Although it's Day 2 of the race, many teams (like us) have not yet even started their race. The flyby of the timing line at P&R Field starts the race clock for each team. So after a few hours sleep at the Boise Inn, we are fueled, packed, and preflighted. Some thunderstorm activity is in the area and brewing, and we need to move out. The rain starts as we taxi out for launch. The air is chilly.We shoot out of Boise on runway 28R and circle back around to the SE to pick out P&R Field - a needle in a haystack - a small private airstrip with just 3-4 homes - one with its "driveway" as our timing line. For us, it's a rare moment to do a "Flyby to Continue" rather than a "Flyby to Land" where we typically refuel. It's just minutes from Boise, but the weather is suddenly much warmer and brighter. Lynn nails the airfield sighting, we make our flyby calls - 10 miles out, 5 miles out, lights on for visibility - flying top speed, dropping down to just 200 ft above ground - wings level, APPROACHING FLYBY. We buzz by the homes below. We are on the clock and now climbing out for stop #2 - Logan UT.
Time to put away the first flyby papers, settle in for our first leg, and plan for the next flyby. Today's goal - Logan and Rawlins. While we would like to complete more of the route, the density altitude of Rawlins will limit our capabilities. While only about 6000 ft elevation, it typically gets to be 10,000 ft density altitude early on in the day, which means the plane has very limited performance - it's as if you're trying to fly off a field that's at 10,000 ft altitude, not 6,000 ft. So we know that we'll only complete 2 stops this day. We'll do a "Flyby to Land" at Logan (LGU) and after landing, we'll check conditions and the flight plan for Rawlins, refuel, and launch for LGU.Flyby #2 - just 300 ft above the ground at top speed - such an adrenaline rush...we circle out and come into land at LGU. It's a familiar place, since we spent the night here on our way to Pasco. We taxi in and grab a few things to flight plan for RWL. Not so fast...the winds at RWL are gusitng to 40+ knots. We'll have a great tailwind to RWL, which will be great for our race score, but the surface winds in RWL are just too high for us to take off right away. The forecast is for winds to die down around 8 pm this evening. It's just 11 am now, and we'll be cooling our heels for several hours now on the ground at LGU. We'll plan to take off from LGU so that our flyby and landing at RWL will occur in calmer winds. The stop chair at RWL assures us that we'll have a place to stay the night there despite the lack of hotel rooms.
The day drifts by chatting with folks at the airport. We take a crew car into town for a good meal. We listen to the weather briefing in the car on the way back to the airport. The winds are still blustery and gusting, and the weather briefer relays that the high surface gusts are staying for several more hours through the night in RWL. Our plans change...no launch for RWL...we're looking to book a room for the night in LGU. Day 2 of the race ends in frustration. Today's great tail wind speeds over the mountains are lost, and we have only flown 1 leg today. We have 7 stops yet to complete and only 2 days left to do them. We may not be able to complete the race route by the deadline for arriving at the terminus, despite the extension from 5pm to sunset on Friday. And Day 3 will bring headwinds that will hurt our scores...
