Thursday morning’s weather forecast was not favorable;  winds on the surface, as well as at 3,000, 6,000, and 9,000  feet were all going out into the Gulf with no options but to  land. Several teams saw this and landed. Meteorologist Day  and Cayton had a long discussion via satellite phone, and  confirmed the winds above 12,000 would hook out into the  Gulf and bring them back to dry land near Panama City,  Florida. All the available meteorological information told  them it would work. If the team wished to stay competitive,  they had to go high and out over the water. They began their ascent around 10:00 AM and went out over  the water just east of New Orleans. It was relatively slow  going but Cayton and Knapp finally made it back to land as  planned and began a slow descent around 16:30. Equipment  was secured in anticipation of a possible landing near the  Apalachicola National Forest in the Florida panhandle. After  confirming their position in the race, and with no place to  land, the decision was made to continue the flight through  the night. The weather prognosis was good, the winds would  be relatively calm during the night and remaining ballast was  good, so they calculated the needed distance and time to win  the race.  [Figure 11-14] feet. The flight continued in an easterly direction at 15 mph  and by 08:00 the team came to the realization that they were  in a perfect position to take over the lead. As the Cayton-Knapp team crossed Interstate 75, just south  of Gainesville, Florida, they received word that the German  team of Eimers/Winker  [Figure 11-15,  AC-13 ]  was on the  ground, and near Cayton’s home in Savannah, Georgia.  Cayton and Knapp elected to continue flying until they had  a cushion of 10 miles before beginning their descent.  Early on Thursday morning, it appeared that the team’s  patience had paid off. By 0430, they were moving east about  6 mph and were just over Cross City, Florida. At sunrise, they  were 13 miles further east, and just north of Old Town and  Fanning Springs. Surface winds were calm and there was a  thin layer of ground fog. As the sun came up, the balloon  experienced solar heating and ascended to just over 7,000  $_{Figure 11-14.}$  Panama City Beach, Florida, as seen from the  Cayton-Knapp balloon, 25 miles out over the Gulf of Mexico. $_{Figure 11-15.}$  Tracks of the 2006 America‘s Challenge competitors. 11-14