Wilsonville OR January 2010 Report
Article: 1879
By Keith Packard, January 2010
The weather gods shined on us last weekend, that’s for sure. With dire predictions of wind and rain, we experienced delightfully dry skies with only a modest zephyr of wind from time to time. I suspect that the forecast kept several people home though, we had only 20 attendees this month.
I’d like to thank the Ward family for bringing cookies this month; having treats out on the flight line adds a smile to any flyer’s face.
I’m afraid we lost a few rockets this month; our friends the rocket-eating trees on the south end of the park are the proud owners of two new models, while Tim Ryerse managed to clear said trees and get all the way to the river. I suspect he’ll be getting a new record for furthest landing at this park every day for a while as his poor Bullpup floats down to the ocean.
First, the usual stats:
- Launches: 39
- Successful flights: 32
- Flyers: 14
- Rockets: 23
- Most Flights: 5 Chris Guenther
- Biggest Motor: F39 Joe Bevier and Chris Guenther
Joe and Chris both flew their F39 motors in saucers; Chris in a fiberglass bowl of some sort and Joe in his 6″ Art Applewhite Delta, which was the last flight of the day. I have to say that I like little saucers with big motors quite a bit. Lots of noise and a fast boost, and then the rocket just stops and tumbles back to the ground.
We had a few new people come out this month, one local science teacher scoping out launch opportunities for her students and a father and son who didn’t have any rockets of their own, but helped launch quite a few others and took home a rocket kit for their kind assistance. I’m hoping they’ll be back next month with something ready to fly!
The science teacher said she’d probably bring her class to the Feb launch (weather permitting); they should have a half dozen rockets among the 15-20 students. I’m looking forward to that; I’d love to support rocket programs from local schools.
I don’t know about the rest of the crowd, but while I had a great day, I was happy to get moving again to pack things up at the end; it was dry, but it wasn’t all that warm standing around out in the field.
Thanks again to Tim Ryerse for helping set up and tear down, to Joe Bevier for helping clean things up and to all of the fliers who make this a highlight of my month.
We’ll be back out next month on Saturday, February 13th from 12-3, come join the fun!