Join Team Maxing Out for their sailing and off-road adventures.  They may be wandering, but they are not lost.  So where did they go?  Some people would say nowhere, but I would say, everywhere their heart desired.  They went everywhere they had the courage to point the bow of their sturdy catamaran Exit Only, and everywhere they turned the wheels of their Land Rover Defenders.  They sailed more than 33,000 miles around the world on their Privilege 39 catamaran including a trip through Pirate Alley and up the Red Sea.  Their Land Rover Defenders took them to Arabia, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, New Zealand, and Australia.  Soon the adventures will continue with a driving trip around the world and a sailing voyage back to Australia.

Join Team Maxing Out as they sail around the world on their Privilege 39 catamaran, Exit Only.  Maxingout.com chronicles their adventures during an eleven year circumnavigation of planet earth.  Experience their adventures as they sail through pirate alley and up the Red Sea.  Find out what it like to sail through a global tsunami in Thailand and the Indian Ocean.  Sail up the Kumai River in Borneo and visit the endangered Orangutans of Kalimantan.  Explore the crystal clear waters of southern Turkey and sail through the Corinth Canal of Greece.  Ride out a storm at sea as Exit Only sails from Gibraltar to the Canary Islands.  Discover what it is like to sail on the ocean of your dreams.

Home Is Where The Heart Is - The first home I ever owned was sailing vessel Exit Only.  The dream of house ownership never appealed to me, and I have steadfastly resisted any passing and weak urges to buy a house.  On the other hand, all of my adult life I have had an overwhelming desire to own and cruise on a small yacht. When I arrived in Phoenix, I couldn't tell whether I was in a 45 caliber zone or a 38 caliber zone.  That made finding a place to live somewhat difficult. If I wanted to be safe working in this section of the world, I would have to buy a tent and live in the desert with the rattlesnakes and coyotes with an hour long commute, or I could buy an over-priced house in a seemingly safe area. The over-priced safe house seems to be working fine.  This must be what it feels like to be living in a witness protection program.

Dave Abbott wears many hats.  When he is on board Exit Only, he is known as Captain Dave.  When he is driving Land Rover Defenders, he is known as Land Rover Man.  When is working as a flying doctor with the Indian Health Service, he is know as Dr. Dave.  Captain Dave, Land Rover Man and Dr. Dave have all gotten together and written a book called Maximum Strength Positive Thinking.

Maximum Strength Positive Thinking tells you what to say when you talk to your mind, and what to say when your mind talks to you. You have a lot of things to discuss with your mind, and Maximum Strength Positive Thinking tells you what you should be talking about. Maximum Strength Positive Thinking is now available in eBook Format at Amazon, iTunes, and Barnes and Noble. Make your life better today by putting Maximum Strength Positive Thinking into your mind.  If you want to have a positive mind, nobody can stop you.

Discover the meaning of Positive Overlanding.  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.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.

Landrover Defender Overland - When things don't work out as planned, what should you do?  Put a for sale sign of your Defender and hope that a Bedouin with lots of cash shows up to put you out of your misery?  Sit around and feel sorry for yourself because you are high-sided on the sand dunes of life?  I don't think so.  If you don't have a snatch strap, and you are alone in the dunes, then it's time to get out the shovel and start digging.  Once the sand no longer touches the chassis, you will be on your way. When plans don't work out, you keep on digging, keep on fixing, keep on navigating, and keep on driving.
 

Expeditionary Sandbook - My first trip into the Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia taught me the most important lesson of desert exploration that I ever learned:  DON'T DO STUPID THINGS!  The desert is unforgiving and doesn't treat fools lightly.  Here is how I learned that lesson.
 

Freedom Overland - For me, the dream is all about adventure, freedom, and being really alive. Although I like seeing the sights wherever we go, I think it's the sense of adventure coupled with the freedom to do what I want to do with my life, seasoned with a pinch of adrenalin that makes it all worthwhile. It doesn't matter whether I drive down a hundred foot sand dune, sail through pirate alley, or voyage across an ocean, I still get the feeling that I am really alive and am accomplishing something that's important to me. I'm living my dreams, and although it's a lot of work, costs lots of money, and spends the currency of my youth, that doesn't matter, because I'm doing what I want to do with my life as I live without regrets.

