Launch Update for Feb. 21st - 22nd

Note to all attendees: Drive on the edges of the field ONLY. There's been a lot of rain and we need to be careful Set-up at 10:00 AM with launch�s starting as soon as set-up is complete. Tear-Down at Dusk 5-5:30 Sat, and just before Dusk Sunday. Good to have light to put everything away by. Vendors: Performance Hobbies, aka, Ken Allen is scheduled to attend both days. Prepare to do some shopping. Food available. Charlie Ogino and family is holding a Fund Raiser for Charlie�s TARC (Team America Rocket Challenge) Competition Rocket Team during the weekend. Food will help keep you warm. They are planning on having slices of pizza (from Marios) and drinks available (maybe some baked goods) for Saturday. It should be arriving about 1:00 pm. Do come on out. I always see pictures of those Yankee clubs up north in lawn chairs sitting in the snow grinning as they do their launch�s. They can�t be that more extreme than us down south. We should be able do better than that. Read More for weather outlook....

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Joint Statement released by TRA and NAR regarding Lawsuit activity

On February 17, 2009 the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia granted the motion that we filed on October 1, 2008 for a hearing on our long-standing lawsuit against BATFE. We requested this hearing to provide an opportunity for Judge Walton to clarify with all parties whatever facts may have been impeding his delivering a decision on this case. The hearing has been scheduled for 1:30 PM on Monday, March 23 in the E. Barrett Prettyman Federal Courthouse in Washington, DC. We will probably not know more until after this hearing, but will keep our members informed as soon as it is held. Ken Good President, Tripoli Rocketry Association Trip Barber President, National Association of Rocketry

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Open Letter to all at ROCC from Mark Canapa

To My Rocketry Friends in Charlotte and Orangeburg: As you may know by now, I have relocated back to California for work reasons, and started at my new position in Fresno on Janaury 5. The decision to leave my home in Charlotte was a difficult one, and I have struggled with this choice for the last two years. The move was particularly hard because of the many memories and great times that I have had with all of you over the past six years. In fact, I cannot think of a better place in the world to live and fly high-power rockets. When I first moved to the Carolinas in 2003, I had a tough time adjusting to my new surroundings. But lucky for me, high-power was alive and well there, and with my first launch--the Freedom Launch in 2003--I soon felt welcomed by each and every one of you. You taught me that there are no strangers in high-power rocketry. And since that time we have together survived countless flights and launches--both good and bad--and along the way we also helped run one of the best NSL events ever. All of the Freedom Launch events, the one and only Sci-Power, the winter and spring flying under sunny skies in both Orangeburg and Charlotte--all of these great times will remain with me forever. My last flight in the Carolinas was in the rain, and it was almost dark, at Charlotte in December. But it was as much fun a launch for me as my first high-power rocketry launch more than thirteen years ago. I am sorry I did not get a chance to say goodbye to each and evey one of you. I think I was always hoping that I wouldn't actually leave. But now that I am here, I wanted to send you this message and let you know that I hope to be flying with you again some day down the road. In fact, you can count on it. In January I launched a rocket on an M1315 here at my old home club of Tripoli Central California. It was fun, and fortunately it was a good flight. But it wasn't Charlotte or Orangeburg. In fact, they have a lot to learn out here--I guess I will have to teach them how we do things out in the Carolinas! If there is anything any of you ever need out this way, please let me know. Your friend, Mark Canepa A return Thank You from Ralph Roberts - Tripoli Charlotte Prefect Mark: I am sure I speak for most if not all, that your influence on both clubs was tremendous. The many articles you wrote in the national rocketry magazines showed the rest of the rocketry world how well we did things in the Carolinas, even tough you took way too many pictures of Todd. Your good nature made everyone feel welcomed and when you were at launches you were always lending a hand and I thank you personally for that. You will be missed but your mark on Carolina rocketry will live on and you are welcome back at anytime. Good luck back in California. Sincerely, Ralph

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Next Launch - Feb. 21st 22nd

Setup/Tear Down Crew Standard Winter Hours - Setup at 10am and flying at 11am or sooner as setup permits. Tear down at dusk (5pm) Vendor Confirmed Ken Allen has said he will be attending the launch on both Saturday and Sunday. Food Fund Raiser for TARC Team Keegan & Charlie and their families will be trying to raise money for their TARC team at the next launch. They are talking about bringing pizza, drinks and baked goods on Saturday and baked goods and drinks on Sunday. No word on pricing yet but help them out if you can. Scratch Contest Hopefully both Ralph and Doug will be able to show off their creations and give Sandy a run for his money as the Scratch Build King. (We really need a trophy or crown for this...) Sincerely, Brad Shea ROCC President roccprez@rocketrycarolina.org

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Landowner invite to look at 1300 acre field (not farmed) DUDE

Dudes: This is a dream come true!!!! Mark Wilson, a landowner of a huge field down near the South Carolina border off HWY 522 (the field lies between Plyler Mill Rd and Gus Eubanks Rd) called me out of the blue today to invite the club officers down for a look-see at his field to see if we would want to use it. Steve Haring, the Hobbytown USA, Monroe owner, gave him my contact information and he called. Now, after hearing is story he is looking to lease the land out for monetary gain, this won't be a freebee but who cares if the field works. They originally set up the field for steeplechase events in the mid 90s and it has power and water and camper hook-ups. It has a lot of potential. I would have posted sooner but Linda has been extremely ill today with the bout with the high fever again. Anyway, if everyone (current club officers and Orangeburg regulars) could free up some time next Saturday or Sunday to go take a look, he is awaiting us to call back to get this scheduled. If nothing else we could use this as a summer field or as a possible venue for NAR Sport Launch or dare I say an LDRS or other regional TRA event. We need to get a GPS reading on the field to check distance to the Charlotte and Monroe airports, as that will be the trick to get a descent waiver. Please let me know when you all are free and lets set it up ASAP. Thanks, Ralph "Can you believe this" Roberts

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Makeup launch on Sunday 1/25/09 - Updated

Makeup launch - 1/25 SUNDAY:

Due to the ever changing wind and weather forecasts we have changed our minds and are moving the makeup launch date to Sunday rather than Saturday. This avoids the rain and more importantly it sidesteps the predicted winds on Saturday. Ralph once again has given me the benefit of his wisdom and experience and concurs with my decision.

