Wrangeld

The One Where Rahimdad Did Not Lead I would never have imagined six months ago after our first newbie drives that @Rahimdad would entrust the lead of a Carnity drive to @Jeepie and myself. But, to my great amazement that's what just happened and it's just sinking in. It's possible, even with a COVID sized break in drives that you can, with the guidance of our amazing crew and marshalls, learn enough so that you get the chance to take the lead of a drive (supervised of course) and get to feel what it's like to have to make the choices about where to go. It helps that the drivers in the convoy are all experienced, then you feel that if you go the 'wrong way' everyone can follow. So we arrived this morning to find the deflation point looking like the Dubai Mall car park as not only Carnity but another group were readying for the off. It was great to see our recently promoted expert @Javier M driving off into the distance. With @Jeepie at the wheel we set of with @Rahimdad in second lead. @Foxtrot Oscar followed with @Lorenzo Candelpergher @Shiju Manuel filling in the gaps to our new centre forward @Vanessa8580. In this early part of the drive @Vanessa8580 handled all the refusals with great advice, supported by @sertac who was sweeping the convoy today. @Jeepie having slowly but surely increased the intensity and led the convoy to the first play area and was rewarded with Rahimdad extending the period of the lead because, frankly everyone was enjoying the drive so much. The soft sand was becoming a little more challenging and we had more stucks as we slipped and sliced our way towards Fossil Rock. After an hour or so on the move we had a long dig out for @Shiju Manuel and It was decided that i would have a chance to take over the lead. We moved off, enthusiastically (well, I was any how!) but the going was getting less easy as the sand is very dry. It seemed everyone was enjoying the challenge @Kalahari @Mels Wolf @asifk and @Colin Jordan @J J all showed how three completely different makes of vehicles can all handle the dunes when in the hands of really competent drivers. We made or way quickly to our next play area. Unfortunately sorting out the pop out from @Vanessa8580 meant we had another delay, reducing the play time again. In the desert heat, having the patience to wait in the car is admirable. Once on the move again, we almost immediately stopped because there was the most amazing lizard in our sights. It was so exciting that @Rahimdad got stuck and had to be tugged free by sertac. With the increasing heat, it became clear that tyres needed to be checked again and unfortunately @Rinelle Sanaani had a problem with his radio. Despite there being a few spares in the convoy, COVID rules are clear. So Rinelle exited and the rest of us launched ourselves up Fossil Rock. Noone had any problems until we arrived at the top and found a few cars were overheating, so we sprayed the radiators, allowed fans to run and prepared for the quick descent down the slipface of the rock. With temperatures rising to hotter than the sun, we took the quick route out of the desert to reinflate as it was already past 10am. From where I sat, in the passenger seat, I think @Jeepie did an amazing job in her first lead. I just hope that the convoy enjoyed the part where I led, despite the stops, as much as I did leading. Thank you all for your indulgence. The excellent skills of the rest of the convoy made it a lot easier for both of us to think about where we were going instead of looking back the whole time to check everyone was OK. Thanks to @Rahimdad @Gaurav @Srikumar @Emmanuel and @Frederic who have given amazing support and guidance since we first braved the desert in our little jeep. My message to everyone who was on the drive today, in a few months that could be you too. The desire in this group is so strong to teach others and empower everyone to enjoy this sport that there are lots of people there to support you in what every you want from your off road experience. See you soon in the sand.

Congrats @Nizam Deen on getting this promotion. More fun awaits ...

Having been one of the ones fortunate enough to see the annoucing of this promo I can now publicly say how pleased I am for you and how deserved this is. It was not until Liwa earlier in the year that I really got the chance to see what you bring to the drive and boy, it's a lot. If there's one quality in you that really makes me admire your style it's that you have the capability to do anything, and the vehicle and yet, when it does not feel right to you, you calmly decline the chance to play or take a dune that just does not look right to you. It's clearly not fear - I've seen you launch yourself up and round the sand in ways I can only aspire - it's a sense of calm and responsibility that you know what you want to do and won't be pushed to do something that does not feel right. @Javier M I for one am looking forward to the chance, should it arrive to be your wingman some time soon in the sand.

