohamed Seidam: your graduation was well deserved. Many thanks to @Mehmet Volga, @Biju Abdul, @Nabil Bishara, @Shaaz Sha and @Tero Vallas for joining and making sure that the drive went well, also thanks to their poised and sure-footed driving in an only apparently easy area. At the end of the day, we had driven for 52 Km, in 4:01 hours, at an average speed of 13 Km/h (and 21 Km/h while moving), at altitudes ranging from 61 meters to 134 meters. Speaking of joy, please enjoy your week, looking forward to seeing you soon again on the sand.

@Wrangeld in TOP form for this report !! Great reading you. Yes, it was wonderful to meet, and especially so because we managed to do it at a different place than originally planned. When I had almost given up on our "relay" stop, there you were, coming up from behind a dune, closer to the play area. You guys were having too much fun riding up and down those bowls!! Of course, we will visit that beautiful location again, for a repetition of the Relay Drive: do not forget that other half of the area which we visited two weeks ago, still untouched by Carnity wheels 😜

Dear Desert goers. Time to get ready for tomorrow's drive. First, the convoy order: @Kalahari in Second Lead will be your leader (as you may know, the convoy always follows the Second Lead, who is the driver with the best and cleanest track, based on my possible corrections and re-directions). @Hatim Patharia will make his debut as Fewbie at #3 @Tero Vallas will start at #4 @Mohamed Seidam will take position #5 @Mehmet Volga will follow at #6 @Nivin will celebrate his new Intermediate rank by anchoring the convoy at Center Forward @Nabil Bishara will cover position #8 @Miguel Ibarbia will drive at #9 @Shaaz Sha will wear jersey #10 @Biju Abdul starts at #11, and @marks will Sweep the convoy. Regarding the itinerary, we will meet a few hundred meters past Lahbab's big trucks' rest and parking area, and will stop to deflate just beyond an open gate through the fence running parallel to the tarmac road. When you reach the meeting's location please tune into Carnity channel 1 (446.006). You may refuel at a Emarat gas station just before taking the turn toward Labhab on the E66, or at an Eppco station as you enter Lahbab. The drive will take us first through a relatively mixed area (some trees, a bit of vegetation, and some low dunes traversed by a few tracks, that will slowly become more sandy, and a little technical (which is where your foot's sensitivity should adapt to the terrain, using short bursts of power when needed, but mostly being gentle on the accelerator). About half way we should start crossing some open areas, coasted by longer range dunes, until toward the end we'll reach a very mouth-watering set of higher dunes and bowls, of a beautiful redder sand, where we can play as much as possible. Please remember to make sure you have a compressor (no gas stations near the exit point), and the minimum required tools for Fewbies (a good shovel is mandatory). Enjoy your last day of the week, and see you tomorrow at 5:30 SHARP.

Congrats Nivin!! See you tomorrow 😄

Hello @Rizwanm2 I will. You are currently #4.

Ciao @Luca Palanca Falsini. I surely will. Thanks for asking.

@Lorenzo Candelpergher of course I am in 👍

Dear Desertnauts. Carnity is very pleased to present you with another, brand new, area to visit during our weekend drives. This time, we have explored, and chosen for you, the stretch of dunes between the farming villages of Lahbab and Margham. This is an area that some of you may know also for the presence of one the Royal villas. Perhaps for this reason, it is very little visited by off-roading clubs, with the few tracks that one encounters mostly made by locals. The terrain is mostly made of low yellow colored dunes, not very high and with frequent openings between cordons, that allow an intricate, yet quite safe, navigation. Some low bushy vegetation is present (as almost everywhere else this year) but less dense than in other areas nearby. There is also a very nice play area, of relatively taller dunes, presenting some large sand bowls. The skills required to complete the drive successfully will be controlled driving over technical dunes, side sloping techniques, and principles of ridge riding and crossing over (low dunes). In order to allow more drivers to enjoy this nice new playground, we have decided to launch the "Relay drive" format. As explained in the post's Action Plan, we have organized 2 separate convoys (this one and Richard's), that will follow roughly the same path, but each leaving at opposite ends, and exiting at the other convoy' starting point. The 2 convoys plan to meet halfway through the drive to exchange a symbolic "baton" (like in a relay track race). We think the "relay" format is a safe way to drive 2 convoys through the same area, rather than creating one convoy, too large to manage effectively. @Hatim Patharia, @Nivin, @Mehmet Volga, @Biju Abdul, @marks, @Miguel Ibarbia, @Mohamed Seidam, @Nabil Bishara, @Shaaz Sha, @Melenany, and @Kalahari I look forward to seeing you all on Friday. Have a great week.

@muzamil hussain I will do that (you're #1). I am also asking @Wrangeld to consider your name if a spot opens up in his drive (the track is inverted, but is the same). @Vineeth John Joseph you are currently #2 in the waiting list. I am also asking @Wrangeld to consider your name if a spot opens up in his drive (the track is inverted, but is the same).

Great job @Shaaz Sha. I look forward to seeing soon out there, facing new challenges.