Joseph Sebastian

Thanks very much @Srikumar and @Vanessa8580 for the very enjoyable drive, loads of guidance and patience for herding us newbies. Thanks also @Suresh K for helping out frequently as sweep, without all three of you a convoy this size would have been difficult to manage. Unfortunately could not help much with stucks etc as they were happening mostly towards the front of the convoy, else I am always keen to hone my shoveling skills 😄

@Taimur Khan was good to make your acquaintance and glad to hear you made it home OK. Hope the radiator repair is reasonably minor and will see you back on the sand in a short time. Some additional maintenance is unavoidable with this hobby as I have also been finding out (!) but all worth it.

Thanks also to the other fellow off roaders for your company and team spirit, and look forward to more of the same. Some pics from the ride..

Thanks very much @Frederic for the wonderful lead and shepherding us through some variable terrain, and as always with loads of patience and plenty of useful advice. And of course also to @Rizwanm2 for calm support and good ideas at the sweep. And to all the carnity folks for the teamwork, patience, impressive skills and good humor which made the whole experience a great morning out!

Thanks very much @Gaurav, @Frederic our group lead and @Carnity for the wonderful introduction to winter 2021! The family was with me for a change and they very much enjoyed the location, company and bbq and am conveying their thanks as well.

@Islam Solimanunfortunately have to drop out of this drive. Seems like I am having to work both tomorrow and Friday 😒. Enjoy the drive guys

Hi @Gaurav really looking forward to this.

Since I will have my family with me I will be in my grey discovery and not the TJ...also both my kids are queasy riders and tend to get nauseous over extended up/downs (so am I but i am ok as long as I am driving 🤣). So in case there are different levels of newbie convoys please put me in the most gentle one! Thanks...

14 hours ago, Gaurav said:

Good to hear that, it was a small hose and nothing major.

Hope your transmission is saved.

Also ask mechanic to do more thorough checks to avoid such breakdowns, as you were extremely lucky that we were close to exit. If there was a one big dune in between to cross, we wouldn't be able to execute that recovery with stock cars.

Professional desert recoveries like AAA and others cost from 1000 to 3000 dhs depending on the work involved, so making sure your desert toy is always happy and healthy is even more important than our weekday cars.

Yes agreed, once the repair is done have I asked the garage to look at what protections (like metal plates) they can add to prevent soft parts like this hose getting damaged by bushes, rocks an the like.

You were right @Gaurav, it indeed was transmission oil - so dodged a bullet there!

It seems a small hose (part of the auxiliary transmission oil cooler) got damaged and the oil was leaked out from there. So I will be back after replacing the hose and refilling the ATF4 oil. See you guys soon 🤩

A special message for @Gaurav

1. Immediate and clear instructions as soon as he heard of the issue. Probably saved my car from damage and myself from injury or worse

2. Calm troubleshooting to figure out the best way to resolve the multiple issues with minimum disruption 

3. Full preparedness with equipment and provisions for all eventualities 

4. Masterclass to stuck newbies as well as support teams on setting up the bridle, tow rope and technique of towing /being towed

5. On top of it all keeping calm and a sense of humor always 

Hats off to you sir... learnt a lot from that experience 🙌

It was such smooth and flowing ride, till the last moment. At least the mechanical issues with my car happened towards the end of the ride - my apologies nonetheless to all...

Huge thanks to @Kailas, @Gaurav, @Gaurav Soni and @Mukundan Nair for getting me and @Sara EL FANIDI out to the tarmac but also for the excellent support and guidance in the rest of the ride.

Thanks @Sara EL FANIDI for being hawkeyed and prompt to warn me to stop and prevent further damage. Looks like the smoke may have been coolant spilling from a broken hose and vaporizing (I am hoping its this and not the other options- will know better tomorrow - BTW I recovered the vehicle and its at the garage now - thanks guys!)

Special thanks to @Kailas no one would have guessed you were leading your first newbie drive if it hadnt been announced - perfect job! (and thanks for the lift home 😀)

Fellow newbies as well, it was great to get to know you a little better, hope to continue with many more drives. Cheers!

@Gaurav confirmed, thanks!

Hi @Frederic can you put me on waiting list as first drive

Thanks 

Collecting the car as we speak 

@Gaurav pls keep me on the drive 😃

35 minutes ago, Gaurav said:

Hi @Joseph Sebastian you have been added to this newbie drive.

Please confirm if you are still interested in joining.

Yes @Gauravstill interested. My car is in service but I have been promised it will be ready Thursday. So that is the only uncertainty - if that is not OK, please let me be on standby and give the opportunity to the next person on the list....no worries

Hi @Gaurav could you place me on the waiting list as first drive. Thanks!

2 hours ago, Wrangeld said:

@Joseph Sebastian you are right to question my feedback on two levels. 1. if you think it's wrong, as for more clarification 2. You are right that I confused you - my bad. 

I should have said. (1) [As you mentioned] TJ is a mechanical link for the low ratio - needs a 'clunk'. (2) Your stucks/refusals were due to a combination of not enough momentum and it looks like a little shyness on the gas from time to time. (3) I think we dug you off a crest so you could drive off ... you could have made that easily with just a little more gas. 

Thanks so much for clarifying @Wrangeld I also suspected that I had the opposite problem ie too little gas... Totally agree! That crest stuck wss a prime example 

Thanks @Wrangeld for designing a challenging drive and one from which I learnt a lot while enjoying the drive. For one thing I learned that I could not afford to drop my concentration even for a second, which was what got me into both my stuck situations. I learned how to properly engage 4L in my all mechanical TJ wrangler (the final clunk has to happen or its still spinning in neutral, thanks for the specific input on this  @Wrangeld)...and I would not have learned that if I had not gotten stuck. I also learned to keep my mouth shut while shoveling since I dont like the taste of sand 🤣

Special thanks to @Islam Soliman for his enthusiastic, calm and expert advice to get us all out of our various issues, it was a very busy day for you and thanks for keeping your patience always. Really. Thanks also to all fellow drivers for the team spirit and the company. 

