Lorenzo Candelpergher

Drive Brief The Al Wathba Fossil Dunes and the Al Wathba Salt Lake in Abu Dhabi are one of those renown places in the UAE that make the cover of off-roading books and advertisements. This Intermediate Drive, planned two weeks ago and then cancelled due to logistic issues, is now proposed again upon great popular demand, and will take the convoy for a stroll across the surreal landscape of Al Wathba Fossil Dunes moving from Lane 2006 at dawn at 6:30am, so that the photography lovers will have the chance to capture the beauty of this place during the morning golden hour after sunrise. We will then swiftly move to the south side of the Al Wathba Salt Lake, entering a stretch of beautiful, large, light sand dunes totally unknown to the most. Progressively moving East, we will cruise across virgin dunes along a non-stop, fast paced drive, that will take us all the way to Razeen Road in an almost 90km long drive, a great discovery adventure which will culminate in a breathtaking Gran Finale in Razeen Area, the perfect terrain to enjoy high climbing, fast criss-crossings and deep dives along endless slip faces. General Infos 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 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 Mandatory Safety Requirements Ban from Carnity Off-road Club Two Way Radio Guidelines Drive Details Level: Intermediate and above (All Levels) When: 27 Nov 2021, Saturday Meeting time: 6:30 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/5zRTU37KwvWLnuWY8 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, willingness to learn and your own compressor for tire inflation. Approximate finish time: 10:30 AM End Point: Razeen Road (Abu Dhabi) Limited Spots Available: Limited to 10 cars only. 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 EVENT

TEAM LEOPARD - DRIVE REPORT Dear Desert Wanderers, What a day! First of all, it was a fantastic event and @Carnity Crew, @Gaurav, @Srikumar and @Frederic and the whole Support Team cannot be congratulated and thanked enough for the amazing and impeccable organization. Equally thanked and congratulated must be all the Leads, @Wrangeld (aka The Desert Champion) @Chaitanya D, @Kailas, @Ale Vallecchi and @Jeepie for their great spirit of fair and safe competition, and all participants for their fearless passion displayed today. As far as the Arabian Leopard Team is concerned, it was a memorable experience, regardless of the outcome: of course, deep inside, I'm sure we were all aspiring to be higher up in the final ranking, but reality gave us a great lesson about our limits today, from Lead to Sweep, all included, but a lesson spiced up with great fun. As known, one of my features as a lead is that I lead fast, ie at high pace. That is, of course in those terrains that allow for such possibility. For this reason, when planning the route for today, we opted, unlike all other teams, for a Start-5-4-5-1-2-3-End route instead of going for the Start-5-4-3-2-1-End most obvious sequence. The rationale behind this choice was that, by adding only approx 3 linear km (say 5 or 6 real km) to our route, we would have kept it for almost 90% on fast terrains, ie sabkhas, flat tracks or long range dunes, where very very high speeds (2x, 3x, 4x) could have been achieved, thus gaining us valuable time and avoiding extended technical terrain with less risks. The idea, on the face of it, was intriguing and had its merit, so we all agreed on it, but it greatly underestimated how challenging those "only" 2 x 2.5 linear km in technical dunes from waypoint 5 to 4 and back could have been.. Was this tech stint too early in the drive, before the convoy could warm up? Possible. Were my lines as a Lead wrong and/or too ambitious for a convoy whose members I hardly knew? Very likely true. Was the choice to head back towards waypoint 5 from 4 against slip faces a gamble? Yes, for sure, but the potential upside was massive.. Or not.. Had this gamble worked, ie had we spent say 30-40' to go from 5 to 4 and back, which in theory seemed easily doable, we would have closed the drive in record time, considering that after getting back to waypoint 5, it took us only 47' to cover 30km through waypoints 1, 2 and 3 and get back to the starting point, at the astronomical average speed of 37.9km/h, with only 1 min stop when my car, 200m from the end, started overheating due to a malfunctioning radiator fan. Unfortunately... the gamble didn't work, as we totally underperformed on that first technical part across waypoints 5-4-5.. Those "only" 2 x 2.5 linear km caused 12 (!!!) consecutive stucks and corresponding recoveries and multiple, uncounted, refusals!! The fact that 9 out of 12 stucks occurred going south, ie against windfaces, stands to prove that the idea of going back to waypoint 5 from 4, ie against slip faces, wasn't totally crazy, but crossing that stretch of dunes both ways turned out to be a way bigger and time.-consuming challenge for all drivers than expected: despite our best team efforts in performing quick recoveries (mostly done winching, to be faster), we lost a hell of a time in those technical dunes! It indeed took us 1h 26' to get from waypoint 5 to 4 and back to 5. At that point our race was already doomed no matter how fast we could do the rest of the drive.. 😭😭.. OK. We messed up big time over there, and clearly I proved to be no @Wrangeldwhen it comes to leading in small technical dunes, but... oh boy!, what followed was pure adrenalinic fun... We were literally flying across dirt tracks, sabkhas and long range dunes, reaching amazing peak speeds going from waypoint 5 through 1, 2 and 3 and then heading back across the Lisaili long range dunes and again on sabkhas and flat tracks. Overall, it was an excellent learning opportunity: @Mus_hus78, an outstanding 2nd lead, I believe the only one who neve got stuck if I'm not wrong, today discovered that drives in Dubai can be as fast and exciting as those in Sweihan 😂😂, especially when literally flying over the sand.. For @Daniel Rodas, today's drive proved that he and his Pajero can do far more than he thought and the (many and tricky) stucks today were part of an accelerated learning curve towards Intermediate ranking... @Humayun Ghias realized the hard way how Y62s and technical dunes can be a difficult match, especially when crossing crests, but he also learned that his 2.8 tons car can fly as a fighter jet. @Niki, always quiet and conservative, experienced today a whole new driving world, achieving speeds he had never even dared to imagine, while maintaining an admirable perfect Sweep role, calm, precise, reassuring, clear with instructions and comms over the radio. Despite the 12 stucks, the whole convoy was magnificent today. Fast, responsive, careful, supportive, focused. And always smiling. Thanks to all, you were the best convoy I could have desired for this race. Proud of you all. For me.. well for me it was immense fun and a great lesson. Let me try to summarize my takeaways: - First, I could have leveraged better the wisdom and experience of the team, asking for more help in navigation (as @Wrangelddid brilliantly) instead of doing most of it on my own except for the initial route planning, done toghether. - Second, quite evidently, I still have a lot to learn as leader in technical dunes, even more so now that my off-roading mentor, @Wrangeld, is a Desert Champion.. 😉 -Third, I realized I'm not used to drive against time: some know I'm a maniac about ending on time my drives, but rushing against time isn't yet fully my thing, as it requires a different type of approach to route planning and navigation management (for example, I always navigate with North-Up display with very indicative bearings on my Gaia to set my route, whereas when following a route very closely and precisely as today, navigating with Direction-Up display probably works better). - last, no matter how well or smart you think you can plan, desert drives can be unpredictable and that's the beauty of it. In the end.. It was different than usual. It was hexilarating fun. No matter how we ended, we had a great time and we had an amazing day, feeling part of the wonderful @Carnity family. As @Jeepie rightly said, we were all champions today, it's only that @Wrangeld's team was faster. Kudos to all!

