ROC May 1999 Launch

Report by Jeffrey D. Gortatowsky

April showers bring May flowers... or so they say. Obviously "they" never lived in southern California. We had some April showers, which fortunately did not show for the April launch, but the May flowers were blown away. Ah yes, in May the "W" finally showed it's ugly head like the wind bag we all remember! It had been quite some time since I had been to a launch in the "Windy Town of Lucerne Valley". I had forgotten the pleasure of going home with the west facing side of my body brown with embedded playa dust!

Your intrepid reporter felt that "discretion was the better part of valor" when it came to launching his rockets. However this was not the case for many of the more stalwart of ROC members! Some people like Kelly Ferdman put CPR to the test with his "Sudden Rush" on a J180 and a Transolve P5. At the other end of the spectrum, we had those like Will Stockwell with a brave flight on his Estes "Super Shot" and C6 power. Swinging back the other way, Jeff "I don't get no respect" Stai told the wind where to go and launched his six inch diameter Public Enemy "Fatboy" on a K550! Jeff finally made it back from recovering the rocket after its successful flight just in time for the June ROCstock IX launch!

The Friton Family apparently like to think of themselves as a West Virginia family as they launched their "Who's your Daddy" rocket built by "Bastard Rockets" successfully on and H124. People, I just report 'em here I don't write 'em. (Apologies to those of you from West Virginia, this is all in fun!) Heidi Roberts launched her Public Enemy "Baby Fatboy" she calls "Rosey" on a G80 for a nice flight. Speaking of Rosey...

Brian Albert launches his scratch built "Fuster Cluck" with 4 D12's, one of which actually lit. This was indeed a Fuster Cluck! Speaking of fluster clucks, Calvin McAlister managed to make his Initiator in to a Lake Stake, while Art Alder's "Space Buddy" seemed to have it's problems while sky writing above the playa.

Bill Seiders would have demonstrated his new ejection charge compound had the I435 in his "Drano Dart" not CATO'd on the pad. There were more rockets than Bill's down the drain however! Rick O'Keefe's Vector decided to play bottle rocket and take the rod with it on C6 power. John Jenning's "Crazy Ivan" lived up to its name sky writing across the desert on a G125. And Ross Iwamoto watched his "Big Daddy" tank on a F24.

Not every flight in the wind this day was a "Fuster Cluck" however as Domingo Duran certified NAR Level 1 with his scratch built "Orange 1" on a H180. Wayne "NOS" Mrazek fired his scratch built rocket on a Hypertek J145 with an Adept altimeter bring home the bacon. Hulan Matthies kicked his LOC "Warloc" in the arse with a K550, while Greg Lawson went for the "gust"o and then took a hike to recover his Public Enemy "FatBoy" on an I300. Not every I435 was a CATO either as Gary Wicenski used one in his LOC "I-ROC" for nice wind blown flight.

Robert Sellers successfully launched his PML "Endeavor" on a H124 single use motor, and John Wittington and Ken Finwall combined on great flight of their LOC "Viper III" on three F101s! Ty Taylor flew a LOC "Caliber ISP" successfully on an I161, while William Inman flew a LOC "Vulcanite" successfully out of a tower launcher on an I195 with an Adept altimeter.

Rick Howard braved the windy conditions and successfully launched his Northcoast Lance Beta on a F62 while Dustin Davison used an F101 successfully in his and Ken Finwall's LOC "Graduator". Tom Emerson had a nice flight with his Estes classic kit "Calypso" on a C6, while John Gunn did a nice job flying his "Mustang" on a G40. A few moments after Dave McCue launched his PML "Phantom" on an I211, the rocket disappeared never to be seen again at the LCO table. Apparently a sacrifice to the wind Gods to appease them on the up coming ROCstock IX.

As you can see, the wind took its toll on flyers with only 74 flights for the day.

All of these rocketeers and many more made sure that they did not "blow" their opportunity to launch, so I had to re"gale" their efforts here with muster and "bluster" before "breezing" into the ROCstock IX report.

Motor Usage for May 1999

  1/2A                    6
     A                    1
     C                    9
     D                    8
     E                    5
     F                    9
     G                   15
     H                    7
     I                   10
     J                    2
     K                    2
  ----                   --
 Total                   74