The weekend weather was typical Westmar, warm with clear skies with a morning breeze but dying by lunch time. In short, beautiful rocket launching weather.
There was a total of 43 launches for the weekend the bulk of which were on Saturday with only 2 on Sunday morning. Of these, 21 were High Power, 11 Medium Power and 16 Low Power. Some of the high power launches were very serious with in ascending order: 4 x H, 2 x I, 3 x J, 3 x K, 2 x L, 6 x M and 1 x N.
The largest physical rocket of the weekend was Matt Barton’s "The Big Fokker" at 4.46 meters tall flying on an M2250.
Most powerful was David Bells 1/2 scale Patriot on an N2717 Gorilla flying to 10,00 feet. An additional feature of David's launch was the inclusion of "LISA", an Australian first. I don't think there was a person listening to her commentary during the flight that wasn't impressed by this technology.
Nic Lottering flew his 75mm Minimum Diameter rocket "No Big Deal 2" on an M2245 to an altitude in excess of 45,000 feet. We await confirmation on his breaking the world record for M motors.
Matt Parsons achieved his L1 on Saturday flying his "Small Endeavour" on a H410 Vmax and then followed up on Sunday with his L2 on the same airframe but on a J425 to 5600 feet. Congratulations Matt!
Congratulations to Lachlan Thomas who successfully completed the requirements for the Lift Off Certificate being the first level of three in the Blast Off Program.
The Schuster family launched test rockets in preparation for the upcoming Australian Youth Rocketry Challenge (AYRC). There were plenty of scrambled eggs which meant that it was back to the drawing board!
We had a Kiwi visitor for the weekend, Craig Packard who flew several rockets. Craig is the secretary of the NZRA and is an L3 and being a New Zealander was the subject of many jokes about accents and sheep.
Most prolific launcher was again Mark O'Donoghue who excelled himself this time with 12 flights. Included was the smallest and the most unusual rocket of the launch, his 200mm wing span "Balsa Glider". Powered by an A8, the rocket/aircraft glided back to the ground after motor burnout in a lovely stable flight with a soft touch down.
On Saturday night a BBQ was held with donations going towards the land owners charity, "The Prince Charles Hospital Foundation". A total of $749 was raised, a very respectable sum with the cheque given to the Coggan family for the hospital. After the BBQ, a number of night flights took place: 2 on C motors and 5 on B motors which were particularly enjoyed by the children at the launch.
Another successful launch enjoyed by everyone who attended!