The last rocket launch for 2013 provided great weather with 28C no wind and a little cloud.  There were 31 launches for the day ranging from ½A to J motors.

Young Max displayed his talents by designing and building perhaps the smallest rocket seen at the LA2 site and launching it on a ½A motor.

Warren launched his 4” scratchbuilt Total Recall on a J motor sparky.  It had a fantastic flight, deployed perfectly and landed about 30m from the launch site – it can’t get any better than that!

Ari reached his 250 launch milestone with his Ariel.  Unfortunately, it drifted off to the dreaded cornfield and was swallowed up.  It could not be retrieved.  Hopefully it can be discovered by the farmer before the harvester gets it.

‘Spaceman’ Matt achieved his level 1 TRA certification with his Flying Dutchman – well done, Matt.

The launch marks the end of the 2013 launch season.  There were 499 launches throughout the year.  Hopefully, this can be increased in the 2014 season.

Well, the predicted inclement weather didn’t transpire.  We were greeted with clear skies and a top temperature of 31 degrees. The cows were back at our launch site so there was no shortage of flies.  Petar did a great job of heading them off at one stage as they stampeded towards the open gate with freedom in mind.

There were 31 launches, some of them great and some of them ‘interesting’.

George’s Red Dog was a little off course and had to be rescued from a dam on the other side of Cedar Grove Road.

Jeff flew his two stage Quantum Leap on I motors.  Unfortunately, the electronics popped the chutes as soon as the second stage ignited.  The second stage became a ‘sky writer’ for some seconds before returning to earth safely.  The booster electronics battery disconnected itself and it came in hard, taking a core sample.

Larry flew his great looking 7.5” V2 on K power on its maiden flight.  Both chutes popped out at apogee instead the normal dual deploy.  It was a slow but safe descent.

We actually had a quite good turn up considering the heat.  There were many new members enthusiastically launching.

Launch morning greeted us with clear skies and it was going to be a tad hot.  We felt that already at 6.30am a few early birds turned up to set up.

Final set up of all the launch gear took place and special thanks to Dean and Larry for bringing in their trailers for the larger motor launches.

As always, Andrew had maintained the launch leads so we wouldn’t have any problems with them today.

With the impending hot conditions and the fact that the Bathurst races on that day, there was an anticipation that the expected crowds would be reduced.  Approximately 150 arrived for the event so it probably wasn’t too bad.

Warren reported from the gate that about 80% of visitors were there for the first time.  This was a great result.
The wind had picked up for the start of the launches but it didn’t stop the launch program.

Even with the small crowd,we were entertained with some great launches including many new rocketeers launching for the first time.

47 rockets were launched with the largest being Dean’s Dark Star lifting off on a K360.  Dean, Larry and Matt launched some bigger rockets using J and K power, always a crowd pleasers. Matt had what is called an ‘interesting’ flight trying to launch his cluster (3xH motors) rocket.  Only one motor ignited but thanks to perfectly working electronics the rocket was saved with a low level recovery.
Noel’s Level 1 certification flight attempt had some problems on the launch pad.  The motor failed to perform properly.  However, he had a later attempt which performed as per design and he achieved his certification – well done, Noel.

Many thanks go to all the volunteers again for helping all this happen. It was a hot but great day of rocketry.