Defender Offroad - Daydreams are easy.  Just sit back and let them happen.  Daydreams are effortless adventure.  It's easy to be a legend in your own mind.  Real dreams are hard.  You can't sit around making bun prints in the sands of time if you want to make your dreams come true.  Real dreams aren't a trip to fantasy land.  They are rock solid adventures purchased with blood, sweat, and tears, and the most precious commodity of all, time.  I have always been something of a dreamer.  I have gone walkabout in my mind for thousands of hours, and that's ok, because I have spent even more time going walkabout on planet earth.

Maxingout Overland - Each expedition into the Arabian desert is special for different reasons.  Some trips are simply to get away from it all to experience the solitude and stark beauty of the Arabian shield.  Other trips have a specific destination in mind, and the destination defines the adventure.  The U.S. Geological Survey worked with the Saudi government to create a set of maps of the geology of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.  My favorite survey map is the Southern Nejd Quadrangle.  A smorgasbord of sand dunes, wadis, granite fields, metamorphic mountain ranges, and archeological mysteries abound in this quadrangle.  When I think of this area, the word "awesome" comes to mind.  Take a trip with Team Maxing Out to the Tombs of Bir Zeen.

Maxingout Offroad - Travel with Team Maxing Out to the Hadida Meteor crater in the middle of the Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia. On the trip back from Hadida, I had my opportunity to lead the expedition into a sea of soft sand.  It was high noon, and I had no clue that in a few seconds I would be up to my chassis in golden sand.  If I had a thousand dollars for every time I have been stuck, I would be a millionaire.  I'm grateful for all the times I've been stuck over the years.  That's what happens when I live my dreams. I've been up to my axles in sand hundreds of times.  That's terrific because it means I am living my sand dreams.  I've been stuck too many times to count, and I hope my good fortune continues.

Maxingout Expeditions - Travel with Team Maxing Out on the Darb Zubaidah from Iraq to Mecca.  More than a thousand years ago, Queen Zubaidah from Iraq built an eighteen meter wide pilgrim road from Baghdad to Mecca. The road was called the Darb Zubaidah, and millions of pilgrims walked this road on their journey to perform Haj. We calculated the distance and felt we could complete the trip in a week in our Land Rover Defender 110 expeditionary vehicles.  We carried enough fuel and water for the entire trip.  Our Defender carried 430 liters of fuel in long range fuel tanks and thirteen jerry cans.  We had two hundred liters of water and enough food to last for weeks.

Positive Thinking Headquarters -  The home of positive thinking on the world wise web.  I am grateful for all the times I have been stuck over the years.  That's what happens when I live my dreams.  I've been up to my axles in sand too many times to count, and that's terrific because it means I am living my sand dreams.  Positive Thinking Headquarters is where you come to get unstuck. There is nothing wrong with getting stuck as long as you don't stay there.  It's time to recover.  It's time to become an Unstoppable, Consistently Positive, Endlessly Persistent, Doer of Dreams.

Overland Defender 110 - Join Team Maxing Out as they make an expedition to the white volcanoes of the Arabian shield.  We decided that we wanted to visit the white volcanoes of the Arabian shield just north of Medina. The volcanoes are in a no man's land with lava fields stretching for hundreds of miles.  We would be foolish to make a solo trip to this area in the heat of summer.  But if it's the cold month of December, if we have two spare tires and enough water to survive for a couple of weeks, and if we are willing to burn one of our spare tires to make a smoke signal in an emergency, then a solo trip is not crazy.

