[Rockets] OROC July 5 model launch report

[Keith Packard]

Another great model rocket launch in Wilsonville today. The weather was
warm and dry, although there were high clouds all day. No rockets went
that high though. It was also a bit windy; we had a few launches that
were held for high gusts.

Thanks again to Tim Ryerse for coming out to help set up and run the
launch. All of the equipment worked great, although we missed having
Robert's PA system again. Looks like we'll just need to go get one for
this event.

Mary Anne Ryerse continues to show us how its done -- she brought
cupcakes decorated for the holiday and flew several successful rocket
flights. She spent about half an hour looking for one over the tree line
only to have a helpful park visitor bring it back to the flight line.

Tim and I cooked up a contest this month -- first one to land a rocket
on a big blue tarp would win a new rocket kit. Unfortunately, the wind
wasn't cooperating with this plan, and no-one managed to land a rocket
on the tarp all day. Ryan Fauser managed to land the closest and chose a
two stage kit for his prize. We'll need to brainstorm about what kinds
of contests would work for this launch; the tarp launch might have been
OK in calm winds, but not today.

The usual statistics:

                Launches:           66
                Successful flights: 57
                Flyers:             19
                Rockets:  	    45
                Most Flights:       8 Gary Harris
                Biggest Motor: 	    F40-7 Jack Caynon
                
I'm thinking the saucer drag race may need to become a traditional part
of this launch -- lots of smoke and noise, and no lost rockets. Steve
Tarr even wore his 'no parachutes' shirt today, setting an appropriate
tone (although he did fly his Acme Spitfire, and it did ride down on a
chute).

The park was quieter this weekend than in May; by 4:00, we had the whole
place to ourselves, except for a few dogs chasing frisbees.

The wind was a bit gusty today; we lost one rocket to the trees on the
east end of the park, and one to the west (weather cocking *and*
recovery failure).

I've got a complete flight log here for those interested in precisely
what was flown. Thanks to everyone who attended, and I hope to see you
all at future rocket launches.

Future Memorial park model lauch schedule:

Sunday August 9th 2-5
Sunday October 11th 2-5
Saturday November 14 12-3

In September, please come out to the Oregon Rocketry launch down in
Sheridan on the 12th and 13th.

-- 
keith.packard at intel.com
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: not available
Type: application/pgp-signature
Size: 189 bytes
Desc: This is a digitally signed message part
URL: </pipermail/rockets/attachments/20090705/25c175c6/attachment.pgp>