Team Arabian Leopard, Convoy order while airborne: 1. @Lorenzo Candelpergher 2. @Mus_hus78 3. @Daniel Rodas 4. @Humayun Ghias 5. @Niki That is, of course, as long as we will cruise within reasonable supersonic range, say below Mach 5 (approx 4900 km/h). For this part of the drive don't forget your anti-G suit and your ear-plugs for the supersonic bang (see image below). Later in the drive, as we will approach light speed, as you know, the spacetime continuum will start to warp, therefore convoy numbering will be no longer meaningful as we normally understand it, given that most likely we will finish the drive well before the departure time in a space-temporal paradox (see image below), possibly ending younger than when we started. But hey.. as discussed, remember that tomorrow won't be a competition about speed, we are just strolling around for fun.

I would have thought that each team would take the same channel as team number to facilitate the support team to communicate with each specific team (easy to remember). hahahaha But then there are superstition and habits.. 😂 If you'll notice, as far as I am concerned, whenever I can, I am always on Channel 4 😉

@Gaurav, Team Arabian Leopard will opt for Channel 4, if not taken.

Some RFIs to the @Carnity Organizers: 1. Can you confirm that ALL Team members are required to record the track or just the lead? If all, we need to make sure all drivers are conversant with GPS tools, including the Fewbie Member. 2. Can you qualify what is meant by "tampering with GPS"? What happens if one of the team members fails to record the track, accidentally stops recording or drains the phone battery or has a phone overheating issue? Are all individual team member tracks going to be handed to the Organizers at the end of the drive? 3. Can you confirm that ALL Team members required to drive a circle around the waypoints or just the lead? This is to plan drive execution accordingly. 4. There is a starting point from where 5 waypoints are to be reached in whatever order, if I got it right. I'm not clear about the conclusion of the drive: are we done when we reach the last of the 5 waypoints (regardless which one it is as per our route and regardless of the exit point) or do we have to head back to the starting point or any other designated exit point? @Gaurav, @Frederic, @Srikumar, your kind feedback is appreciated.

