Ale Vallecchi

ALL THE REASONS FOR LOVING DESERT OFF-ROADING IN A DRIVE - Full Day Drive Lahbab to Solar Park Report Sunrises and sunsets, misty mornings, sunny days, blazing dusks, yellow, red and white sand, crawling pace, fast runs, lunch with fellow members, coffee, tea, conversation, refusals, second-attempts, working together at sorting stucks, directing traffic amidst tight dunes and rolling bowls, the excitement at starting a drive, and the satisfaction at the end of it. This and more, depending on each one's sensibility, passions and expectations, are the elements that draw certain people irresistibly toward deserts, and off-roading, and which were all available for our enjoyment in yesterdays' full day drive. In terms of the drive itself, most of it had been described in its presentation, so I will not repeat myself. Suffice it to say that all terrains were available to us - sabkhas, with little or lots of vegetation, tight technical areas, long range open (more or less) dunes, play areas with sand bowls, even pylon dirt tracks and tarmac roads. We were chased by the sun, from sunrise to sunset, throughout a drive that took us a total of 6:55 hours, covered 143.2 Kms, at a total average speed of 21 KM/h, and a very impressive 27 KM/H average moving speed in the second segment. As for the most important part of the drive, the human component, my biggest thanks to all the drivers: great driving, great attitude and great company. My first thoughts (and questions) go to @Yasas Dharmadasa and @Athula Dharmadada: it's a pity you had to forfeit the drive due to mechanical issues. Please update us on your car's prognosis. A most felt thank you goes to @Kalahari, resuming his position as trusted Second Lead, often mind reading my corrections, to @Ahab Shamaa, managing the long convoy from the middle and assisting with the winch, and @Francois Germishuys, not only positioned at Sweep due to his long, big, bad truck, but also, and foremost, for his reassuring driving skills. Your support was key to managing a successful long drive such as this. Words of praise go to @Thomas Varghese and @Ken Hüüdma, debuting among Fewbies, but driving like much more experienced off-roaders. With only minor imperfections (a moment of distraction on one side, and an indecision coming off a ridge on the other), you allowed the drive to be bumped up to more than Fewbie, closer to Fewbie Plus, both in terms of skills being applied, and speed sustained. Well done also to @sri ganesh, for overcoming all challenges and perfecting his command of the Pajero (which often requires a bit more time to manage in the desert, to to its length and mechanics). @AlexPol, @VipinShetty, @Joe Biju Joseph and @Islam Soliman, you were the more established, experienced drivers, and managed with so few issues that lifted any worries from my mind, and contributed decisively to raising the bar for this drive. Thanks to all for this first Full Day drive of the season. See you soon out there, for more long treks and explorations. Enjoy the new week.

Good morning @Thomas Varghese. You have nothing to be sorry about. You did great for your first Fewbie drive, which considering the strength of the convoy, I pushed up to a little more than an introduction to Fewbie, and closer to a Fewbie Plus. All drivers, even the less experienced ones, performed admirably, with minimal issues for such a long drive. As mentioned in the drive's presentation, concentration tends to drop toward the end of any drive (usually after 3 hours on the sand), so I am not surprised that a few more refusals and stucks (all solved brilliantly) took place at the end of the long day. The only word of advice, as I gave you yesterday, is to tend to any issues with objects in the car after having reached a safe position, and while stopped. Distraction on the way to a side slope and the following ridge crossing could have led to worse endings than just a small detour and a little delay (both of which are factored into every drive, so no harm done in this). Congrast on your brilliant induction to Fewbie. See you soon out there.

Dear Desertnauts. Time to send out the convoy positions for tomorrow's drive. @Kalahari will resume his place as one of my historic Second Leads @Thomas Varghese will make his debut as Fewbie at #3 @sri ganesh will drive his Pajero at #4 @Ken Hüüdma will follow at #5 @AlexPol will be #6 @Islam Soliman will join at #7 @Ahab Shamaa will christen his new Intermediate rank by being the Center Forward of the convoy @Athula Dharmadada will be the first of the more experienced drivers in the convoy, at #9 @VipinShetty will wear #10 @Yasas Dharmadasa will be #11 @Joe Biju Joseph is going to be #12 @Francois Germishuys will drive his monster at #13, covering what will be the official Sweep Position @Foxtrot Oscar will close the convoy in an unusual Flying Sweep position (we'll get into that tomorrow). All drivers, please remember that: meeting time is 8:00 AM the meeting place is a sabkha just past an opening in the fence coasting the tarmac road, after Lahbab's truck rest area radio channel will be #5 (462.887) lunch will be at Al Namoos Café (next to Skydive) those who prefer to bring their own meal, please do so re-fueling will be done at ADNOC's station on the way to Lisaili See you all tomorrow morning. Have a nice end of the week.

