The morning was clear and crisp - around the 6°C. We had blue, cloudless skies for the entire morning.  However, there were varying wind conditions which made for a few interesting retrieval situations.  Despite that, most rockets landed back close to the launch sites.

The launch date coincided with the 6^th anniversary of the first QRS launch on 20 May 2007.

For so called 'members only launch', there was a quite a good crowd and the two school teams made a trip all the way from Boonah State Primary under guidance from Anne Reardon to test their two new creations. I have been able to make two visits over two years to this school and now they have two teams entering Australian Youth Rocketry Challenge - that is so cool!

I'm also happy to report that both of their rockets did an excellent job.  Both had two launches and they were pretty good indeed.

'Diggers' ( Larry) two launches were most likely the highlight of the day. The Wildman took to the skies with K 'Sparky Power' motor and it looked awesome. It was a perfect flight. Larry's beautiful Mercury/Titan had some trouble. Delay was too long and the 2 chutes separated from the rocket on a way down. Luckily it was well built rocket and there didn’t appear to be any major damage.

Ian (ogivemeahome) launched his "Squirt" on six motor cluster ( 1/2 A's).  To ignite all six simultaneously is no easy task.  In this case, two failed to ignite. It was what you normally call an ‘interesting’ launch!  Knowing Ian, he will do something different next time and it will fly much better!

It was a busy morning with 41 launches.  It was such a great weather, it was fine just to be there to take in the sun and the atmosphere.

When the day was done, a number of us took some gear home for the trek to the Westmar trip next month.  If last year was an indication, the June long week-end launch will be spectacular.  It is located on a huge, relatively flat cropping farm and is an awesome launch site (I named it ‘Cape Coggan’ in honour of the very-cooperative owner)

The committee conducted a quick meeting with the members to inform of the busy schedule for the next two months (including the Australian Youth Rocketry Challenge and the public open day launch both in July).  We will require the services of volunteers to assist with these two events.

After all that rain on Sat, it was so nice to see clear blue skies in the morning of the launch.  The decision was made to proceed.  The previous day's wet conditions probably kept a few members away but still had around 50 people attending.

The day couldn't be much better for rocketry with mostly calm and very little wind. Temp's around +27c but it wasn't really humid.  The dirt access road was muddy and the field it self quite soggy (some recovery trips were testing) were but not bad so we launched rockets - 43 in fact!

It was great to see Victorian Tripoli member Karl ( "Karlos") join us for a launch and he launched his awesome Red Bull rocket for a perfect launch and recovery.

Sadly Karl's other launch, the V2, went beautifully up but came in ballistic.  It was recovered with help from Simon.  The fin can is all usable so Karl will repair it and it will take to the skies again. Many comments were made that this was quite usual for many early (and even some latter) V2 launches.

A variety of rockets took to the skies and one of the cool one's was Jeff's scratch built 3 x 29mm cluster which did a beautiful flight from beginning to the end. Congrat's to you Jeff!

Dean had his brand new Wildman Dark Star there and he used K500 for it to go - and it sure did a great job. That was a text book launch from liftoff to landing.  Well done, Dean!

Over all it was a great day of rocketry indeed with a good group of rocketeers as well as a few visitors.

Considering the weather we have had over the last few weeks, we were indeed extremely lucky to be able to have a great launch with some dark clouds turning up around 10.15am but no rain....and those clouds moved away to allow us to continue launching.This was a public open day launch.  The usual media advertising for such events had been initiated but the uncertain weather in the preceding days was going to be a factor in determining how successful it would be.  We were pleasantly surprised to see that around 350-400 people attending.  They were entertained with thirty four rockets launched.

We were honored having our own Nic Lottering visiting us and bringing his awesome 3.5metre Sledgehammer for a cool flight.  This sure was a huge crowd pleaser with the noise of the public nearly drowning out sound of the M3500R motor. It was a perfect launch but sadly the recovery parachute guided it to a tree on the riverbank where it hung high and dry.  Plans are on a way to recover it though. Very special thank's to Nic for availing himself and his special rocket for the entertainment of the appreciative crowd.

Another special guest was David Bell from NSW who launched his 1/4 scale Patriot.  This was a level 2 certification flight.  The flight was text book perfect with 'Skidmark' motor which got the crowd going. The recovery trip was a long one but no doubt David was a 'happy chappy' to make that walk.  Congratulations to David for a successful flight and achievng his certification.

Matt's flight with the 3 cluster H123W was very cool indeed. Well done mate, Matt

Ari launched the ever-reliable Ariel using J420R motor.  Sadly, the rocket drifted a considerable distance under parachute and Ari was unable to find it even after two attempts walking through the soggy conditions.  The farmer has been notified. Maybe he will find it during the course of his farm duties and it will ultimately be returned to it's owner.

Many cool flights took to the skies during the morning and crowd loved every minute of it.  We even had a rocket that had been produced using a 3D printer.  It had a safe but fairly unstable flight.  More work needs to be done on the design.

Big thank's must go to all volunteers who helped during the morning.  Without their help, events like this would not happen - so thank you indeed.

Today's launch provided fantastic conditions.

The sky was cloudless early on with little wind making for easy tracking of launched rockets. Light clouds arrived mid-morning but still no wind. The temperature was certainly more pleasant than the sweltering conditions of January.

There were 53 launches for the day including a number of cluster and staged launches. Mark Parsons had some trouble with igniters for his Heli Roc but finally had it airborne after three attempts and entertaining everyone with the 'helicopter' recovery. Aldo’s Torpedo and Jack’s Riptide had a drag race on C6-5 motors. Not too sure who won but both launched simultaneously. Warren’s Metallic Blue took off vertically but suffered a ‘directional correction’ and headed off towards the trees making for a long retrieval walk. Matt Barton’s Intruder lifted off on the largest motor of the day on a J354.

There were many younger fliers launching on A - C motors with the usual enthusiasm and delight with their successes. The number of maiden flights for rockets indicated that the interest is continuing.

The next launch is a public open day. There will be many visitors to the launch site. Many of the fliers will bring out their biggest, 'baddest' rockets with the more exciting motors. There's a rumour that Nic Lottering will be attending launching his 3.5 meter Sledgehammer on an M motor. That will be something not to be missed.