BREAK OUR WAIVER* CONTEST! We Double Dog Dare You!

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Wonderful launch Indiana Rocketry! While I wasn’t the first or closest to 13k I did break the (old) waiver! Had to cross a creek and fight off a (already dead) coyote I did recover the rocket. The winner of the first to break the (old) waiver will I’m sure be announced soon....
Thanks for another great launch!
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WE HAVE A WINNER!

First above 13,001 feet is...............

Eric Cayemberg. He flew a Wildman Rocket named Road Trippin on a L-1000W to 14,174 feet.

Honorable mentions:
John Cummings 14,143 feet. (Did win closest to the coyote)
Tim Dixon 14,747 feet.

And the "Close, but no Cigar" award goes to:
Eric Cayemberg. Flew an Ultimate Wildman on a M1939W to.....................12,994 Feet. One. Less. Chuff!

Stay tuned, we still need a closest to 13,001 feet winner.
We have scheduled launches March 7th, 27th and 28th.
Still time to win the second part of the challenge!
Who will be closest to 13001 Feet?????
 

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:headspinning:& :dancingelephant: had an awesome day and based on a couple of entertaining recoveries, we got to explore around quite a bit and get a good lay of the land. Thanks to all for the invite, we will be back... :)

Any good road trip must start with some good coffee, and a good breakfast, in this case breakfast quesadillas.Resized_20210306_042805_4292.jpegResized_20210306_050319_1238.jpeg
 
Full debrief to come this evening, but just wanted to reach out and say THANK YOU to the Indiana Rocketry crew for putting on a wonderful event. Weather was great but the company was perfect! Always enjoy a good high power launch, but the people, venue, and contest made this a great launch! Folks, gather up your gear and prepare for a road trip to Pence, In! Just don't expect to see much Pence once you get there (where's the darn sign?).

Indiana Rocketry dangled the carrot... which made for a good excuse to visit the crew. Hadn't flown a rocket in Indiana since Thunderstruck 5 (4/5/14 to be exact)! Prize money: know that it won't be shamelessly squandered...it will be reinvested in Indiana Rocketry related activities...more to come on that. Photos and babbling banter to come this evening.

:dancingelephant:
 
It was our pleasure to see some old friends and make some new ones!

To add a caption to the photo.
From left to right. Richard Cash, Prefect. Eric Cayemberg, First to break the old waiver. Curtis Reynolds, President.
And Road Trippin punching a hole in our old waiver.

We will announce the winner of the "Closest to" challenge at the end of this launch season.
At this time March 27th and 28th closes this launch season. We are in communications with the land owners for an April launch. Stay tuned.
 
Back in January, when Cash & Crew announced the 13k bounty, Justin and I couldn’t resist the challenge. It’s not about the prize, it’s about the pursuit; something to give our relatively silly hobby a bit of purpose! So without knowing the logistics, weather, or history of previous attempts at 13k’, we threw a dart at the March 6th dartboard. Who knew it would be the perfect day to fly rockets???

Sat, 3/6 3am: Alarm goes off. S^3 and on the road by 3:30am. Pickup Justin at 5am. Breakfast quesadillas en route…Oh My so good! Red spot on the GPS as we approach Kankakee, IL; first vehicle to be detoured…I-57 closed! Took the opportunity to gas up and discovered that one can use the gas station’s window washer to clean not just the outside of your windows, but the insides too…who knew? Back on the road, Southbound; lose 1 hour at the boarder…man it took us just over an hour to travel the last 2.5 miles! Note: the weird little jog-in-the-road-transitions at the state line…when they say 5 or 15mph they mean it. Brake check! We didn’t destroy the guard rail; somebody else did!

Final field set up, and some family and friends from Carmel (Indianapolis ‘burb) show up and make it a truly international event! My cousin and her family, who normally reside in Puerto Rico, are in Indy for a ~3 year assignment. Their friends Paul and Rachel are in Indy for the same reason, and came all the way from Ireland! With both families present, we had Ireland, Puerto Rico, and Wisconsin covered (‘Sconsin sometimes seems like a whole ‘nother country, no?). We set up the kiddos with Estes rockets, while Justin and I put the final touches on our 13k’ birds.

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The setup at the new site is great. ...and Cash, Curt, and crew did a fantastic job including the kiddos in launch ops for their rockets! Thanks guys!

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Justin insisted my 3” Wildman “Road Trippin’ go first; an Aerotech L1000W took the bird to an altitude that looked something like 13k’. I was slow on the camera trigger and just got smoke. Justin’s 3” Punisher was next on the long burning K270W. Though it simmed to just under 13k’, Justin figured it would cross the old waiver line if it stayed straight; but it jumped the state line instead.

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Lost sight of both after apogee, but tracker beeps told us that laundry deployed on cue in both cases. Signal on Road Trippin' was strong just south of the range, so we thought that’d be an easy recovery. Walking east off the road, we found that the treeline contained this windy wet thing called the Jordan Creek! Turns out, Road Trippin’ crossed the creek, and therefore so did I. A bit cool on the ankles, but a little cool water never hurt. Ash Grove had the Wabash River, the Wolf Park, and the Cat Lady, Pence-Tab has the Jordan…no biggie! Road Trippin’ came back beeping an average of 14,175’ while Punisher came back just shy of 10k’…we’re certain it would’ve topped 13 if it didn’t do the wiggly jiggle off the pad. It did recover just off of N 2150 E.