Hi Jamy, @Desert Dweller this is a truly well deserved promo and I am delighted for you. You've demonstrated real care and commitment and your driving style is fantastic and developing each time you are out in the sand. Girl power - I am all for it: but more I am for power from people like yourself that get out there, get hooked and show us how it's done. Boy, girl, man woman much less important than that. But, yes, I am really pleased to see so many more women venturing out and enjoying this sport as much as the boys.

So, the Jeep owner finally chips in! Driving without airco. Helps a lot. Turn off the engine when you are standing still. Idling at 45c does not cool the engine because the aux fan will not come on. Be sensible ... is that extra sidey necessary or will it take your engine or transmission over the red line? Drive sympathetically. It's a lot more skillful than gunning the car for every incline and helps you think about better entry and exit points. Watch and listen. If you blindly follow the line in front of you, you could just be driving yourself into soft sand. So take a look and choose a better route. If you are worried about the heat. Stop. If you don't want to drive because you are worried it over stresses the car. Tell the lead. The lead can always reroute if there is a risk that someone will break down. Read your gauges. Make sure you know what the warning lights are for.

It's no understatement to say we braved the heat yesterday afternoon in Al Qudra. Even the vehicles sitting under the shade of the few trees could not be protected from the oppressive heat at 4pm. As we all started to deflate and flag up, however, the prospects of a good long drive awaited so everyone was in great spirits. I think I will call this report, "The One with the Touareg". @amro elshafey arrived as newbie to try out the Touareg in the desert and after a very detailed check and careful additonal briefing from @Gaurav we lined up in convoy order to move. It's a particular bugbear of mine that if you're coming in a drive you get there on time. It's simply not fair on the people who do get themselves there when we have to wait to get moving - particularly when the ambient temperature is 40+C and you drive a Jeep (yes, there is always the worry of overheating). Despite @Gaurav stretching the briefing to see if the final convoy member would arrive, after 25 minutes we had to get moving. And move we did. @Matti Brockman did a fantastic job in second lead, paying attention to distance and all of the instructions on where to rereoute and what to do, and to be honest it was a surprise to find that the first refusals were not from the Touareg, but other supposedly more capable vehicles. These were none to serious and nothing a quick tug or moment of thought could not sort out. @syed salman raza @Yousef Alimadadi and @Mehmet Volga represented the Pajero club on this drive with our lead, as pretty much everyone else was in a jeep and it's always interesting to watch the different way these makes of vehicles perform in the sand. With @Ale Vallecchi as Centre forward, the stucks that there were, and we did have a few people bogged in soft sand or cresting their cars, we managed so that the drive was fast paced and we could take advantage of the sweeping dunes in Al Qudra and keep the vehicles moving. After an hour or so, and as agreed before we set off our @amro elshafey exited onto the road, quite honestly having impressed the heck out of the rest of us by handling the challenge so well. We have no idea what the next plan is, but we really apprecaited your company and hope to see you back. On from here we went to the first play are of the day, back through some technical dunes and had the chance to do some side sloping and testing of nerve and vehicle. Wrangler drivers @siddharth maheshwari @E.C. TAN and @bunty_and_pops all showed how they are developing as drivers and controlling their vehicles. From the previliged position as sweep, myself and @Jeepie can see how you have started to take your own lines through the dunes if it looks like a challenge and how you get through the more difficult areas normally with ease. Nothwithstanding the wonderful sweeping dunes we did hit a problem area with two symultaneous stucks. @Yousef Alimadadi was sorted by @Ale Vallecchi while myself and @Jeepie eventually decided that it was too hot to dig and pulled @siddharth maheshwari off the crest where he had landed himself. It was all good fun and we continued to sweep our way through the dunes in search of a new play area. Having decided it was time to play, @Gaurav went for a trial run for a sidey. It was abruptly stopped when the sidey ran out of side and we were able to watch a master at work as Gaurav self recovered and we continued along the way. (Pictures in previous posts after Gaurav got free!) As evening fell, the plan had been to take a few minutes for a night drive so we made our way to the technical dunes where we were planing for this to happen, but as so often is the case in the desert, other events intervene and @Gaurav had to leave us to support a recovery from another drive. We were not far from the road so I rerouted and led the convoy back to the last exit to reinflate and make our way home. It was a great drive. Full of omvement, good lessons learned, good discipline from everyone and a great attitude. One small request, echoing what @E.C. TAN said. Communication on drives is key. If you are dropping out, please, please tell us. We don't know if it's because you have a problem, you want a bio break or you just want to go home. Unless you announce it. As you saw by Gaurav leaving to help out another crew, the Carnity approach is never leave anyone behind. So if you go missing, we will be worried aobut you and go looking. See you soon in the sand.