Well done @MUHAMMAD Kashif RAZZAQ. As other guys destined for great things, you have become know by your acronym: MKR. May your growth in our off-roading ranks take you to the top 😃. See you soon out there.

Well done @Salarios. Haven't seen you in a while, and I look forward to driving with you soon.

Dear @Brette, I already congratulated you on our other platforms, but it's necessary that all members know how well earned this promotion is. You worked very hard at it, finding time to constantly learn and improve. And you did so with a car that I believe has given you a few headaches in the past, but that also has honed your skills (to prove that it's not the car which makes a good driver). Well done!!

Bien hecho @Alexander Alcala !! Hasta pronto para nuevas aventuras.

Dear Desertnauts. One quick update regarding our long trek (at least longer than usual 😅). In order to allow each driver to organize themselves with any type of dietary requirement, or simply to follow their habits, I would like to inform you that we will pause for lunch at a cafe just next to Skydive's facilities. The location is just at the end of our morning's track, and provides food, refreshments, a large seating area, as well as toilets. I will share with you the cafe's menu. All those who prefer to bring their own food are welcome to do so. They can just purchase drinks (coffee, tea, juices, etc.) at the cafe, where we'll all take our break together. After lunch and a brief rest, we'll proceed, still deflated (hence with care) toward an ADNOC gas station on the way to Lisaili's exit, and the next entry point. I'll complete my pre-drive instructions tomorrow, with the final convoy order, radio channel, and last recommendations to reach the meeting area. @Foxtrot Oscar, @Kalahari, @Thomas Varghese, @sri ganesh, @Ken Hüüdma, @AlexPol, @Ahab Shamaa, @Athula Dharmadada, @VipinShetty, @Yasas Dharmadasa, @Joe Biju Joseph and @Francois Germishuys, see you soon.

Join us to explore Al Qudra Desert to find what's beyond Qudra lakes And learn the art of offroading in a versatile playground for your first off-road adventure. You will learn to self-drive your vehicle from experts having decades of off-roading experience in the UAE. This area offers a good mix of playable long set of dunes and broad ridges to practise your off-road skills slowly but surely. Drive is open for all 4x4/4WD/SUV/AWD vehicles having 8-10 inches of ground clearance and (MANDATORY) Front and rear tow hooks (MANDATORY) What you'll learn: Introduction to off-roading. Desert driving basics and etiquette. Desert driving tips, techniques, myth and best practices. Off-road and safety gear familiarization and recovery procedures. Vehicle orientation, risk analysis, deflation and outdoor safety advice. First time with Carnity Off-road Club: Please share your vehicle details - Make, Model, Year. Do you have any prior off-road experience? Confirm your vehicle has front and rear tow hooks / eyelets. Why should I join? We will teach you how to self-drive off-road safely and learn the best offroad driving and recovery techniques. If you have already driven in sand before then you can learn more from experts having decades of offroading experience in the UAE. This area offers a good mix of playable long set of dunes and broad ridge to test your off-road control. Can my vehicle do this ? This drive is open for all 4x4/4WD/SUV/AWD vehicle having 8-10 inches of ground clearance and front and rear tow hooks. If in doubt please first announce your questions on the drive thread so we can advise you further. Any stock 4x4/4WD are most welcome, you don't need any vehicle modifications. Can I bring passengers ? Yes of course, but if you are absolute new to offroading it is better to drive alone first to avoid any distractions. Learn More About: Carnity Off-road Club STRICTLY: For ABSOLUTE NEWBIE who are driving for the first time with Carnity. MUST READ AND CLICK TOTALLY AGREE ON THE BELOW COVID19 PRECAUTIONS TOPIC MUST WATCH: NEWBIE VIDEO BRIEFING Drive Details Level: Only for "ABSOLUTE NEWBIES" or first timer with Carnity Off-Road Club When: 22 Jan 2021, Friday. Meeting time: 07:00 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://maps.app.goo.gl/9uK3eZTD9TvFTJVa8 Type of Car: Any 4x4/4WD/SUV/AWD with front and back tow hooks and 8-10 inches of ground clearance. What to bring along: Tire deflator, pressure gauge and compressor, Loads of water, snacks (for yourself), face mask, rubber gloves, enthusiasm and willingness to learn. Approximate finish time: 11:00 AM End Point: Qudra Parking LIMITED SPOTS AVAILABLE: Limited to 12 new members only. RSVP will close on Thursday - 5PM. 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 or members who are not on the RSVP will be returned back - without ANY EXCEPTIONS. Please cancel you RSVP if you cannot make it, so your spot can be taken by others. PLEASE RSVP ON BELOW EVENT IN THE EVENT CALENDAR

Will do @Francois Germishuys. Thanks a lot.