Interesting way to put it.. 😂😂

Great achievement and well deserved promotion, @varunmehndiratta!

Dear All, @Sunil Mathew, @AlexM, @Bernard Kalaani, @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil, @Humayun Ghias, @Shereen Shaaban, @Fabien Monleau, @MMansoor, @Josh T., @Looper I am very sorry to inform you that this morning I unfortunately found out that my car has a significant oil leakage and it would not be safe for me to drive 2x90km to AD + 60km off road in these conditions. With great disappointment, I'm forced to CANCEL THE DRIVE, as with such short notice no other @Carnity lead could make him/herself available to replace me. Please accept my apologies for the very short notice, but I found out about the problem only this morning when I did a final check on the car before leaving to Abu Dhabi for my IM drive, which was cancelled as well.. I hope you understand. I promise I will re-post the drive soon.

Dear All, @Ilya, @PaoloMaraziti, @Mus_hus78, @imranaasghar81, @Archibald Jurdi, @Ranjan Das, @Jorge Stepniak Felippe, @Rawad, @Arman, @JeromeFJ, @varunmehndiratta, @Mario Cornejo, @Luca Palanca Falsini I am very sorry to inform you that I just found out that my car has a significant oil leakage and it would not be safe for me to drive 2x130km to AD + 90km off road in these conditions. With great disappointment, I'm forced to CANCEL THE DRIVE. Please accept my apologies for the very short notice, but I found out about the problem only this morning when I did a final check on the car before leaving to Abu Dhabi. I hope you understand.

Dear @Humayun Ghias, no worries. It happens. @Imran Kashif, are you still interested to join, given that we have an open spot and you are first in line in the waitlist?

Not until last Saturday.. 😉😉

Dear Desert Wanderers, this RSVP is now closed. Please find below the convoy order for our drive: @Sunil Mathew, @AlexM, @Bernard Kalaani, @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil, @Humayun Ghias, @Shereen Shaaban, @Fabien Monleau, @MMansoor, @Josh T., @Looper, this drive is going to be very interesting, in a terrain new to most, beautiful but challenging, and therefore quite demanding from a technical point of view, both mentally for the drivers and mechanically for the cars. It will require your full and undivided concentration at every step, especially when we will reach elevated positions on steep slopes, so make sure you come well rested and hydrated and that and you don’t have any reason for being distracted. Also, please consider carefully if you wish to bring passengers along with you. We will be using Carnity Channel 4 (446.08125Mhz) Our meeting is confirmed on E75 Al Fayah Road - https://goo.gl/maps/pH1UmMLcUUawgqQAA See you on Saturday afternoon, ready to go (i.e. already caffeinated, deflated, flagged and briefed) by no later 2:00pm (sharp), so make sure you make it to the meeting point at least by 1:45pm. P.S.: apologies to all those who responded to the RSVP asking to be waitlisted. For the time being @Alain Canivet-Abikhalil and @MMansoor have been admitted, up to the limit of 10 participants. For @Imran Kashif, @Santoso Marjuki, @PaoloMaraziti, @James Thorn, it will be for another time!

Hi @Looper, I believe there's no need to carry extra fuel. This is a Fewbie drive and we will be driving approx 50-60km, which will leave you with around half tank at the exit point.

Dear @takeshi sobue, this is a Fewbie Drive, i.e. a level for which you are not yet qualified. I will remove you from the RSVP. For your own safety and for that of the other drivers, it is important that you join drives whose level is consistent with your current off-roading experience, as I hope you understand. Keep up the good work in joining Newbie Drives and you will soon conquer your promotion to Fewbie and, possibly, Intermediate later on! By the way you can add yourself in the "Going" tab of the drives, not in the "Manage" tab, which is only for Marshals, Experts, Advisors and Support Team.