Expeditionary Handbook - Let Team Maxing Out show you the art and science of expeditionary navigation in the Arabian Desert.  Not all expeditionary navigational problems are created equal, and your approach to navigation varies with terrain, capability of the vehicle, and degree of access to the land.  Limited access makes navigation more challenging, and unlimited access gives you hundreds of options when you plan your expedition.  Situational awareness forms the foundation of successful expeditionary travel.  Situational awareness means that you know yourself, your vehicles, and the desert in which you travel.   You must know your vehicle well and understand its capabilities and limitations. 

Positive Thinking Handbook -  When everything goes wrong, you discover who you are.  You have a defining moment.  If you don't face challenges, and if things don't go wrong frequently, something is wrong.  You are not really living.  You are drifting.  You are alive in name only.  It's time to get in the arena and engage life head on.  It's time for things to go wrong so you can discover what you are made of and who you are.  It's time to have a defining moment.  The Positive Thinking  Handbook will help you win the battle of the mind during the defining moments of life.  It's your handbook to a positive mind.  If you like the Positive Thinking Handbook, you will also love Positive Thinker's Handbook and Dr. Dave's Positive Handbook.

Arno's Wall - Everything Including the Kitchen Sink - Winton, Queensland

Ozzie Outback Murals - Life Before Cell Phones, Texting, and Twitter.

Rock Wall Journal - Team Maxing Out conquers a sand ramp in the Empty Quarter of Saudi Arabia and then studies the petroglyphs of the Rock Wall Journal.  The ancient people who created the Rock Wall Journal were not simple-minded cavemen waiting to evolve into real human beings.  These highly intelligent people had an appreciation for the natural world in which they were immersed.  They displayed their focus on the natural world with stylized drawings that are still pleasing to modern eyes.  Although they had a limited palate and only a few tools with which to work, they created unforgettable panels of rock art.

Sudanese Boatyard - Traditional boat building is alive and well in Sudan.  As we toured the waterfront in Suakin, we visited a boat yard where craftsmen build wooden fishing vessels.  They used an adze to shape tree limbs to the curvature of the hull to create ribs for their  boat.  Next, they attach rough sawn planks to the vertical ribs.
 

Cruising Sudan - When cruising sailors visit Sudan, they all stop at Suakin.  This modest port is a much better stopover than Port Sudan which is the main commercial port in the country.  Suakin has a large well protected harbor with good holding in relatively shallow water.  You could sit out a real blow in this harbor without much risk of dragging anchor.  The ruins of old Suakin occupy a small peninsula north of the anchorage.  This town was reputed to be the last place in the Red Sea where there was an active slave market.  On a more positive note, the town is unique because its  white buildings were constructed out of coral.

Sudanese Children - Someone once said that the birth of a child proves that God hasn't given up on the world yet, and I'm inclined to agree.  After living outside the USA for twenty-eight years and traveling twice around the world, I find that children are my greatest reason for hope.  I can see it in their eyes and hearts.  They have no axes to grind, they ignore hardship, and they love life.
 

Orangutans of Borneo - Travel with Team Maxing Out as they visit the Orangutans of Kalimantan.  Borneo is off the beaten path and sailing there on your own yacht is a big deal.  It's not around the corner and up the street.  It's your reward for a long hot passage across the Java Sea. In order to see the endangered Orangutans, you must sail  up the Kumai river which takes the better part of a day if all goes well.  Sometimes things don't go well, and you run aground.  That's exactly what happened to the sailboat that traveled with us up the Kumai river.

Exit Only Survives Global Tsunami - In Thailand, Exit Only survived the most destructive tsunami of modern times without a scratch, but we didn't escape scot-free.  The arm of the tsunami was very long, and out in the middle of the Indian Ocean, the tsunami made a lasting impression on Exit Only's starboard bow.

34 Things I've Learned in 33,000 Miles - Find out the lessons learned by Team Maxing Out as they sailed around the world on Exit Only.  You find what you’re looking for. The cruises who talk about the dangers lurking in each location are invariably the ones who find trouble. Cruisers who make smart decisions and keep a positive attitude somehow manage to find good stuff in the same places and enjoy themselves much more.

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