LEADERS PASSING IN THE NIGHT

WEDALI and Quest selected different routes to CP 23, with WEDALI approaching from the southeast and Quest from the northwest.  We all gasped in the TA when we saw WEDALI's tracker show them northwest of the CP, overshooting it, while Quest's tracker showed them southeast of the CP.  We assumed Quest had punched the CP and continued southeast toward TA 4.  What a surprise when we found Quest also backtracking, having overshot the CP in the other direction!  Both teams had a trail intersection as a backstop and so the mistake only cost each of them a few minutes (WEDALI seems to have turned around more quickly), but it would have been a tremendous opportunity for one of them to capitalize on the other's mistake.  Instead, they're almost neck and neck again heading into the last navigation leg.  The teams obviously crossed each other as they overshot the CP in different directions, and we can't wait to hear what was going through Quest's head when they saw WEDALI still traveling northwest on the trail.