WOW

Dispatch from Ralph "el Presidente" Roberts, high-flyin' propellent-burnin' man: Yeah, I was the only ROCC member down there Saturday. I gotta rag all of the gang. I had to go down and "Represent", an boy did I, 4 flights totaling over 12,100 feet in altitude. The Flights: The 5.5" Patriot on a DPS 3 Grain 63mm Super Blu Motor - K740+ (Originally calculated to a K993) - 3496' Fear Factor on a DPS 4 Grain 38mm SRB Motor - I440 - 2450+' Sugar Cherry on a DPS 6 Grain 38mm Armageddon Red - J650 - 4604' Fear Factor on a DPS 6 Grain 38mm Yellow Jacket Motor (w/ SRB bumper grain to boost KN) - I200 - 1618' See videos and some pictures courtesy of Tom Binford at the ICBM website: All perfect boost and perfect deployments, they were "OFF THE HOOK!!!!!!!!". And you all rag me about not flying much, at least in O'burg I can play cause I don't have to deal with all the club BS. Sincerely, Ralph "DPS mix propellant rules, Sugar propellants drool!" Roberts Note: I'll come down from my soap box and pull in my chest........ Thanks Ralph !!!!

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UPDATE on April 14th

Everyone: We are going with a Saturday, 14 Apr, one day launch. With the approaching strong Cold Front and rain holding off until late in the day on Saturday, we are going to attempt to fly one day this coming weekend. There will be no camping and with Sunday's wind forecast being too strong, we will scrub Sunday's launch. There was some interest to move the start time up on Saturday, so Roy, Paul, and Wayne can arrive early for setup, say 9:30 am. If the others can join, please advise. Again, I will not make it out until 1:30-2:00 pm. We will not have the NAR contest as winds are forecast to be 5-15 miles per hour and restricted to only one day. Too strong for a productive contest. (you can test fly your rockets for performance though) Depending on the circumstances and availability we will reschedule the contest to next weekend, April 21st and 22nd. However, based on crop height, that may still be moved again. We will discuss Saturday and consult Kip for next weekend. Everything else is pretty much as in the original announcement. (Except most things!-doc r) The ROCC Rocket Raffle will be held at about mid-day on Saturday. Good luck everyone. Thanks, ROCC Prez. PS Mark, Terry the Wildman orders did not ship, hopefully they will be here next week. Feel free to call and discuss. Sorry he was waiting on Aerotech on a motor I ordered.

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Launch Update:

Everyone: As you all know we moved the launch weekend up one week to beat the crops, flying the 2nd weekend instead of the 3rd. The following below was the announcement I planned at the start of the week, however, as the weekend is approaching the weather forecast is going downhill fast. As of tonight the forecast is Rain and Storms Saturday, Rain and Clearing and Strong Winds Sunday. As it stands tonight and after speaking to Kip and several of the guys. Here is the plan: We will make a GO-NO GO decision Thursday night, rolling the launch to next weekend 21 - 22 April, if we scrub. Now, Kip says we should come out to the field say around next Wednesday next week to check the status of the Barley. The cold snap has kept it from growing much this week, however, it may still be to high to fly, especially small rockets without streamers. As far as vendors for next weekend, I know Ken is going to the Red Glare launch in Maryland, Giant Leap may also have another commitment, and as far as Brent I have not check with him yet. We will just have to see. Again, we have our backs against the wall, weather and crop status. We will have to take the worst of the two evils. Please check email and the website the next couple of days to see what we do. Sorry for the doom and gloom, but we have to go with our best scenario. Thanks, Ralph Roberts ROCC PreZ and Tripoli Prefect. Original launch announcement:

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Contest info part tres'

I've gotten a number of E-requests for reminders of 'What's the contest categories again?" From what was in last months launch announcement, we advertised three categories. 1= "D" engine "Streamer Duration". 2= "C" engine "Egg loft Duration" (with a chute) 3= "A" engine "Supra roc Duration" (also with a chute) I got some additional information about the "A" engine "Supperoc" rocket contest category from our NAR contest source, Bob. As follows. For a Supperoc; It needs to be 40" to 60" long, the longer it is, up to 60", the more points you get. You can use any size body tubes you want, naturally the thinner it is the lighter it can be. And, the bigger the tube, the bigger the chute you can pack into it. Check the ROCC web site, WWW.rocketrycarolina.org, for posted plans of a standard Supperoc. You can fly any "A" motor on the NAR Approved motor list. I myself would be quite interested to see someone fly using the Estes A8 or the Quest A6 (both 18mm), to see if that would be an effective strategy. The Egg loft and streamer duration is pretty straightforward. The article on the streamer duration helped out a lot. I'm working on the "D" streamer rocket myself. See everyone on the flight deck. Roy ROCC Sec. & with Regards, Bob Bernatchez

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More competition advice...

Here's a link to some great ideas about competition rocketry... LINK

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ROCC photo newsletter

Mark Canepa (L3) has put together a nice photo newsletter from the last few launches and sent it along to me the other day. It's available at this
THANKS Mark!

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WINNING STREAMER DURATION

ROCC is flying D Streamer Duration in the contest next month, and I've been asked to provide some tips for winning the event. As a rule of thumb, for any duration event, you want to build the lightest, minimum diameter bird you can, and then put the largest possible recovery device in the rocket. Most often, these goals will conflict, so it will be up to you to make design choices that will gain you optimal performance.

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Designs for Competition Rockets

To help folks get ready for the April contests here's some links to competition designs from the NAR website. I've also got some links from Bob B. with some streamer info that I'll post tomorrow. Links to jpegs and a single pdf on the next page.

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Update of date for April launch

As discussed at the launch on Sunday, and working around Kip's planting and barley harvest growth, we're moving the April launch up a week to the 14th & 15th. The thought is that even though the barley was only 4" high on Sunday as soon as a few warm days hit the fertilizer that Kip put down the growth is expected to shoot through the roof. Remember that we're having the contest in April so check out the NAR site (NAR.org)...see link below.... for competition designs!

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More info on March '07 Launch

Ralph spoke to Kip Williams and like times before when it had been wet prior to a launch, we should drive along the sides of the runway where we park and not everybody drive down the middle. If there is any standing water on the runway, we should then park closer to the house until after the water has drained off, then go down the sides. Watch for loose dirt tilled up in front of the house. But we think we will be safe. The last rain passed on through the area early in the afternoon today (Friday) and should be well drained away by tomorrow. But lets do drive along the sides avoiding the middle of the runway and keep our driving down to a minimum. Thanks Ralph, ROCC Prez. Roy, ROCC Sec.

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