Comfort's Condo set up last weekend at a closed airport near Holtville, Calif. for the first "Holtville Havoc" launch, put on by Tripoli San Diego. We left Goodyear, AZ around 1:30 pm on Thursday and arrived at the launch site around 5:30, not a bad drive for our old GMC Sierra 4x4:
We parked on the cement, right next to AMW/Pro-X, who we had just seen at the TRA/PHX launch in Eagle Eye the previous weekend. There was some work to be done to level our spot, and Gloria had just the thing for Sharon, a mink coat and a snow shovel, which worked pretty good for the sand dune we had to move to park:
Nearby, the Marines were practicing landing their Osprey:
Friday morning, we pitched in to help set up the range, which was very well thought out by Paul Snow, the launch director. The low power pads were separate, with their own RSO/LCO. Two banks of HPR pads were set up for H & I motors, and two more banks for J & K motors, far enough apart that one bank could load and the other could launch. Behind that was a single bank with two club pads and my big pad for L motors. Then at the 500 ft. line was a single pad for M's. There was a tower at the 1000 ft. line for complex M's.
The system worked great, no lines at the RSO until Saturday afternoon, and plenty of pads to fly from. Launching started at 1 pm on Friday and I was ready with my "D" Region Tomahawk "Tommy Two" on an F35. Good flight to 1366 ft. recorded with my new Estes altimeter. Sharon flew next with her "Great Big Daddy", a stretched Estes Big Daddy on a G75 Metalstorm. It flew to about 2000 ft.
Did I mention that we were a little pressed for time, with just three days to get ready between launches? Sharon had very little time to prep rockets, spending most of her time in the office making money....
Me, on the other hand, spent those three days cleaning motor casings, building motors and cleaning and prepping avbays, along with re-packing the toy hauler with over 20 rockets.
Next up was my Estes Majestic on a G54. This is a good motor for that rocket, flying to 2201 ft. and a close recovery as the winds got lighter. Sharon came back with her "Wild Child", which she unleashed on a CTI H87 Imax. We put a little L. L. Electronics LF-2 tracker beacon on this rocket, and recovered it with no issues after a flight to 3673 ft. Not to be outdone, I pulled out my "Kick Asspire", a scratch built MD rocket based on the Apogee Aspire. It flew to 5409 ft. on a CTI G118 Blue streak. It was a bit longer on the recovery, but the LF-2 made it a sure thing. Both of us were racking up the miles, recovering on foot for most of our rockets.
My honey claims she isn't competitive, (as long a she is winning) so next up was her infamous "Jimbo Jart", distinguished by beating Wildman in a drag race. (She cheated) but that's another story. She flew it on a K456 Dark Matter, and it was a very impressive flight to 5925 ft.
Knowing I couldn't upstage that before the range closed, I put another motor in my Majestic and flew it with the booster using the black powder Estes F15-0/F15-6. I will only attempt this if the wind sock is still, which it was when my purple and silver Majestic launched slowly, majestically into the air, leaving the booster to tumble back down and break a fin (like it always does) and finally reached apogee at 2071 ft.
That's it for the small stuff, I will post more after dinner.
We parked on the cement, right next to AMW/Pro-X, who we had just seen at the TRA/PHX launch in Eagle Eye the previous weekend. There was some work to be done to level our spot, and Gloria had just the thing for Sharon, a mink coat and a snow shovel, which worked pretty good for the sand dune we had to move to park:
Nearby, the Marines were practicing landing their Osprey:
Friday morning, we pitched in to help set up the range, which was very well thought out by Paul Snow, the launch director. The low power pads were separate, with their own RSO/LCO. Two banks of HPR pads were set up for H & I motors, and two more banks for J & K motors, far enough apart that one bank could load and the other could launch. Behind that was a single bank with two club pads and my big pad for L motors. Then at the 500 ft. line was a single pad for M's. There was a tower at the 1000 ft. line for complex M's.
The system worked great, no lines at the RSO until Saturday afternoon, and plenty of pads to fly from. Launching started at 1 pm on Friday and I was ready with my "D" Region Tomahawk "Tommy Two" on an F35. Good flight to 1366 ft. recorded with my new Estes altimeter. Sharon flew next with her "Great Big Daddy", a stretched Estes Big Daddy on a G75 Metalstorm. It flew to about 2000 ft.
Did I mention that we were a little pressed for time, with just three days to get ready between launches? Sharon had very little time to prep rockets, spending most of her time in the office making money....
Me, on the other hand, spent those three days cleaning motor casings, building motors and cleaning and prepping avbays, along with re-packing the toy hauler with over 20 rockets.
Next up was my Estes Majestic on a G54. This is a good motor for that rocket, flying to 2201 ft. and a close recovery as the winds got lighter. Sharon came back with her "Wild Child", which she unleashed on a CTI H87 Imax. We put a little L. L. Electronics LF-2 tracker beacon on this rocket, and recovered it with no issues after a flight to 3673 ft. Not to be outdone, I pulled out my "Kick Asspire", a scratch built MD rocket based on the Apogee Aspire. It flew to 5409 ft. on a CTI G118 Blue streak. It was a bit longer on the recovery, but the LF-2 made it a sure thing. Both of us were racking up the miles, recovering on foot for most of our rockets.
My honey claims she isn't competitive, (as long a she is winning) so next up was her infamous "Jimbo Jart", distinguished by beating Wildman in a drag race. (She cheated) but that's another story. She flew it on a K456 Dark Matter, and it was a very impressive flight to 5925 ft.
Knowing I couldn't upstage that before the range closed, I put another motor in my Majestic and flew it with the booster using the black powder Estes F15-0/F15-6. I will only attempt this if the wind sock is still, which it was when my purple and silver Majestic launched slowly, majestically into the air, leaving the booster to tumble back down and break a fin (like it always does) and finally reached apogee at 2071 ft.
That's it for the small stuff, I will post more after dinner.