While we out retrieving our 3" birds, John Cummings flew his 3" Wildman which also broke the old waiver! Upon returning to the range Tim Dixon had loaded his 3" Punisher up with a Loki K350 White for a fun ride to the highest altitude of the day!

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The kiddos kept on burning Estes BP while Justin prepped his 4.5” Screamin’ Tangerine Fire Boom Stick. The Nike-ish rocket couldn’t fully swallow the 36” long APS 54-3300 hardware, so a Kosdon-esque wrap of masking tape at a strategic location was applied. Certain of my propellant and motor designing skills, but uncertain of the seal design of this 54mm monster, we both enjoyed the added anticipation of this flight. The motor took it’s time coming up to pressure but then took no time to accelerate the bird in aggressive fashion. I may be partial, but that was my favorite flight of the day. Long motors may not be practical or have the best volume loading, but man they’re fun! The 54mm screamer took the Tangerine to over 10k’!

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Kickin' the rail!

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...to be continued...
 
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My family hit the road before we had the chance to rack the Ultimate Wildman. Based upon prior flights, I had this one predicted right around 13k’ on the mighty M1939W. Love that motor; lovely boost to something like 13k’.

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Deployed the main right over our head and landed just across 1000 in the field for an easy recovery. Listening to the altimeter: 1…2…9…9…4…DOH! So close yet so far. Should’ve trimmed the heads on the nylon shear pins!

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Paul Horvath also flew an Ultimate Wildman; only his had an extra grain! The only 5 grain 98mm CTI load, the N2200 Pink sure was purdy!

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Usually, I’m the one driving activity within our camp of rocket people…go go go… patience is not my best virtue! When I asked Justin if we should take a brief lunch break, he encouraged me to shut my pie hole and fly another rocket…or something like that!😉. I appreciated the desire to keep pounding the skies! So a handful of chips and off to the pad with one last 13k’ attempt. Green Mamba is a classic 4.1” Air-X Delamar covered in Stickershock vinyl; its first flight was at the last Thunderstruck (April 2014)…a waiver tickling 21,682’ on a Sconnie M794 moonburner. Fast forward to the new waiver at the new Pence site, and pair it up with my new favorite baby M motor (Aerotech M2050X), and you have a sweet combo that should put the big snake somewhere around 13k’. Good boost from a great motor.

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Before recovering the Mamba, Dennis Watkins put up his new 3" Bullpup on an H128W. The Bull flew like a missile and headed east! Really cool looking rocket!

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Recovering the Mamba was straightforward, south of the range shy of the Jordan. The first beeps I heard were 1….3….0…6…5. I’ll take it! The other alt read quite a bit higher, at 13,431. Average is 13,248’…not too far off from the 13,001' goal! While we were out retrieving the Mamba, Eagle Eye Justin spotted Paul's Ultimate dangling in the trees by the Jordan.

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We took a quick look to inspect the situation. Left it alone and returned to the range to report altitudes, pack up, and check in with Paul. On the way out, we were able to work with Paul to wrangle the Ultimate out of the trees after some effort but without damage to the wranglers or the rocket. Though we were well versed with the Jordan by the end of the day, we didn't run across John's coyote!

‘Twas a great day on the range; Indiana Rocketry has secured an awesome sight and continues to run a first class launch! Apologies if I miss anybody, but I do want to shout out to many faces that I haven’t seen in too long! Was great to see Richard Cash (instigator), Curt Reynolds, Randy Milliken, Vic Barlow, Paul Horvath, John Cummings, Dennis Watkins, Tim Dixon, (other) Eric, and the rest of the crew. Want to thank the Indiana Rocketry Crew for a wonderful event…the new site is great, as is the waiver, and so was the weather! We will be back. And looking forward to attending ?next year’s? T..n..r…u..6! 😊 Three flights averaging out at 13,466’ when I was chasing just over 13,000’; I'll take it!

Roadside America: on the way home we drove past a V1 Buzz Bomb in Milford, IL. Sweet!
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Until next time, keep the pointy end up! ...and take the trip to Indiana Rocketry's new site in Pence, IN!!! Also, the Indiana Rocketry's Facebook page has a plethora of fantastic photos from both Saturday and Sunday. Go check 'em out!
 
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SO YOU'RE SAYING THERE'S A CHANCE.

Indiana Rocketry is still looking for the closest to 13,001 feet winner.

We have a launch this weekend March 27th and 28th, so come on out and give it a shot.

I will have to admit that Eric Cayemberg's flight of 13, 248 ft doesn't leave much room to play with.
But...........there's always a chance.
 
Are there any more launches for you guys this year? Don't see anything on the calendar...
 
We have had a meeting with the landowners of the launch field. And the conversation went like this:

Landowner: "Well, we're not sure when we will be working in the field. We may start Mid-April"
Indiana Rocketry who lost a field and spent FOUR LONG YEARS looking for a new one and will do NOTHING to jeopardize this field: "Thank You, and we will see you in the Fall."

We will be moving to our Class 1 Sod Farm May 1st. Back to Pence in the Fall.
 
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