Patrick

Amazing, thank you ☺️

Hi Fred, can I join this on a last minute basis? Seems that 1 out of 10 slots is available? Let me know. If not possible, it's not a problem. Thank you!

Hi Fred, thanks for your reply. Other clubs have "upgrade trips" where actual skills are demonstrated and assessed by one or more marshalls in the convoy. Yet at another club there is a system in place where 1 marshall can nominate a member for upgrade, and 2 other marshalls have to agree/vote before the upgrade takes place. I think Carnity works well for members who a) have never done any desert driving (so real newbies), and b) do not drive with other clubs concurrently. For members who have prior experience or who drive with other clubs it might not be so suitable. Or just go through the grading structure and accumulate credits. There are a number of members I know drive for other clubs, so I am not alone in my opinion. The members are there, but may not speak up. Agreed that number of drives does not equal experience and well noted on self-declaration. However a system of testing/demonstration as in an "upgrade trip" might be interesting to consider so that members are placed in the correct level. Nevertheless, I do not think that will happen but thought I will voice my opinion.

Agreed on the grading structure. I drive with multiple clubs and already do drives that at Carnity I would need to reach Intermediate level for just to join. This is also true for some other members who I have driven with privately. It's really numbers-based and doesn't take into account the overall and actual experience level, unfortunately. Personally, I am just trying to get the extra 15 drives done so I can reach Intermediate and do the drives I really want to do just based on my actual number of drives I have done overall in UAE. I love this club and am friends with many members, sometimes wish members were placed in the levels they belong based on their actual experience instead of having to do drives just for the sake of earning credits 😁

At other clubs I drive with even before joining Carnity the weekday drives are well-attended. Especially night-drives. I joined several night drives at Carnity many weeks ago, are there plans for any more?

Actually I heard it commented multiple times from different people during drives that they wish there were weekday drives offerings too 😁 The large numbers are not surprising, in my opinion. There seems to be quite a substantial member base that is self-employed or with flexible schedules that would happily do weekday drives and spend weekends with family 😊

Amazingly done Pavel! Enjoy and have fun 😁

Fred & Davie, I'm sorry something has come up and I can't join tomorrow

I'm on the waitlist but happy to join if it becomes possible

Post drive fresh-up and facial misting 😁 Where to get this thing? Garden shop? @ishak Well, we have recovery gear for car. Now this is what I call "personal recovery gear" 👍

I love to see these cargo area pictures. It's like a behind-the-scenes look or behind the stage look, just in off-roading 😆

@Mark B Beautiful. Love the black/red color scheme too. That's true off-road art right there 😁

Ah okay!! Normally I pour the water straight from the bottle 😂 Interesting, is that to wash any sand away from the seal area with pressure?

Hi @Ishak just curious what the white bottle in front of the shovels is for? Never seen this equipment. Thanks

Hi @Hisham Masaad Not sure if I can recommend it here, but since it's a large brand and not a small shop or garage I will just mention it. Zeiss offers prescription lenses that are extra dark (I think 95% dar). I saw them at the Dubai Hills mall shop. The lead time is 1-2 weeks as they FedEx the extra dark lenses from Germany. I ended up not really needing them but it might be worth checking out if you need Cat 4 prescription.

Hi Benjamin, just sharing below the photo of the contents of the suitcase. Kinetic rope, soft shackles and shovel are typically kept outside the suitcase All that equipment does fit inside the large suitcase for whoever wants to implement that setup. That also includes full tools and backpack with full change of clothes, jacket and toiletries. I do have to note however that I keep my water (8x 1.5L bottles) tightly squeezed under both front seats. And if I wanted to put the trolley jack (my last one started leaking so I threw it out) into the suitcase, I would need to remove one or 2 items to make it fit. First aid kit and some other small items are stored elsewhere. It's amazing what can fit into a large suitcase and I find it very convenient.