Dear @Francois Germishuys. If you are still without your first drive this WE I can add you to this one, following Arda's dropping out. Please confirm and I'll add you. Thanks.

Sorry to hear that @Arda Yagcioglu. Hope to see you next time.

Yes @Islam Soliman, Oman would be great, and Saudi is on my radar soon.

Dear Desertnauts. Welcome to the first Full Day drive of 2021. Those of you who drove in Liwa, at the beginning of December, are already acquainted with these types of drives. For both these more experienced drivers, as well as for those who will do their first Full Day drive, a few notes about what to expect. Concentration will be a mandatory requirement on this drive. Usually, on a half day drive, concentration starts to ebb after around 3 hours. You may have noticed that refusals and stucks often occur toward the end of the drive. In this case, while we will be able to take a break to lunch and refuel, we will expect drivers to remain alert and concentrated for much longer. There is no secret for this. It's just something each will have to work on, and train (to increase one's ability to concentrate). Being able to sustain longer drives will come in very handy in the occasion of long treks, cross-country trips, camping excursion to other countries (Oman, Saudi, etc.), so we feel it's something which an experienced off-roader should be able to develop. Water and refreshments are also important. Be sure to have enough to drink (losing 2-3% of your body water leads to a significant loss of attention, energy and clarity of mind), and bring dry sugars to nibble on (dates are the preferred snack of long-trek drivers across the Sahara, but cookies should do as well), and we'll help you along the way by taking a few breaks, to stretch, and take your hands off the wheel (ideally, if we were on a long Saharan trek, tea would be served during these breaks). Drive's breakdown will take us from Lahbab to Skydive, in the first half, and from Lisaili to Solar Park, or Qudra (depending on convoy's behavior). Throughout the drive we'll check our tires' pressure more than once, and of course we'll stop at a gas station to refuel (no extra jerry cans are needed). I will let you know if I identify a suitable restaurant where to stop for lunch, or I'll recommend that each brings his own lunch, which we'll take, if necessary, in the desert, just before reaching Skydive, and crossing over to Lisaili. As mentioned in the drive's post, we'll drive through every possible terrain, from sabkhas to technical areas, from small sand bowls plateaus to long range dunes. I will get back to all of you on Thursday, with the final information about the drive. @Foxtrot Oscar, @Kalahari (welcome back!!), @Ken Hüüdma, @Athula Dharmadada, @Thomas Varghese, @Ahab Shamaa, @Yasas Dharmadasa, @AlexPol, @Joe Biju Joseph, @Arda Yagcioglu (is your car sorted out since our last drive?), @VipinShetty and @sri ganesh, I look forward to seeing all of you on a chilly Friday morning in Lahbab. Have a nice week ahead. Yes @Alphin Aloor.I am sorry about this, and look forward to seeing you soon in the future. Thanks a lot.

Dear @Thomas Varghese, as @Rahimdad said, these drives will count as 1 single drive (as the full day drives in Liwa, at the beginning of December). Regarding the goal of reaching the minimum number of drives, I can share with you my personal feelings that it's not so much the sheer number of drives that count, rather the quality of the drives. Each driver, and her/his car, represent a different story, and may learn the necessary off-roading skills and poise earlier or in more time. My recommendation is to focus on one's improvement, bettering one's feeling with the car, and demonstrate, with each drive, how skilled one has become. Rest assured that all seniors on each drive will notice these improvements, and will be able to support the promotion to a higher rank of every single deserving member. I look forward to see you on Friday. Let's have fun!!

Good to have you back @Ahab Shamaa. See you on Friday.

@GauravSoni certainly steering down would have helped, possibly even without further accelerating. I have the impression that the car dug sideways into the soft sand, creating the stumbling block on which it rolled. But, as always, the first mistake was steering up and not down. If done, at worst it may have been stuck in the soft sand, but favouring gravity, not fighting it.

