Ale Vallecchi

@Najeeb Mohammed As you also drive an FJ I can try to offer you my view, as it was watching you from a bit far away. First question is what gear were you driving to go up the dune in the play area? With shifty sand, and a few ruts (you were going 4th or 5th) you probably needed more momentum, using perhaps a lower gear than 4H-4. Did you try a lower gear? Also, as @Emmanuel mentioned on your second attempt, it was important that you approached the ridge where you had problems from a higher point. The FJ has power, but it's still quite long, and if you climb from a low point, the rear will tend to be dragged down on the incline (especially if the momentum is not enough). Your car is lifted (if I remember well) so the issue was not clearance over the ridge. You will have time in the next drives to get more acquainted with each gear you can use in 4H, based on the different terrains and angles (all the way to the lowest 1 gear, very handy in steep climbs of tall dunes, where you need power and control), and see how the car and yourself feel when taking a bit higher approaches. Side sloping is a good time to practice these skills, so try to use these opportunities, while always having the possibility of going down the slope safely, as soon as you feel the gravity is pulling the back of the car, or the momentum is no longer enough.

You did great. Always in control, always ready to react. Even with the big car. Perfect drive✌

Thanks Xaf. I really appreciate your comment. You're too kind. Yes, the FJ is stock. And I did have a problem once with my front right shock, so that's why I try to take it easy, especially on bumpy patches. I figured that before I put some money in the car (and will for sure, at least for the shocks) I ought to learn how to drive it. Plus I enjoy my drives so much that sometimes i prefer to relax and look at the dunes, before attacking them 😊. I guess I like to show them my respect. But as you said, driving styles should be different and yet compatible, so that everybody can learn from each other, as we have together in the last few months. Thanks again, and congrats to you as well. Your love for flying shows also in the desert ✌

Rahim Bhai you are totally right. You should have seen the amount of debris sticking out of the sand at Iftar Bowl and Super Bowl, even weeks after people had been there. Perhaps all we need is to always bring a plastic bag in each car, and collect whatever we find on the way. Unfortunatelly I am sure that even if we went to Iftar Bowl now, in the next couple of weeks garbage would be everywhere, again.

I had a special mount installed. No direct experience with suction mounts, but I have seen most of them hold well enough.

Well done @Anish S. Enjoy the new challenges and opportunities.

Hala Nacho !! Way to go.

Congrats @Matti Brockman. See you soon out there.

Good to see you move up and face new champagne. Well done @Najeeb Mohammed

Bravo @Jolly Abraham !!

Well done @asifk 👏👏👏

Thanks Fred. You made me discover some truly beautiful parts of these deserts. Look forward to our next drives.

Thanks Richard. As I said, driving with you guys has been a blessing. BTW enjoy your deserved days off Thanks Marjan. Your poise and control have been an inspiration for me. Have a great Eid break.

Way to go Xaf !! Looking forward to our weekday's escapades, and many more weekend drives.

Thanks Shamil. Looking forward to see you out there with your new FJ 😅 Merci Emmanuel. 🙏

Thanks @Gaurav, for the constant leadership, and thanks to the whole Carmity team, particularly the Marshals @Rahimdad for introducing me to the Club and inspiring me to pursue desert offroading, @Srikumar for my baptism as an absolute newbie (that first experience is what makes you come back), @Frederic for his constant and invaluable technical advice, and @Emmanuelfor testing me severely with my first unforgettable Fewbie drive (since that drive my girlfriend has preferred to stay home 😅). I also wish to thank some of the guys (and girl) with whom I have been sharing a similar off-roading growing path: @Xaf, @Shamil, @Wrangeld, @Jeepie, @Javier M and @Brette driving with you has both helped and challenged me to learn from each of your individual set of skills, allowing me to adapt and improve my own style. I cannot mention the whole community here, but surely I am grateful to all those with whom I have been driving: every time we go out, at any level of off-roading, it's a very valuable learning experience. I have grown to appreciate this unique community of people (off-roaders is just a small part of what all of us are), which I believe is unique in the UAE for its warmth and sense of collectivity. The way for all of us is forward, and I am happy to be heading forward with all of you.

Speedex is a good place to buy several items (kinetic rope, soft shakes, deflators, pressure gauges, shovel and flag). You may find the same at Ace, but perhaps more expensive. For compressor, radio and pneumatic jacks Dragon Mart.

Thank you all for the drive. Well done, for being the first time out after such a long break. Thanks Fred for the lead and for taking us to see such beautiful sunset view. See you soon on the hot sand.

Sorry for my late reply. I have been online mostly for work and less for pleasure (rare commodity these days). The drive last Saturday was thrilling, and extremely satisfactory. I had been wandering " how the heck do they know where they are going?", and now I know....just a little better. Surely the use of an App helps a lot, and must be mastered, to plan a smooth and safe path, in an apparently seamless way. Having the responsibility of leading people in a safe manner, while having fun, is surely huge, and requires great concentration. I am looking forward to more of these drives, where our knowledge of our cars, and completecset of skills will get tested. Thanks a lot for the great day.

Hi Gaurav. Please let me know if you have a spot for me opens up. Thanks.

Thanks everybody for the fun and smooth drive, in very diverse terrains, with mounting challenges (surely we all learned more about our driving styles, and potential). Just one pic from me, but one that I enjoyed a lot taking. See you soon for another beautiful drive.

Hello everybody. Good to have you all yesterday afternoon in Al Qudra. Very nice group, good driving (stucks always happen, and this time were very few), one epic recovery (which has given all something new to learn), a great day before this rainy saturday. See you soon on the sand.

There may be hope for your daughter. Check the paragraph below taken from DXB Airport's site: Issuance of Visas Effective March 17, UAE authorities have temporarily suspended the issuance of all entry visas. This does not apply to those passengers holding diplomatic passports or those who have had visas issued prior to March 17. It also does not apply to passengers who hold passports from the following countries. These passengers can continue to travel to and from the UAE although may be subject to additional screening. Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brunei, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy (from Rome only), Japan, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Monaco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, San Marino, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, The Vatican, United Kingdom and The United States of America.

Hi Xaf. Good to hear of today's safe recovery. I still think the decision Alexander took was the wisest one. It was dark, and any tricky patch we encountered could have ended up causing much more serious damage. Even when exploring with Gaurav we took a couple of wrong turns, and ran into bushy areas. Good calls were made: 1) attempting to tow the car out as far as we could; 2) quitting while we were still ahead. Also, it would have been too easy, especially for your powerful machine, to do the recovery in daytime. 🤪 After all, we are starting to enjoy these extra hour or two of night time driving.

Just returned home after a long and intense weekend of driving. I take this opportunity to thank Gaurav for both his drives (yesterday Fewebie and today's Newbie). Both great fun, and useful, to always learn something new, face new challenges, and become more confident (yet safe) drivers. Today's was another drive that gave us a bit of night time driving preview, but was well worth it. Enjoy this week's rest, as next weekend we should all be back at it.