Sand driving teaches you about your limitations.
The first lesson you learn is that appearances are deceiving.
Traversing a sea of sand may look like a piece of cake, but fifteen seconds later you are monumentally stuck with sand up to your chassis. At other times, you look at what appears to be difficult terrain, and you pass easily through it like you're driving in a mall parking lot. You can't tell ahead of time how hard the slogging will become until you get into gear and start moving. Appearances truly are deceiving.
The second lesson you learn is that the only way to find out if limitations are real is to test them.
If you want to live your sand dreams, you have to test the sand all the time. You must allow yourself the luxury of testing your limitations many times each day.
When you do that, you discover that you can do many things you previously considered impossible.
Take a look at the wheel tracks in this picture. One pair of tracks leads to a Defender far off in the distance. When he went down the slip face into the valley of doom, he kept on trucking. You can see two patches of soft sand in his wheel tracks where he powered through without getting stuck.
The second set of tracks belongs to a Nissan Patrol. This vehicle went into the valley of doom and got stuck. His tracks show that he almost made it out the other side on his first attempt, but he had to back up and make another try. He made it out on his second go.
I'm standing on top of the dune surveying the landscape trying to figure out which way to head. I had no clue as to whether I would get stuck in the valley of doom, but I also had no choice. If I wanted to test my limitations, I had to go down the slip face and see what happened.
I put the accelerator all the way to the floor in second gear when I hit the bottom of the slip face, and I easily powered out of the hole.
That's the way life works. There's hundreds of sand traps out there, and if you want to drive in the sand, it's inevitable that you will discover many pits of apparent despair. That's to be expected, because you are living your sand dreams.
If you want to live your dreams, you must test your limitations every day.
There is no other way.
Awesome music video that captures the essence of what it's like to sail offshore in a catamaran around the world when conditions are less than perfect. David Abbott from Too Many Drummers sings the vocals, and he also edited the footage from our Red Sea adventures. This is the theme song from the Red Sea Chronicles.
Sailing up the Red Sea is not for the faint of heart. From the Bab al Mandeb to the Suez Canal, adventures and adversity are in abundance. If you take things too seriously, you just might get the Red Sea Blues.
If you like drum beats, and you like adventure, then have a listen to the Red Sea Chronicles Trailer.
Flying fish assault Exit Only in the middle of the night as we sail through the Arabian Gulf from the Maldives to Oman. And so begins our Red Sea adventures.
Sailing through Pirate Alley between Yemen and Somalia involves calculated risk. It may not be Russian Roulette, but it is a bit of a worry. Follow Team Maxing Out as they navigate through Pirate Alley.
Stopping in Yemen was just what the doctor ordered. We refueled, repaired our alternator, and we made friends with our gracious Yemeni hosts. We also went to Baskins Robbins as a reward for surviving Pirate Alley.
After you survive Pirate Alley, you must sail through the Gate of Sorrows (Bab Al Mandab) at the southern entrance to the Red Sea. The Gate of Sorrows lived up to its name with fifty knots of wind and a sandstorm that pummeled Exit Only for two days. Life is good.
Although I like the feel of a paper book in my hand, I love trees even more. When people purchase an eBook, they actually save trees and save money as well. Ebooks are less expensive and have no negative impact on the environment. All of Dr. Dave's books are available at Save A Tree Bookstore. Visit the bookstore today and start putting good things into your mind. It's easy to fill your mind with positive things using eBooks. No matter where you are or what you are doing, you can pull out your smart phone or tablet and start reading. You can even use electronic highlighters and make annotations in your eBooks just like paper books.
