Thomas Varghese

ready to press the going button as soon as the RSVP opens. 

well done buddy. U were destined for this role. Jumping into every opportunity you could sense when a fellow driver got into trouble to help them recover. Kuddos. Cheers 😀

18 minutes ago, Chaitanya D said:

Hang in there , I did not expect such a response for a boring lead 😜. Good to catch up with you after a long time

How can you say you are a boring lead? You are kidding me? You taught me to offroad in my car in the safest possible way and at the same time thrilling. What I meant was that if there are newbies who feel dejected because an IM driver jumped into their realm and made them lose their chance then you can take me off. I don't want a newbie to lose their chance to learn from you.

Happy to be on your drive after such a long time. I had kept myself off from offroading for 2 months and already did 7 drives since I joined back 3 weeks ago. 

Hi @Chaitanya D if there r newbies WL for this drive you can take me off this drive. I don't want a newbie to lose a chance to drive because I joined this drive before them. 

I change my status from contender to photographer after reading @Gaurav's technical report. I understood I may have to leave my car as a sacrifice to the desert sand if I get down into the bowl. 

4 hours ago, Looper said:

What a drive, all the hallmarks of @Ale Vallecchi’s tredamark drives were there. Fantastic. Awesome. Felt like drove through continents… Kenyan Serengeti to Aussi Outback to Yes of course Middle East (we are there!). Especially loved the first segment of the drive  where we required to do precision ridge riding on long powdery and loose as talcum sand dunes and then race to catch next one, if one were being slow they will loose the sight of the convoy in front. Plus the exploration of completely new areas, that we no one has ever gone before. Thank you very much @Ale Vallecchifor the drive. You will see me many many more dives with you. 

A big shout out to @Gaurav Soni for all the work he put in as the center forward and @Mario Cornejo as sweep for officiating the proceedings.

And who can forget the true recovery agent in today’s drive @JeromeFJ you were great at all times. Kudos to @Rob H the tuner, never shy to get dirty to make cars drive like  race cars, thanks a lot for all the under the bonnet work.  @Thomas Varghese was an amazing 2nd lead, and after missing both the drivers between i and him, I could see first hand how well he managed everything. He sure looks like the go to 2nd lead, as it is my second drive back to back as him being the second lead. Never shy to explore the surroundings- he was in tight control of the lead following him everywhere, even when asked not to. 

All in all a fantastic drive as usual and thanks everybody who participated in today’s drive, @Sunil Mathew, @Russ, @Jorge Stepniak Felippe, And @Rawad - hope to see you soon buddy- and all of the the Saturday morning gang. 

@Looper Completely agree with you. Following @Ale Vallecchi as the 2nd lead is no easy task. He keeps on driving on and on. We don't even get a second to take our eyes of him. If you do he is gone. The pace was excellent. Please understand I got to keep an eye on the convoy behind me also and make sure everybody is following us. @Sunil Mathew did a good job of following me and everybody likewise. Lost count of how many kilometers we have driven altogether. Didn't even get to take out my camera for a moment. I love these drives by @Ale Vallecchi. Brings out the best in everybody. After getting home and hitting the bed I could open my eyes only now. My passenger is amazed by the drive we had. Seem like Carnity is getting a new member soon. He agreed to my perception of the drives. Once we are in the desert we forget everything of the regular life. Even though it was an IM drive and all drivers were experienced and the best it was amazing everybody passed the drive track @Ale Vallecchi had charted for us without much trouble - to be precise no trouble except for a couple of occasions. @Humayun Ghias who missed the drive due to alarm issue ought to be cursing his luck. As you mentioned @JeromeFJ has really learned the art of desert driving very well in his FJ. I remember his newbie drives when he used to get refusals and stucks. He has really matured into a desert driver. Proud of his determination and grit. Great going buddy. I can't comment about the tail end of the convoy as I couldn't see that far in my rear view mirror but the radio silence meant all were enjoying and doing good at the back.

Looking forward to see all of you soon in the sands for another drive. 

9 hours ago, Rawad said:

Guys recovery is on its way sent by the insurance. I will drop it at the agency

Thank you all for waiting, hope you can still enjoy the rest of the drive

@Rob H I owe a beer man. Really appreciate your help. Ur awesome

 

Hope to drive with you all soon.... if I dont loose a kidney to fix the car tho  😅😅

Hope you could resolve the recovery issue soon. Didn't have the heart to leave you at the tarmac. Wishing a speedy recovery to your car and my get well soon wishes to your Y 62. 

