CMASS Winter Follies 2018

CMASS will be holding it's annual Winter Follies Launch in January 2018 at the School Street field in Acton, MA. This year, we’re going to try to hold it on the best weather day we can muster. To that end, we’ve reserved the School Street field in Acton, MA, for all the weekends in the month. We’ll only get to use it on one of the weekend days but we won’t be tied to a day that may not be serviceable for us. Right now, our calendar has the 6th listed as our launch day. If this looks like it will be a good day to fly, we’ll hold to that schedule and people will have the rest of the month to get back to building. If the weather looks unpleasant, or even dangerous, we’ll move the scheduled day to the 7th or the following weekend; that idea will roll forward for each weekend in the month, as needed. I’ll try to make the call by the Wednesday before the scheduled time to allow folks to shuffle things around. Keep an eye on the website for the latest information.

Whatever day we end up launching, set up will be at 10 AM and we'll fly until 3 PM at the latest.

I'm hoping to be able to get a day that will be comfortable for us to use but things can change around here with little notice. As we have proved, bad weather will not cancel this launch once the date is set but it will likely shorten it. Plan on being there early.

As always, this field supports only low- and mid-power rockets and motors. Be sure to mind the weather conditions when you mate your rocket and motor. All sparky motors are considered high-power and are not allowed at this launch. Remember, plastic parachutes don't play well in the cold weather; don't pack your chutes until you're ready to fly and dust them with talcum powder to give them the best chance to do their job.

Thanks for the update Ken! This is one of my favorite launches of the year. Hopefully we will have a nice day to fly.
This is a good launch to fly all the grass colored rockets I have.

Oh, the weather outside is frightful and it's not going to get better by this weekend.

We are postponing the Winter Follies 2018 Launch until 13 January. Maybe we can catch the January thaw.

The CMASS Winter Muddies!

guywad said:

The CMASS Winter Muddies!

Click to expand...

Maybe frozen mud.

It looks like our best chance to fit our launch in will be to go on Sunday, the 14th of January. With the snow, rain, thaw and freeze conditions we've had, there's a chance the field will be a mess. Prepare for mud, ice and snow and let's hope the parking area is accessible so we can park off of the road.

Rats! I can't do Sundays, I have to work

KEEP AN EYE ON THE WEBSITE. Jim Salem has checked out the conditions at the School Street field and he reports good news and bad news.

First, the good news; the parking area has been plowed to about a car width so parallel parking will get vehicles off the road surface.

Now, the bad news; while the weather forecast showing warm air and rain into the afternoon on Saturday may beat down most of the snow on the field, the field likely won’t drain very well and the front moving through will bring freezing conditions. This will mean the field will more resemble a skating rink rather than a place rocketeers could safely fly and recover rockets.

Jim will check it out later on Saturday and let me know what it looks like. I’ll post something on the website for GO/NO GO for Sunday. If you can’t get to the web, check the hotline, 857-242-6277, and it will read the top line of the home page to you.

The long-range forecast for the 20th looks better than it did a week ago. One way or another we’ll get our Winter Follies this year.

We are GO for the Winter Follies on Sunday, the 14th of January.

Jim Salem has checked the field and has found it to be in great shape. The snow is gone, the rain didn't flood it and we'll even have the full parking area so we can do the usual perpendicular parking. It's going to be cold so dress warmly and don't pack your plastic parachutes until just before loading up your rocket on the pad.

Fliskits will be on the field and I'm checking with Jason for AMWProX.

See you in Acton.