Yes @Mehmet Volga, the sand seems soft (you can see how much was displaced on the surface of the dune with the roll), and the more important mistake, in my opinion, was steering up the dune, probably exactly because the driver thought the dune was low and not sharp, so he would make it anyways. Just to show you it can happen anywhere 😅

It doesn't only happen on high, steep, sharp dunes. VID-20210111-WA0012.mp4

Hello @Islam Soliman. You are #1 on the WL. Thanks Hello @varunmehndiratta. You have the #2 spot on the WL. Thanks. Hello @Francois Germishuys. You are #3 on the WL. Thanks.

@sri ganesh I have added you to the drive. See you on Friday morning.

Dear @Alphin Aloor. Thanks a lot for signing up for the drive. Unfortunately, as you are currently still a Newbie, I'll have to sign you out of this Fewbie drive. Please look for a suitable Newbie drive this weekend. Also, you may apply for promotion to Fewbie, if you feel you have driven enough at your current rank, and if you have fulfilled the requirements. Thanks a lot for understanding.

To the Other Side and back - Faqa Trip Report Long convoy, long dunes, lots of challenges (all passed with flying colors), a long drive, a surprising, brand new exit area, are the ingredients of a wonderful, crisp, sunny Saturday morning. The first faint signs of the sunrise, and a cool 6 degrees welcomed all of us as we reached the meeting point. I am usually among the first two of three to arrive, but this time I found almost all drivers already at the meeting point. After a quick deflation on the sabkha, a long convoy of 14 well motivated drivers moved toward the dunes, in the direction of what I call "the arboretum", an area of wide open dunes, with lots of Ghaf trees, that almost looks like a park. The first slope proved challenging: in spite of the cold weather, the sand was extremely soft, so much that after a few refusals we had to re-route around this first set of dunes, toward a more open area where we finally entered the Faqa plateau. A smooth crossing of this area allowed the convoy to reach the unexplored long range dunes "on the other side", down from the plateau toward E14 (on the border with AD's territory). Yet to be driven by me, I found this location fascinating: a succession of long, open, smooth dunes, dotted with just a few bushes, and occasional copses of Ghaf trees. Nice views of the sabkha to the east (where the E14 and potential exit points are) and of endless rolling dunes, if looking north toward Faqa town. After driving up and down this set of dunes the convoy marched back into the higher part of Faqa, where taller dunes, and several bowls among them, provided the challenges and a nice training ground for a group of Newbies that so far had faced every obstacles with great composure. The location allowed all drivers to challenge themselves with some long side slopes, and climbing not-so-high dunes, the flat top of which gave the chance to mimic an approach to criss-crossing, without running any significant risk. Every refusal was reviewed together with the members, and provided opportunities for learning. The only unexpected stuck, on the soft sand at the bottom of a short slope, gave the chance to produce some team-work in clearing sand, that led to a nice self-recovery job. Once past the Faqa plateau, we decided to skirt the sabkha in the direction of the next range of lower, more technical dunes, which would have eventually led us toward the planned exit point, at the end of Little Sweihan's. All drivers did great, even on this more difficult terrain, where we only experienced a few refusals, and a couple of stucks which required some digging and some pulling. Exiting, eventually after a long drive, which lasted 66Kms, 5:11 hours, at an average moving speed of 24km/h, gave us the final surprise. A brand new exit, along the ever changing Solar Park construction site, where we found a recently (very, very recently) laid tarmac road, leading back toward the glass pyramid of Solar Park. That allowed us to inflate at the very beginning of this new road, and head home, tired but content. Thank you very much to @Joe Biju Joseph for executing a clean Second Lead on his return to the desert, to @Jeepie for anchoring the convoy, and providing prompt assistance to solve each refusal, and to @Niki Patel in what may have been his first Sweep job, which he managed without batting an eyelid. Great thanks also go to @Mike Kraher for improving how to handle his Pajero as we drove, @Baskaran P.R, @Salty3Arab, @Abdul Rahman Abdul Kader and @Osvaldo Porto for bearing with me while correcting their lines on the trickier dunes, to @Ranjan Das, @Thomas Varghese, @Harold Roberts and @varunmehndiratta for driving patiently and efficiently at the back of such long convoy, and to @Dodi Syahdar for giving all the opportunity to assist him in a very well handled recovery of his long "beast". Very well done everybody. Hope to see you soon on the sand. Have a great week.