I really appreciate @Wrangeld the time you have taken to give specific feedback to each driver, this really takes our learning to the next level. But I am not sure if I could relate the feedback regarding 'too much power too soon' in my recovery situations as I don't recall spinning my wheels during recovery (could be wrong of course, so do let me know if I did do this so I take extra care next time). For reference I was convoy no. 4 in the green TJ.

Overall a very fun and educational drive in equal measure, and one which has left me looking forward to the next time I meet you all in the sand. Till then take care and be safe!

Thanks @Ale Vallecchi and @Alexander Alcala for a challenging and entertaining drive and also for the learning inputs throughout the drive and of course the physical effort to pull us out of the issues whenever they occurred. Looking forward to more of the same - for sure every drive I have been on drives with Carnity I come away having learned a few things on offroad driving in general and importantly on getting used to my car and how it behaves on sand. A great weekend stress buster as usual - thanks as well to me fellow newbies, hope to see you next time on the sand!

Thanks @Frederic for organizing and also the detailed route instructions - would never have found it otherwise! Also thanks to @munkybizness for the idea and @samamara for the location and the rest or you for the infectious enthusiasm which extended to me being able to motivate my wife and daughters to accompany me (though the elder one found the breeze pleasant enough to take a nap under the stars!). Unfortunately I forgot to get my radio and was not sure of the groupl location after I came down into the tree area - would have been a great opportunity to meet and chat with the group members, will look forward to the next opportunity for that. And there were quite a few people around other than carnity thanks to the considerable media publicity around the meteor shower. I think this place is a really good location and worth more visits on more regular nights just to see the sky and stars just on their own merit...thanks so much for that

Some very nice shots @Frederic and @BipinM..(you seem to have captured some meteor trails!)..looking forward to more from the rest and of course @samamara. Will also post something if I can salvage any decent ones...i shot pointed right up into the sky to avoid the regular headlights and torch beams 🙃

 @samamara Thanks so much for the detailed responses, do appreciate it. 

@samamara apologies to you and rest of the gang for hijacking this thread for some more general photo tips. But a couple of quick ones hopefully should be useful info for the others also....

1. Is there a preferred season in our UAE area for milky way shots as in clear sky or aesthetic view of MW itself (you mentioned october but does it extend into the winter?)

2. As you mentioned post editing is critical. Can you link to any useful website or FAQ for workflow to edit night sky/ high signal noise pics in PS or similar software

3. last one! Any benefit you see in shooting/ editing from RAW data as opposed to in camera processed JPEG, This question is from a hobbyist perspective and not aiming for professional/ large size prints etc

Thanks (and hoping for a clear sky tomorrow night as well)

@Frederic I confirm attendance, thanks for adding me!

@samamara thanks very much for your patience and that detailed answer covering all the points. Cleared up a lot on the theory side, now for the practical part and trying to produce something passable! The other two pics you have shared including the star trails are excellent as well. 

Also, thanks @Frederic for your valuable inputs as. For me focusing on the night sky has always been a challenge as my camera is a little old and while it has many customizable features the live view is a very basic one. One can have the best camera and lens - but if the camera shakes or if the focus is off may as well be a pinhole camera  

But I guess a lot of practice is called for to get the technique right and given that practicing is more than half the fun. here's hoping I can make it on to the drive 🤞

2 hours ago, samamara said:

Your 16-35mm will still give you a lovely shot! I Also have a 5DM4 and I use a Tokina 11-16mm on it which, unfortunately, is made for a crop sensor. I can still use it but not down past 14mm without significant vignetting so even at 15-16mm you'll get lovely wide views (which I'm sure you know already ). That lens, by the way, is not so expensive and has given me very clear astro shots (see attachment taken in Rub al Khali last Milky Way season); even if it's for a crop-sensor you may want to consider it. You can give mine a go on Thursday night if you want, once all is said and done with our shoot . 

 

@samamara that is a really fantastic shot, I am sure you are being very modest and a lot of planning and work went into it. Even the dune in the foreground is perfectly lit and without any blemishes like footmarks...really well done!

Will be grateful if you could share some data while you have already shared some info...Lens focal length ~16mm (very clear for a zoom lens!) and ISO 3200 (impressive low level of noise still, says a lot about your sensor and camera)

Could you also let us know what you used for shutter speed and aperture? White balance? guess you used a tripod and a remote shutter release? any tips to get the right focus? Was it a single shot or blended a foreground shot with the sky shot...could you give some details if and how you light painted the foreground (perfectly done)..... Location I guess you aced it with Rub Al Khali - doubt if we can find a similar low light pollution area within Dubai or Sharjah...there is a glow from the horizon right side but even that adds to the picture rather than detracts from it as it contrasts against the part of the dune which is in shadow...

Sorry for the many questions,,,but If I can get a shot as good as this I would consider my lifes work done  Thanks!

Thanks @Brettefor a very enjoyable and safe drive as always, and @Hisham Masaad for valuable support and keeping an eye on us newbies from the rear of the conovy. Thanks also to all the other drivers, I think we all managed to cross the challenges in the drive with minimal fuss and a lot of learning. @munkybizness it was a pleasure to meet you and the presence of the Y61 powerhouse in my rear view was steady and reassuring. Hope to meet all of you on future drives and to continue learning 👍

Hello @Fredericcan you please wait list me for this event. Saw it late 😪