1 hour ago, Srikumar said:

This has been the Pajero bowl for far too long...time to christen it as the Xterra bowl 😂

 @Tbone @Foxtrot Oscar @Janarthan @sertac @M.Seidamand all the other Xterra owners in the club

Can I bring my Xterra? 

It will be fun driving with known drivers for this exploration drive. 

Its my 75th drive with Carnity tomorrow. 

Thank God @Raman_Dbx survived the roll over. Praise God. 

A beautiful sunrise at Tawi Nizwa and after the briefing from @Gaurav & @Lawrence_Chehimi we were off to our offroad adventure towards the famous Pink Rock. Most of the drivers were relatively new but showed newbies have talents. @Salim Akhtar did good as the 2nd lead following the lead and restricting and redirecting on cues from @Gaurav. Following him enthusiastically after been duly warned about potential damages to his Lexus if participating in the offroad adventure was @Ankit Jain. Kudos Ankit for showing you love the desert more than your car. Except for an unfortunate pop out in the beginning which was quickly sorted out from expert guidance and supervision from Gaurav & @Lawrence_Chehimi the convoy kept moving towards the famous Pink Rock without major refusals or stucks. Again thumbs up to the talented newbies. @Lawrence_Chehimi had an easy day as the support as the drivers were doing good. Everybody in the convoy performed more than what was expected of them. @Mohamad Ziad Alhennawi brought a smile to my face showing up with his Hummer. Its been long time we have seen a Hummer in the club. Kudos to you for handling the beast of a machine with much ease. @Adnan Halepota did very well with his Prado. I have seen him driving at sweihan and it seems he is improving drastically with each drive. The enthusiasm to drive all the way from Abu Dhabi to take lessons from a legend like Gaurav is really laudable. @Manoj Soman has a beast of a machine with the Rubicon to steer and drive in the desert. Its a powermaster as I have seen driving behind him. Once he masters the machine and learns how to control it I predict he will be an offroad genius. Needs little training though to avoid fish tailing and for sure once he trains under different marshals at Carnity he will learn it to his advantage. Man the Rubicon can just gallop from anywhere even under impossible situations. 

See you all soon in the sands and it was a pleasure driving with all of you and knowing all of you. 

A great drive. Sweihan is a challenging terrain. Surprisingly the newbies did more than good in negotiating the terrain. @GauravSoni & @Niki did great support in times of need. Hope @Joseph Raju sorted out his tire issue and reached home safe

4 hours ago, Rob H said:

Yes, please do. 

After a long time we meet again @Rob H

Good morning @Gaurav. As its Wednesday and I can add myself to the drive I have added myself for your drive. 

Good morning @Srikumar. As its Wednesday today and i can add myself for my 2nd drive I have added myself. 

Thanks @marks. I was not in the drive. I was there in the 3rd leg of the drive at night. Drove 4 hours to and fro to get @Shaaz Sha's car back in action. 

37 minutes ago, Zed said:

In a uniformed world, the Lead + CF + Sweep would connect their BaoFengs to this BingFu 12.5” external antenna for an added 8 dBi gain over stock antenna. This way, the 3 most important positions are always audible to other drivers 😁

👇🏻 Product photo:

 

Except the desert will have some antennas dispersed throughout the desert the idea is good. I remember having a magnetic mounted flag pole on my car. It was good for something like 20 drives and once I went down a step really hard I haven't seen the magnetic mount or my flag since then. Actually I think the present set up of having cheap radios suits me. If I didn't hear a transmission and needs to really understand it I will ask for a retransmission. Regarding SQL I had a conversation with @Frederic long time before and tried his recommendations but to be truthful none of these settings in Boefeng works and doesn't make much difference. The earphone for the radios works for me better than the speakers it comes with. 

Tuesday today and keeping my fingers crossed to join. 

14 minutes ago, GauravSoni said:

Thanks @Kailas for the beautiful drive! And thanks for the opportunity to support. 

The magnificent dunes of Sweihan never cease to amaze me! It’s always sheer pleasure to drive on this terrain.. 

