GSSS Launch Today 12/22/07

[Rocket Doctor]

There is a launch scheduled (weather permitting) today, Saturday Dec 22nd at North Branch Park off Rt 206 in New Jersey.

Starting at 10 am until 3 pm, check out the GSSS web site for more details.

[Tom Swift]

Breezy, with temps in the upper 30s, and fairly low cloud cover. The field was a patchwork of mud, ice sheets, and puddles. Only a crazy person would be out in that mess, especially on a busy weekend just before Christmas. I came for an an hour or two. :) Six other brave souls were also there during that time.

My original plan was to stop by for a quick visit and, if posible, get one launch off of my new scratch ViperIII-ish rocket . I brought it for a maiden test flight, but a large cluster seemed like a bad match for the conditions. And with no paint yet on the fins, the balsa would have gotten soaked on landing. So I chickened out. Since it was the only rocket I'd brought, I didn't fly anything that day. (Once I saw the mud I was really wishing I had a Hefty Store-n-Serve saucer instead. Plastic and disposable, they are great for wet and windy conditions.)

Even though I didn't fly anything, it was still fun to just chat and watch. I saw perhaps a dozen flights. Amazingly all of the rockets landed on the snow and ice, and missed the many puddles and mud bogs. A Guardian busted a fin (twice) by landing on ice, but the other rockets came away unscathed. These included a Mongoose (single stage flights only), a Converter, a Rotaroc-type, two Alphas, and a few others.

I had to leave early to go to work. And to get some feeling back into my frozen toes. Still, bad day flying beats a good day at the office.

[Rocket Doctor]

That wasn't my cup of tea. The weather was much worse by me, I figured that the launch would have be scrubbed.
GSSS hopefully will get better weather in 2008, especially with all the rain we had been having lately.