January 2021 Launch Report

Roy Potter's done his usual stellar job deciphering all the chicken scratches on the launch slips and sent me the launch report for January's launch. Thanks Roy!! Just hit the "Read More" link to see the whole thing. dr

Click to read more ...

February launch date change

Hey folks...  We got as request to shift our usual weekend up a week to accomodate folks going to MDRA in Maryland on the 3rd weekend. 

We'll shoot for February 13th and 14th weather permitting. That will allow for 3 possible launch availabilities in the area, ours on the 13/14th, MDRA on the weekend of the 20/21st and Bayboro on the 27th. 

January 17th launch information

Update Thursday Night: Sunday is definately looking like the better day of the weekend, the rain on Friday night has increased a bit, and the wind forecasts for Saturday I've seen up to 20 mph now. Sunday tops at about half that, maxing out just below 10. 

We can not stress enough, we are in a pandemic and are expecting all attendees to act accordingly. Masks are to be worn unless you're at your car or making that long walk back to the portajohn. Pads, launch check-in, RSO, hanging out watching at the flight line... PLEASE wear your masks and keep your distance. The only reason we're still flying is we're outside and can spread out. I'd say even parking more spread out would be a good idea. 

Ken should be with us so bring your shopping list! 

Set-up at 10 AM, a bit later so the sun can get up and warm the ground a bit. We'll figure on flying from 11 till 4:30, leaving us enough time to pack up. 

Thanks everyone, hope to see you on Sunday.

Hey all you ROCC'ers, it's that time again. 

So we're looking at the weather and Saturday the 16th looks damp, with some showers over Friday night,  and windy as all get out, with winds about 15 mph. 

Sunday looks much better, with winds around 5-6 mph and no rain overnight. 

I'm suggesting to the board that we fly Sunday and not Saturday. I just don't think anybody would be flying in that kind of wind. 

Keep your eyes on the site and the FaceBook page HERE and we'll update probably Thursday afternoon or evening once we get a better forecast closer to the date. 

dr

New Years UPDATED

Updating now that the rain's stopped, we got just over a half inch (0.6") of rain over the last 36 hours, most of which fell late yesterday and into the night. Even though today is going to be dry and partly sunny there's roughly another .5 inches of rain predicted, starting at about 8 PM tonight and ending about 3 AM tomorrow. 

With that much more rain and with its timinjg we are NOT going to fly Sunday, 1/3. Sorry folks but ya can't fight the weather no matter how much we'd like to. 

See you all in a few weeks, 1/16 & 1/17. 

dr

I've been looking at the weather forecast for the upcoming new years weekend and it's been getting worse, since the rain is now pushed back to Friday and now the start of Saturday.

Here's the outlook:

Thursday, 12/31, 1/2" of rain; Friday 1/1, another 1/2" of rain;, Saturday 1/2 morning, another 1/4" of rain.

Earlier this week it was concentrated in Thursday and Friday morning, now it's lasting longer and moving toward the Friday Saturday time frame.

I will check the rain gauge that's down the road from the launch site on Thursday and Friday to see if we could pull of a Sunday launch but I'm fairly certain that Friday and Saturday are going to be a washout, with doubts about Sunday being dry enough on the field.

That makes our next Midland launch opportunity likely to be 1/16 & 1/17.

dr

December 19th 2020 Launch Report

Roy potter couldn't be with us on the 19th because of family commitments so it falls to me to try and fill his shoes for the launch reports. Please hit the "read more" button to revel in all the details.

Click to read more ...

December 19th

UPDATE Saturday 6:30 PM...  We are NOT flying on Sunday. We got by with a somewhat squishy field and everyone being careful today but tonight there's supposed to be showers and then rain off and on tomorrow so we're goiing to bag it for Sunday.

Hopefully we can have our traditional January 1st launch!

Hey fellow ROCC'ers! The weather is improving on Sunday so here's the question I have for folks. I have some commitments on Sunday so if we want to have a launch for 2 days we need some commitments of officers that can be there to oversee the launch, keep folks safe, RSO & LCO duties, etc. and make sure we don't violate the waiver.

I can probably be there late on Sunday to help strike.

Ken is only scheduled to be with us (according to his website) on Saturday so if you need motors to fly on Sunday you'd need to make arrangements with him or buy them on Saturday.

Looking at normal times, Set-up at 9:30, range open at 10:30, closing at about 4:30 so we can strike in daylight.

(Remember the Winter Solstice is on the 21st, Jupiter & Saturn will be in the closest alignment since 1623  and the closest observable since 1226!)

Thanks all! dr

November 2020 ROCC Launch Report

We got back to flying on November 28th. It was a great day with beautiful weather, light winds, and a great group of folks. It's been a long year for rocketry, with launches cancelled all over and not much chance to ply our trade. Roy has done his usual great job and sent in the November launch report. Click the button, read on...

Click to read more ...

Thanks for a great November launch folks!

We finally made it back to the farm for the November launch on Saturday the 28th. The weather dawned with some rain, but that cleared off before 9 and we were treated to an absolutely georgeous day. Low winds, bright sunshine and good company. 

I wanted to extend a thanks to Jim Scarpine who donated a NAR NSL 2018 24mm case to the club for an impromtu raffle, it raised $43 dollars for the ROCC kitty, and we sold some T-shirts as well!

Looking forward to December we'll be targeting the 19th and 20th and we'll try and make it a 2-day launch. 

Be sure to check out the ROCC Facebook page, our newest L1, Steven Tessier, posted a bunch of photos up. 

Also keep your eyes out for Roy's launch report coming soon!

dr

ROCC Midland update as of 11/22: (Update Tues. eve.)

UPDATE: Weather is looking fair right now, winds from the north and north west during the day, topping 6 MPH. PLEASE stop by the ROCC Face book page and let us know if you're planning to attend, we're currently at about 25 folks of our max of 50. 

I just got back from some maintenance on the launch equipment out in Midland. The fields are clear, the equipment in in good shape and it looks like we're ready for a launch on Saturday November 28th. Also it looks like the house is unoccupied, we'd need to check with Kip if that's the case if we want to move farther up the field.

Weather looks a bit dicey, with a 30 - 40 percent chance of rain (of course it is!) but Sunday at the moment looks worse. We'll see how the long range forecast pans out this week.

Masks will be required at the pads, sign in tables, RSO, etc., and optional if you're at your car with your own "bubble" folks. We will have bottles of hand sanitizer at each location and spray down the pads several times during the day. Remember to practice your social distancing and don't congregate in large groups.

Remember we're under an NC imposed 50 person limit so we'll need to know if you're coming. If you'll leave expected the number in your party in the comments we can get an estimate of how many are planning to attend. If it looks like we're going to be way over we'll need to do something about that.

Ken is on the schedule to be with us so bring that shopping list!

I'll post more once we get closer to the date, have a great T'giving!

dr

November 2020 Update as of 11/12

Hey everyone!

We're hopeful of getting back to flying at the Midland field... crops, COVID and weather permitting. We're waiting on an update from Kip about the crop staus which as you probably know needs a hard freeze and then about 10 days to dry out so he can harvest. Right now that hard freeze hasn't happened yet, so we're kind of in limbo right now. 

If we can't fly in November then we'll shift to looking toward December 19th. Ken has us on his schedule for that weekend and if the stars align we might actually make it!

Speaking of things aligning, on December 21st of this year Jupiter & Saturn will be at their closest conjunction since 1623, so you won't want to miss that. (Most of us weren't around for that one.) Here's a LINK to the Earth & Sky site about it.

Hope to see you all soon!

dr