To me, one of the signs we might be getting back to some sense of normality is that Carnity drives are back. You know that with @Frederic in the lead it will always be well organized and planned so that there are enough challenges, opportunities to learn and fun. With @Brette sweeping and @Jeepie as centre forward it was nice to have the opportunity to sit as a passenger again. I hope it's not a boring refrain, but watching while not driving is a priveleged position to watch what's going on and step in where needed. In the early morning pre summer heat we were all on time, with flags and deflating to get moving nice and early. A good thing too with temperatures rising fast. It did at times feel like the rest of us were intruding on a Pajero love in, with so many on the drive. Admittedly there were also quite a lot of jeeps too ... but we like to keep a lower profile 😂 I am not sure if this was @Anish S first experience as second lead. He drove with caution and attention, knowing that the convoy was following. Perhaps it was with that in mind he needed the first recovery as he crested on an early dune. With a quick tug we were off again and finding the dunes looking more like a Dutch seaside panorama than Arabian desert. It makes for quite a bumpy ride as a passenger! We benefited on the drive from a few Fewbies, always on hand to help if others in the convoy found themselves in trouble. @Mels Wolf @Foxtrot Oscar and @Nacho let their experience shine through and I am sure that being able to watch them gives other drivers confidendde they can make it through. @Nizam Deen found the going tough from time to time and @Pickey Singh drove with customary caution as we made it to a completely pristine play area for the first stop of the morning. It was great to see so many people testing their skills on this wide dune and everyone acquitted themselves very well. The next challenge was the technical dunes leading to the base of Fossil Rock. All the newbies @RohanH @Jose Martin and in particular @Incognitoes handled the challenges amazingly well and everyone made it to the top of the rock without any problem. @Frederic had a new challenge for today which was to descend through the soft sand on the back of the rock, rather than take the direct descent, and it did prove challenging for quite a few. Everyone acquitted themselves well, in particular one amazing self recovery by @Incognitoes. Both myself and @Jeepie were really impressed with this first drive ... we think the truth is you've been out playing before 😁 With more technical dunes to overcome there was a moment to rest again as we had to dig out another stuck. Once that was sorted we slowly continued to the exit and reflation point. A big change for Carnity due to COVID is that we can no longer chat at the end of a drive, and i really miss it. It is a big part of why Carnity is such a great club, but as times dictate, we said our quick goodbyes and made our way onwards. Thanks to @Frederic @Brette and @Jeepie for keeping everyone else moving and managing the drive perfectly. Thanks to everyone else for your contributions to another great drive. See you soon in the sand.

Looks very similar to the one we bought yes, and despite @Gaurav's taunting, it is a Ford 2 tonne jack. The only drawback I found so far is that it comes with a cardboard box. That is now being held together with duck tape. If there is a version with a plastic cover go for that as it might make storage a little easier. I bought mine through Amazon and not noon - so there is a small chance it is genuine!

No, not here. In NL. Personally, I cannot imagine it's great to own one anywhere.

You are 100% correct. Niva.

I love a bit of Russian mechanics - Lada Riva is one of the most capable 4x4s I ever drove (if you like snow and ice). They are all built like tanks and can survive a nuclear holocaust. It has to be said, however, while China is doing a lot better with the cars they produce, I am a lot less convinced by Russian engineering unless its in a tank or a missile

Tell me about sharing the driving! ... and you're right @Foxtrot Oscar we learn as much observing as we do from grabbing the wheel. It's truly an experience that a lot more drivers should try.