Standard Winter Hours: Setup at 10am and flying at 11am or sooner as setup permits.

Waiver: Doug was calling in the waiver for Sunday this afternoon.

Vendor: Ken Allen indicated he might be able to make it on Sunday.

Sincerely, Brad Shea
ROCC President
roccprez@rocketrycarolina.org

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Launch Report January 17 2009

So, how is everybody doing after the ROCC January �ARCTIC BLAST� launch? We had our regular Jan weekend launch last weekend on Saturday the 17th. It was suggested that we name it the �Arctic Blast Launch�, which seems to fit the circumstances for the launch. The morning temperature started at 14 degrees, 8 degrees higher than the 6 degrees forecasted the evening before and then seemed warmer than the 33 degrees forecasted for the days high.

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Update for Sunday, 18th January

Due to the weather concerns for Sunday, we're calling the launch for the 18th. It's predicted to be rainy &/or snowy by 1:00 PM, which would mean we might be able to get in an hour or 2 of flight time. Not enough to make the set-up time worth it. SO... We're looking at a make-up day on Saturday, the 24th. Keep an eye to this site or to the Rocketry Planet ROCC site by mid-week when we see what the weather is going to be... Thanks, and a great big THANK YOU to all who came out today and participated. It was a really nice, albeit cold, day of rocketry out there!

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January Launch Info UPDATE, UPDATE

OK, if you've read the posts up till now you'll know that Brad, Doug, Ralph and several others have been worrying about all of us freezing our tucasses off out there this Saturday... so the latest is we will start SET-UP on Saturday at 11:00 AM, with launching to commence about NOON. Read the next story or the long thread on ROCC's Our Planet site to get all the gory details, but that's the latest! Thanks for all of your patience! See you at the farm!

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UPDATED January 2009 launch announcement

WIND I feel like a yo yo... Now the wind forecast is back down to the 1-5mph range. The best I can say at the moment is hold on and keep watching the websites. If the main website says we are go check the Our Planet as well. I'm crossing my fingers - the weather predictions have changed so much so often I just don't think they know enough yet to predict things. January's launch is scheduled for 1/17 and 1/18. Saturday 1 hour Delay Due to cold weather predicted for Saturday morning we are delaying our normal start by one hour. This means setup at 10am and launching at 11am. Typically we don't need a full hour for setup but we would like to get a fire going and have a place for people to warm up so we'll need a bit of extra time. RUNWAY ETIQUETTE Here is the deal. Kip gave Ralph another reminder in December that we all need to make sure we travel up and down the runway on one side or the other to keep from making tracks. NO DRIVING DOWN THE MIDDLE!!! We only have the one field and we do not want to lose it because of people failing to pay attention to this rule. We will to place signs out at the start of the runway to remind folks - but if you see someone not paying attention please gently let them know the reasons and try to get them to stop doing it. WAIVER SECURED Doug Knight was able to get our waiver situation resolved and we have our normal waiver in place for the launch. CONTEST Heavy Tube rockets should be ready for action. The contest details are located in the discussion thread on Rocketry Planet. The short version is that you got two tubes from Sandy Houston. Using those tubes and 2 sheets of material you had to build a scratch rocket that could fly on a G motor. Three people not competing will be asked to judge the rockets on Appearance (How cool does it look sitting still), Flight (What's it look like in flight), and Creative Use of Materials (See Materials List in the Contest Rules). No one ever took me up on prizes - so bragging rights are all that I know we're competing for so far. Club Meeting I'd like to hold a short meeting on Sat to discuss our club business. Officers please let me know if you cannot attend and make arrangements to meet with me later. I expect this to take not more than 10 mins. Setup / Tear Down Crew I would like to know who can help with Setup and Tear down prior to the launch. If you are going to be able to help please drop me a note here. I will be setting up a club specific email address soon. Official ROCC Election Results It was a brutal knock down drag out election season, but the results are finally in after several recounts... Actually everyone ran unopposed and the results were unanimous. Those who are new to their positions have an (*) by their name. President: Brad Shea* Vice President: Doc Russell* Club Secretary & Treasurer: Roy Potter w/ Louise Ferrell assisting. TRA Prefect: Ralph Roberts TRA Secretary: Doug Knight Vendor(s) Performance Hobbies I have heard from Ken Allen and he will be attending ONLY on Saturday, the 17th. So get your shopping lists ready and buy him out on Saturday. Tripoli Prefect availability for Cert. flights Ralph plans on being at the field between 3:00PM and 5:00PM Saturday and Sunday, for cert flights. If no one wants to cert on Sunday I may limit my time at the launch further. I'll advice changes here by Friday. If weather conditions change I may can adjust my schedule. However, I need to limit my time due to recovering from this virus. Ralph's Hot Chocolate and Cookies Ralph and Amanda will try to have their camp stove for hot chocolate and hopefully more Homemade Chocolate Chip cookies. However, due to a bout with a virus this may change. Sincerely, Brad Shea ROCC President

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