Woodbury Cub Scout Pack 5 "Summer Fun Evening" (8/6/2008)
A great time was had by all.
A half dozen MASA members showed up to help with the Woodbury Cub
Scout Pack 5 'Summer Fun Night'. Caleb Boe and I had 8 pads set up
and ready to go at the 6:30 pm start time. Cubs were ready and in
line waiting to fly at that time. We had 3 tables set up for helping
with recovery wadding/parachute prep, loading motors and repairs.
Caleb ran both launch systems and did a great job. Rick Vatsaas, Don
Boe and Ray King helped with rocket prep and pad hookups. I mostly
ran around and yelled a lot ('Count down LOUDER!!! Louder countdowns
make the rockets go higher!!!"). There were a couple of other MASA
helpers, but I can't remember who. Sorry.
The launch conditions were just about perfect. We had clear
skies and very little wind. Unfortunately, the 'very little wind'
decided to switch directions on us about 30 minutes into the launch.
SInce the field was fairly small I opted to set up near the 'upwind'
end, which was next to a large crop field densely planted with
switchgrass (about 7 feet tall). Between the breeze shifting
directions and our moving the launch site a little farther upwind
after the switch, we lost a few rockets into the field. Any rocket
landing in that field was history. I've never seem a 7 ft tall crop
so dense.
Aside from losing a couple of rockets the launch went great.
I think all 50+ kids must have shown up with their Generic E2X group
rockets plus a few misc others. I believe that everyone who wanted
to fly twice had an opportunity to do so. The boys that lost rockets
to the switch grass flew a second time with a borrowed rocket. Some
of the 'misc' rockets flown by the cubs included some Micron type
rockets on 1/4A motors, a 2 stage rocket and a couple of Alpha III's.
There were more but I forget what they were.
MASA members also got in a few demo flights:
Buzz SLS Aero Dart on Apogee D10 (for a demo composite
flight)
Rick V. Had several Martini's (D & E powered ones, I think)
Ray K. Had way too much fun with toilet paper & styrofoam coffe
cups.
When it got near to the scheduled 8 pm stopping time one of
the Pack leaders came over and asked if there was any way we might
go on a little past 8. He had to ask?? They had to drag us off of
the field! We continued flying until about 8:15-8:20. At that point
the cub leadership packed up the remaining motors and we flew the
last couple of rockets. As we packed up and left, I heard the Cub
leaders talking about how they needed to get a Troop rocket launch
going for the Boy Scouts as well. Everyone seemed to leave happy. We
couldn't ask for a better ending that that.
I think Caleb, Rick and Ray would all agree that we had a
great time helping the cubs fly their rockets. I wish every MASA
member could have been there. It would turn every one of us into an
instant 'I wanna be an outreach volunteer!'.
[Buzz McDermott]
For MASA people we had Buzz, Ray King, Caleb Boe and his Dad, Me and
my son Christian.
I am not sure how many scouts we had, but I was quite
impressed by how well behaved they all were. no appreciable chaos,
even when we had to stop and move the launch twenty yards.
Buzz and Caleb kept the launches going at an appreciable
clip, while the rest us helped the scouts ready their rockets.
The launches themselves went quite well, No lawn darts that I
recall, and only couple were lost in the switchgrass field.
[Rick Vatsaas]
|