@Michael sammy this is fantastic and well deserved news. You are a great asset to have on any drive, considerate and helpful and I am looking forward to seeing you show us just what you have to offer this club. Hope to see you soon in the sand.

@Vanessa8580 so well deserved, so well earned, so well driven. You have shown just how in control of your big blue you are, how much you enjoy every minute of being behind the wheel and just how lucky we are to have you in this club. It's fantastic news. Looking forward to seeing you taking more and more opportunities to let us all see what a brilliant addition you make to the team.

@siddharth maheshwari congratulation on this promotion. Great to see you advance.

Congrats @Foxtrot Oscar on your promotion. Looking forward to seeing you out in the sand this week.

Of all the people promoted today, @Shiju Manuel it's been a real pleasure to see how you have advanced so quickly and carefully from those first drives to this well deserved advance to Fewbie. I am really delighted for you and look forward to seeing you on more and more drives.

Congrats @Lorenzo Candelpergher yes, we watched and were mighty impressed. This is a well deserved promotion. Looking forward to seeing you and admiring your piloting skills as well.

@Rahimdad - what an amazing report, adding so much color it brought it all back once again. We all miss that essential Carnity warmth (and I am not talking about the desert here) which is denied to us because of COVID, but this report feels like a big Rahimbahi hug just hit me. Thank you. The little details you pulled out here as well help us all learn - I, for one, hope for notthing more than to see you soon in the sand.

Yes, I concur. Noisy, rattly, sounds like the car is exploding every time you come off a dune, but bullet proof engine (as long as you don't mind a bit of jeep 'overheating'. There are still reasonably priced TJs available. You're not buying one for the interior/interior space but for the fact it was designed to do this stuff. Who needs creature comforts out in the desert like airco and electric windows?

Boy, it's warm in the late afternoon at the moment, so it's great that our afternoon adventure into the desert started more or less on time. For a few people this was a first Fewbie drive, for others it was the first time back on a more challenging route. @Emmanuel replaced Srikumar as drive lead (as he had led the newbie drive in the morning) with @Ale Vallecchi in sweep and myself and @Jeepie as centre forward. As you'll know by now I share driving responsibilities with @Jeepie and on reflection it's a bit of shame that we had not swapped round the duties this Friday as we would have had three amazing female drivers showing us all how it's done. Normally I would not make the distinction between men and women, but it does seem that this hobby is disproportionately weighted towards men (even when a lot of women - assume wives - accompany them on the drives. I was delighted to see @Vanessa8580 taking an excellent second lead and @Desert Dweller (I think you used to be Jamy.B) showing us all how it's done in the Xterra. We have at least three amazing drivers here: controlled, careful, courageous and generous with their help. There should be more, but let's celebrate and encourage more women drivers in our club. There is absolutely no reason all the women should not be driving and every reason they should. Ladies - get out of the passenger seat and let the men be your passengers for a while! This area has a great mix of technical, sweeping and playable dunes so a great way to bring fewbies who have not been in the sane for a while back into the groove. And it all started off well, with everyone handling the challenges well. @Chaitanya D had the mightly Y62 out because his new toy was not quite ready, @Najeeb Mohammed was there with his black FJ and it was good to see @Jolly Abraham who once again did an aamzing job with the Fortrunner. Unfortunately, Jeeps are not great in the heat of the desert (our own TJ had a moment where it needed to cool as well) and it quite soon became clear that this was going to be an ongoing problem for @Jun Zamora Jun showed us that it's possible to get to places that seem otherwise impossible in his Murano, but yesterday the Jeep was having none of it. Despite all our best efforts and after a few refusals we regrettably had to escort Jun to the safety of the highway and reinflation to allow him to get home and start investigating why the oil was overheating to badly. For the rest of us, we dived back into the sand to play and find our way back out into the big red. @Martin. @Rinelle Sanaani & @luwaimn aquitting themselves extremely well through out the drive. Playtime was had by all, everyone learned soemting new and we even got the chance to recover a large crested Patrol to add to the fun. Conscious of the impending curfew despite being a little earlier than planned we exited and reinflated with everyone, no doubt enthisuastic to sign up for the next chance to hit the sand. It was good to be back. The sand was a little soft in places, despite the rain from this week, and that made it more challenging in places, but the beauty of this part of the desert, expecially seeing now almost untouched because there have clearly not yet been a lot of drives coming through here since lockdown is stunning. We are blessed to be able to call this part of the country our playground. See you soon in the sand.