Dear Desert Wanderers, this RSVP is now closed. Please find below the convoy order for our drive: @Ilya, @PaoloMaraziti, @Mus_hus78, @imranaasghar81, @Archibald Jurdi, @Ranjan Das, @Jorge Stepniak Felippe, @Rawad, @Arman, @JeromeFJ, @varunmehndiratta, @Mario Cornejo, @Luca Palanca Falsini, this drive is going to be thrilling and exciting, but also very demanding from a technical point of view, both mentally for the drivers and mechanically for the cars, more so in the 2nd half. It will require your full and undivided concentration at every step, especially when we will reach elevated positions on steep slopes, so make sure you come well rested and hydrated and that and you don’t have any reason for being distracted. Also, please consider carefully if you wish to bring passengers along with you. This drive is going to be a very long one, approx. 90km, all driven at a very high pace and on quite demanding terrain, especially in the 2nd half. It is essential that you reach the meeting point with a FULL TANK. We will be using Carnity Channel 4 (446.08125Mhz) Our meeting point is confirmed on Lane 2006: https://goo.gl/maps/5zRTU37KwvWLnuWY8 See you tomorrow morning, ready to go (i.e. already caffeinated, deflated, flagged and briefed) by no later 6:30am (sharp), so make sure you make it to the meeting point at least by 6:15am if you don't want to miss the sun rising across the Fossil Dunes.

Hi @Ranjan Das, I have fixed the problem. Now both post and calendar show consistent locations. Thanks for noticing it.

@Imran Kashif, maybe I was not clear. You cannot respond to two RSVPs at the same time on Sunday. You can respond to one RSVP and ask to be waitlisted for the 2nd RSVP. If, by Wednesday, the 2nd RSVP is not full you will be added to the drive. So if you want to join Saturday, you can be waitlisted and we see by Wednesday if there is room for you to be added.

Dear @Imran Kashif and @Santoso Marjuki, Asyou know, as per @Carnityrules, in order to ensure to all members a fair chance to join drives, only one RSVP can be responded for each weekend. If you wish to join a 2nd drive you can ask the Lead of that drive to put you on a waitlist for your 2nd drive and, if places will be available, the Lead will add you to the RSVP. @Imran Kashif, you have booked this drive AND the Morning Newbie drive in Al Fayah with @Islam Soliman. @Santoso Marjuki, you have booked this drive AND the Morning Fewbie in AL Qudra with @M.Seidam. Please let us know which drive you choose.You may both be waitlisted for the other drive as your 2nd weekend drive. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.

Congratulations @PaoloMaraziti!! Well deserved promotion. Looking forward to having you next Friday!

Drive Brief This drive will allow to discover a beautiful and largely untamed stretch of desert, i.e. the area of Al Fayah in Abu Dhabi, on the south east side of E75 Al Fayah road. This area is known for its bright sand, its big dunes with sharp crests and its large swooping bowls. In such an ideal territory for a Fewbie Drive, we will enter at 2:00pm from E75, heading east. After reaching an area of stunning rock formations unexpectedly emerging out of the sand, we will loop back to our entry point heading west facing the sunset, getting back on the tarmac of E75, hopefully carrying away a great deal of fun and memories from this inspiring discovery drive. General Infos 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 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 Mandatory Safety Requirements Ban from Carnity Off-road Club Two Way Radio Guidelines Drive Details Level: Fewbie and above (All Levels) When: 13 Nov 2021, Friday Meeting time: 2:00 PM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: E75 Al Fayah Road - https://goo.gl/maps/pH1UmMLcUUawgqQAA 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, willingness to learn and your own compressor for tire inflation. Approximate finish time: 6:00 PM End Point: E75 Al Fayah Road Limited Spots Available: Limited to 12 cars only. 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 EVENT

Drive Brief The Al Wathba Fossil Dunes in Abu Dhabi are one of those renown places in the UAE that make the cover of off-roading books and advertisements. This Intermediate Drive will take the convoy for a stroll across the surreal landscape of Al Wathba Fossil Dunes moving from Lane 2006 at dawn at 6:30am, so that the photography lovers will have the chance to capture the beauty of this place during the morning golden hour after sunrise. We will then swiftly move to the south side of the Al Wathba canal, entering a stretch of beautiful, large, light sand dunes totally unknown to the most. Progressively moving East, we will cruise across virgin dunes along a non-stop, fast paced drive, that will take us all the way to Razeen Road in an almost 90km long drive, a great discovery adventure which will culminate in a breathtaking Gran Finale in Razeen Area, the perfect terrain to enjoy high climbing, fast criss-crossings and deep dives along endless slip faces. General Infos 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 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 Mandatory Safety Requirements Ban from Carnity Off-road Club Two Way Radio Guidelines Drive Details Level: Intermediate and above (All Levels) When: 12 Nov 2021, Friday Meeting time: 6:30 AM (SHARP - Without any exceptions) Meeting Point: https://goo.gl/maps/5zRTU37KwvWLnuWY8 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, willingness to learn and your own compressor for tire inflation. Approximate finish time: 10:30 AM End Point: Razeen Road (Abu Dhabi) Limited Spots Available: Limited to 10 cars only. 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 EVENT