I was hanging out at the LHS yesterday and spotted something that really caught my eye: A notice that the formerly defunct local rocketry club will be holding its first meeting two Saturdays from now.

Here are the particulars:



I will be attending and hopefully we can get this club off the ground (bad pun). As it now stands, the nearest rocketry group is LUNAR (Livermore Unit of the NAR) which is about 90 minutes away on a good day with a winter flying field about the same distance south of me and the summer field at Moffett Field in San Jose (two hours away).

If you fly rockets and you live in the Sacramento area, YOU ARE ONE OF US!

Be there!

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Kit (aka Cranky Kong)

I'm just a roadie for the banned...

The first meeting was a roaring success.

Approximately 30 people showed up. Experience ranged from Level 3 all the way down the chain to parents/granparents with their kids/grandkids building Estes starter kits.

I'm very optimistic this will work out given the level of expertise and the participation of the members already in other rocketry organizations much further away. We've got funding ($5K) from a local county, a website on the way, officers, all our NAR paperwork is in order/in hand, and...

...The big news is that we have a LAUNCH SITE. In California that is a very big deal. Our first launch is scheduled for Saturday October 10 about 40 minutes from my home. The bad news is that I will driving my parents home from Maine to Arizona and won't be able to participate.

More to follow.

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Kit (aka Cranky Kong)

I'm just a roadie for the banned...

Where is your launch site? When I was stationed at Mather AFB '75-'79, we had the Birch Lane section and flew north of Davis. It was an old sewage dump that was covered over with topsoil. We flew off the end of one of the levees.

Charles

The current site is to the east of the International Airpot and to the west of Elverta. The fellow who owns the property has a small private airport/runway there and we launch downwind of it. No structures, RETs, or anything for a mile or so in any direction.

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Kit (aka Cranky Kong)

I'm just a roadie for the banned...

Hi,
could you be more specific please how to find this place? Is there any time limitation when to launch? Open access, gate? Also, in some of the threads I noticed you saying that webpage is in the order. Is it already up and running?

Is this the location:

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=38.71...34,0.02665&z=16


Thanks, and keep up a good work!

emeded

Close but no banana.

The field we are using is on the east side of Hwy 99/70. Head east on W. Elverta Road from the freeway until you come to the four-way stop at Elverta and E. Levee Rd. Continue east, cross the railroad tracks and turn left at Sorrento Rd and head north about 1/2 mile. There's a large commercial outbuilding on the top of the rise to the left (west side of the road). Around the back and to the north is the site we use.

Be advised this is private property. I know that we have permission to fly there on contest days but I don't know about any other times.

Here's the link to the revised website: http://sargrocket.org/Index.html

The next meeting is scheduled for Dec 12 and will be held at Sierra College in Rocklin. We meet on the second floor in the planetarium. See the website for a map.

Hope to see you there, emeded.

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Kit (aka Cranky Kong)

I'm just a roadie for the banned...

Congratulations, Kit! I'm so happy to hear a new NAR section is sprouting on that side of the hill. (Among other things, it means I don't have to worry needlessly about commuting over the mountain to do TARC mentoring. :-) )

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Bob, you probably know most of the movers and shakers now heading up the Sac Area Rocketry Group: Jonathan DuBose, Dave Kenyon, Aaron Stanley, etc.

Last meeting there was discussion about establishing a TRIPOLI prefecture as well.

It looks like things are finally looking up for the Sacramento area. Yippee!

Ooops! I forgot to mention the local 4-H group headed up by Gary Robbins who was instrumental (IIRC) in obtaining the use of the flying field.

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Kit (aka Cranky Kong)

I'm just a roadie for the banned...

Kit, actually I wouldn't. :-) I've only been back in the hobby a couple years, and when I was coming in, the previous iteration of SARG was winding down.

Yay for the 4-H leaders! And that very much inspires me to try to arrange to bring my 4-Hers over the hill for some sort of group sport launching action. Or even maybe join SARG myself. Hmm!

As for Tripoli ... I would think that Aero-Pac has that sewn up, since they identify as the prefecture for Northern California and Northern Nevada. But what do I know? I'll probably get my L1 in 2011, but only so I can serve as the "responsible member" for any of my youth who want to go for the Junior L1 program. :-)

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I'll amend my Tripoli comment. There might be room for a another prefecture in the Valley. (Too bad that gang down south has already claimed "Central California".)

And I think me joining SARG is definitely a good idea, if y'all 'll have me. At least I know I'll have access to NAR HPR folks when my L1 time comes.

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