Day 7 for Double Trouble in the Outback Air Race 2001
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Reola Station to Bourke
The race leg was from a homestead to the East of Reola to a dam wall near Bourke. We were flying against the Kalgoorlie Goldwings and
made every effort to be more organised today.
Contrary to popular opinion we do get out of bed early (but only on holidays) which allowed us to witness the sunrise
The basis of the race is to nominate an accurate time for the given race leg. To this end FWL is amply supplied with time
pieces:
- 2 watches on Dirk's wrists
- 2 watches on Jens' wrists
- 1 clock on the instrument panel
- 1 stop watch on the pilot's side window
- 1 stop watch on Jens' flight log
- 2 laptop computers
- 2 clocks in personal organisers
- 3 clocks in GPS units
- 1 clock in a camera
Making it a grand total of 17 time pieces.
Despite two approaches to the start way point (the first yielded too little tail wind and we had to climb to a higher level), we were not
able to synchronise any of these time pieces with the start of the race leg. Consequently we were "guestimating" the time en-route.
After reaching the dam wall we hurried into Bourke at full throttle and maximum RPM. The haste of the arrival can be easily explained: Jens
was in command and we were due to meet up with Heather in Bourke.
Here is a sample of Bourke's local road conditions
The night's frivolities took place on a river cruise of the mighty Darling river, which required us to bring our own supplies of liquor.
Seen here is the safety cage that was quickly erected in anticipation of the Outback Air Race's arrival. All the customers pictured are race
participants.
Much to our surprise, and despite sticky fingers at the start, we won against the Kalgoorlie Goldwings leaving the Facarwee
team at the top of the ladder.
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