7am in Sharjah and almost everyone was ready and waiting for our adventure to Fossil Rock. If the Police stop you getting to the meeting point on time that's certainly acceptable ... and even more, if you happen to be the drive lead Otherwise ... you're keeping other people waiting, and in my opinion (and it's just my opinion) that's not. One of the potential advantages of the new video briefing is that we can get going quicker than before, so please, please respect the rules. It's hot in the dunes these days ... ok rant (almost) over. RTFM. Back in the sand, and as a passenger I had the privilege of @Jeepie sweeping the convoy which was led by @Rahimdad and @asifk in second lead so we knew we were in for a great drive. On the way to Fossil Rock there are some lovely wide dunes, some technical challenges and some nice descents to test the newbie drivers. And it looked like everyone had their driving heads on this morning after a break due to COVID. With excellent leadership and driving discipline, we reached the first play area quickly and without incident. Time for @Shiju Manuel and @Lorenzo Candelpergher to show what they have learned and experts like @sertac @Srikumar and @Rahimdad show us all how it's done. With Fossil Rock in our sights we moved on towards the rock through some increasingly technical dunes and not surprisingly we faced our first challenges of the day and our first refusals, reroutes and a pop out. Thanks to everyone @Jose Martin @Szymon Stankiewicz @Mikhail Lukichev and @Nacho for the patience waiting for these refusals and stucks to clear. The reward was reaching the bottom of Fossil Rock in good time to allow for an unrushed decent. This would be a good moment for @Janarthan and @andy_macdxb to enjoy a sharp descent. The wind, rain and lack of drivers at the top of the rock meant that the start of the descent was sandier than it has been in the past. It's no easier but slightly different ... and the key instruction remains the same whenever 4 low, 1st gear. As anyone who did not put this into action will no doubt have learned the lesson, 4 low means 4 low. With everyone down, a request was made for more playtime at the base of the rock. I have a principle to which I try to work 'if in doubt, don't'. And this morning sort of validated that as we had a second pop out which took the play time and a little more to solve ... which @Rahimdad and @Srikumar handled with aplomb particularly as it was a pop out on both rims. Pop out sorted, we exited to the gas station to reinflate. Thanks to all for an extremely well handled drive, for keeping to the rules, for bringing your humour and help and adding to the learning we all get each time we venture out. See you soon in the sand.

@RohanH second car all the way. I said it before. You cannot enjoy your drive or even focus on it fully if your time is spent worrying at the same time your car will be damaged and it will destroy your family car. It's not a cheap hobby. That's the challenge, but a lot cheaper when your toy is damaged and not your family, daily driver.

There was a qualifier there ... IF ... Yes, I intend to get full use for my investment.

As @Xaf says, a flag is as essential a piece of kit as the shovel that everyone should carry with them. For me, it's pretty simple. The flag is a safety item, it protects you and the people around you: so it's not something on which there should be any question about the investment - because if you get hit because someone does not see you, or lost because you cannot be found, the cost will be significantly higher. And, yes, it's quite frustrating stoping every 100 meters because a flay fell off. Refusals, stucks no problem, but because your flag pole is not the Burj Khalifah and became a wilted lilly: no. My flag is fixed on the car. Fullt time. Not that convenient when shopping or you need to put the groceries in the car - but it takes 1 second to set it up when I get to the desert. And one second to take down once we get back onto tarmac. This game is all about choices, of course. Not everyone can have a full time flag - but a full time anchor, yes. If it does not work, don't use it again and again. It's quite simple.