Well planned and well executed by the convoy… 

@Prakash Anoop tremendous improvement in your driving! It’s amazing to see you coming along to land “far far away” and honing your skills.. extremely well driven @Adnan Halepota @Salim Akhtar @Hitham mohamed  @Manoj Soman
You guys took on the challenges and responded well with good driving!  For me newbie drives is all about understanding how your ride responds to your command and learning to control the throttle and steering!  You will get to learn the skills as you spend more time on the dunes… it was pleasure to watch you self recover @Salim Akhtar.. well done! Overheating is an issue for pajero especially on stressful self recovery… getting an additional fan for the transmission cooler may help in those times… I too have to struggle keeping it cool! 

thanks @Nabeel Abdul Rahmanfor the sweep. I am sure you had fun at the back! Thanks @Thomas Varghesefor the valuable suggestions and assistance in recoveries! 
 

until next time!!

Kindly excuse me if I made any suggestions for recovery. I won't be doing that unless called for as I'm not fit for that role. 

44 minutes ago, GauravSoni said:

@Frederic it is possible to obtain an amateur radio license through TDRA…do we have anyone in @Carnity with license? Is it worthwhile to obtain one considering we may need to connect to authority in case of Offroad emergency in area with network issue…or phone not working?

@GauravSoni when I was hunting for a radio in the beginning I had come across a CB radio unit which looks like the one used by police cars for 600 AED. Don't remember the brand but I remember it was Japanese made. I had to buy a radio antenna also for the CB radio to work for 250 AED. I was too tempted but finally ran away from that place. The shop owner claimed it has a 100 km radius to transmit. After buying my Boafeng and playing with it and watching videos about these radios I came to the conclusion that it was good I ran away without buying that almost useless equipment for our purpose. We cannot transmit on police frequencies or listen to their transmission. In US there are radio stations which use these and you maybe able to relay to the outside world you are in distress and you need help. But over here I don't know anything about these facilities. Even though my Boafeng screams or misses out some parts of transmission its fine for me. In case I miss out any message because of static I can request the message to be relayed again. 

I wish @Wrangeld will get the opportunity to teach you the famous blip blip, left right, forward reverse technique too. Its a very effective technique in self recovering from most stuck situations. He dedicated almost half an hour or more to teach me in a very horrendous situation and I'm really thankful to him for that. Its become standard operating procedure for me when stuck and have saved me so many times. The drawback is you will need a massager to get both your arms into workable condition.   

I saw from the drives you have done, you have never gone with @Srikumar before. You have driven with Richard. The problem is the no of drives you have to do as a fewbie to get promoted to fewbie plus. Srikumar's is a newbie whereas Richard's drive is a fewbie. If I'm in your position I would choose the fewbie over newbie. 

@Serafino, me having been with carnity for almost an year you are in a very difficult predicament. A fewbie drive with @Wrangeld is very tempting & exciting. Same is the case with @Srikumar' drives too. If I am in your situation I would raise my hands up to surrender not able to decide. If you wish to join @Wrangeld I believe he will accommodate you in consultation with @Alex Raptor. I would be glad to move to @Srikumar's drive if there is a spot opening up there. At my level it doesn't matter which level of drives I sign up for. One day you will also reach to that level. All the marshals of carnity are different but ultimately you learn to drive in the sand. That's what all this is about. Hoping to catch up with you soon in one of the future drives. 

We have the discussion of damaged vehicles recovering from the desert. People have been asking about mechanics and their availability. What I found out is all this matters only to 25% or even less. We actually need friends who will stand with us until the vehicle is repaired and taken out. This is the most important factor when trying to recover a damaged vehicle from the desert. I emphasis on the word friends. Once you come out to tarmac and source the parts and get a mechanic how will you re enter the desert to the place where your car is abandoned? You cannot hire a taxi and go straight to the point where your car was left. You cannot walk with the spare parts and the mechanic with his tools to where your car is. I emphasized on the word friends before as we need at least 3 cars to safely reach to the place where the damaged car is. If you don't have friends all the exercise of sourcing the parts, the mechanic and tools are futile. This is the most important aspect in recovering a car from inside the desert. Plus at least one of this friend should know how to navigate himself and guide others to the place where the car was left and after repair have to make everybody exit out. 

I left the desert drive for 2 months from Carnity because the friends I could trust 100% left for vacation. Now as they are all back I gained the confidence and will to continue with desert drives. See you all soon in the sands.