Sorry to overpost here, but it's an exciting topic. Just sharing my setup as well as Benjamin requested in the initial post. I use an old full-size suitcase and 2 tie down ratchet straps. I found the suitcase big enough to fit all my gear, and the soft material of the fabric suitcase allows for tight tightening down without having to worry about cracking plastic suitcases or boxes. Also, if I am going for car wash and they need to vaccum the sand out, I can just take out the suitcase without having to unload a whole range of individual gear items one by one. Similarly, if I need the cargo space (maybe buying something at IKEA I can just take out the suitcase and wheel it to my apartment - easy and no hassle. All the gear comes out in one pop. During the drives I keep the kinetic rope with shackles attached and the shovel strapped to the top of the suitcase, so I can access these commonly-used items without having to unstrap everything and open the suitcase. I found the suitcase to be super convenient.

It might also be worth considering installing a cargo barrier in the car as a second safety measure besides tying down, to 'plan for the unknown'. I found that cargo barriers come in different quality levels, sometimes more marketed as a 'pet barriers' that likely won't stop a 15 kg jack flying through. Great discussion Benjamin 👍

I think one important point to add that tying down is not just to keep items shifting around during a drive. Most importantly the purpose of tying down is to prevent items flying around the cabin in case of a rollover. Especially in the case of a multiple rollover, lose items will quickly move around the cabin like in a blender and can dangerously hit the driver on the head and case serious injury. I have heard stories at other clubs where people were injured during a rollover not because of the rollover itself but because of loose items. You don't want a jack or compressor flying around in that case. Maybe this isn't relevant at our safe drives and levels, but it becomes a potential issue when tackling higher dune scenarios. Hence for example bungee cords or simple cargo nets that aren't the strap ones won't likely be enough.

Hi everyone, Since starting my off-roading journey I have noticed that both of my "standard" sunglasses that I had, whether polarised or not, were way to bright for off-roading. With the sunglasses on, I often found myself pinching my eyes a bit, causing slight fatigue when driving on a bright sunny day. After doing some research, I found that sunglasses are categorised by lens darkness. Have a look at the attached chart. Your run-of-the mill sunglasses you can buy at the shopping mall typically have a Cat 3 lens which refers to the darkness. You can check your glasses' Cat number by looking at the inside of your temples/frame. What Cat are you using? Now, the much less common Cat 4 lenses are generally not widely sold and are used more for applications such as winter sports in bright snow. After a lengthy journey looking around in Dubai and calling some optical stores, I found that Decathlon sells several models of Cat 4 sunglasses. There are options on the Amazon US store too. The darker Cat 4 sunglasses have been a game changer for me, allowing me to drive in absolute comfort on a bright day. Only having to switch to my Cat 3 sunglasses close to sunset. Just thought I would share that, for those that thought sunglasses = sunglasses when in fact different darkness levels do exist!

I love the standard 2 wheel hose the FJ comes with, together with the built-in compressor. If I were to upgrade to an on-board or even the suitcase ARB compressor, I would probably get a hose that can inflate 2 wheels at the same time. But not 4. I find for 4 wheels there is "too much hose" and have to spend time dis-entangling it and getting knots out. I also like to wipe the sand/dust off the hose after inflating with a cloth, that would take me too long for the 4 tyre setup. I think the guy selling the hose also sells the 2 wheel setup. But in any case this build-it-yourself projects sounds like fun and I might give it a try for a 2 hose setup. Thanks for sharing that!

I also bought the 4 way hose that is sold here but stopped using it after 3-4 times. Don't get me wrong, quality and built is great and it's high quality in my opinion. I just find it too cumbersome to set everything up and then roll it up neatly again. It's a nice idea but I ended up not really saving time and found it to be more hassle than benefit.

Congrats Jaro!!! Enjoy the amazing new level, hope to see you there soon!!😁

Congratulations Marketa!!👍🚙😊

Glad you made it @Felix Obst😁