Bayboro Launch Schedule for 2024

Since I have received no objections or suggestions otherwise, this will be the 2024 launch schedule:

January         27-28 Cancelled due to Rain

February       24-25

March           23-24

April              6-7

April             27-28

Summer break

September 28-29

October      19-20

November 2-3

November 16-17

December 14-15

Regards,

Kurt Hesse

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Launch Report, Bayboro, November 18-19, 2023

The weather this weekend was great for flying.   The college teams were out and we had a few successful certification.  Saturday was well attended, but Sunday was quite sparse, despite the excellent weather.

For a summary of the motors flown, I have listed cluster flights as total installed impulse and two stage flights as separate motors:

MotorSaturdaySunday
A 1
B  
C21
D11
E 1
F2 
G1 
H4 
I2 
J8 
K1 
L 1
M1 
Total225

First the certifications, all of which happened on Saturday.  Zane Andersen flew Tempting Fate on a J615 for his Tripoli level 2 certification.  The main chute shook out at apogee, but that is allowable for a level 2.  Congratulations Zane.

Alex Key flew Starcatcher on a H130 for a successful Tripoli level 1 certification and Willaim Vitola flew Little Sean on a H123 for a successful NAR level 1 certification and Peter Tolman flew Adventurer 3 on a I435 for a successful NAR level 1 certification.  Congratulations to all of you.

For the college activities, again all on Saturday, Greg Twiss had a class out from Duke and had two flights.  He flew Duke Blue Blaze and Bojangles, both on J450 motors.  The High Power Rocketry Club at NC State had two separate flights, Pencil Pusher on a J800 and This is How a Rocket Wears Jeans on a J500.  NC A&T came out with a brand new group and flew Baby Pluto on a H268.  Sailor Koeplinger with the NC State team flew Drag Queen on a J435 for a test of an air brake system.

The rest of the Saturday flights, in no particular order follow.  Katherine Jackson flew Riptide twice, both times on a C6-5.  Morgan Willis flew Ferb on a J800 and The Dream Canteen on a J450.  Bart Merkley was busy with four flights.  Yellow Crayon flew on a I405, Tubular Red flew on a D12-5, Yellow Spike flew on a G61 and Mr. Firefly flew on a F25.  Robbie Kirk flew Modified Olympus on a F12 for a nice flight.  Grayson Amendt flew My Star on a H130.  Mark Peot flew Cheerwine on a K695 and finally, Mike Nay flew his Nicole on a M1780.

There were a couple of flights that ended “sub-optimally” but nothing serious and we will leave that at that.

On Sunday we had two people flying and five flights.  Richard Powers was out and had four of those.  He flew Socrates on a A8-3, Big Bertha on a C5-3, Patriot on a D16 and 3 Inch School Rocket on an E35.  Jim Livingston rounds out the weekend with Carbon High flying on an EX motor, an L900 in the CP5 formula.

I want to give a big thanks to the folks who arrived early on Saturday and those who stayed on Sunday to help with the setup and teardown.  This is really a big help.  If anyone else is willing, we generally start setting up around 8:30 Saturday morning and tear down on Sunday after everyone is done flying – or the waiver time slot expires.

Regards,

Kurt Hesse

Prefect

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Launch Report, Bayboro, October 28-29, 2023

The weather this week was fantastic for flying rockets.  We had a lot of sunny, clear skies, dry conditions, and moderate temperatures.  Saturday afternoon the winds calmed down considerably and there were a couple of higher altitude flights that landed very near to the pads.  It was a far cry from the last two attempts to launch.

For a summary of the motors flown, I have listed cluster flights as total installed impulse and two stage flights as separate motors:

MotorSaturdaySunday
A  
B  
C11
D2 
E 1
F  
G1 
H1 
I3 
J41
K22
L3 
Total175

For Saturday we had a fair number of flights from the flyers that attended.  I will list them in no particular order.  Paul Kraemer had one of the more enjoyable flights of the day with his Septuple on a seven-motor cluster consisting of a K270W and six H180W motors.  Everything was ground started and the flight was quite spectacular to watch. 

Richard Powers did three low power flights, Baby Bertha on a D16, Patriot on a D-20W and Big Bertha on a C5-3.  The first two of these are composite motors with substantially higher thrust than the typical black powder motor and that was apparent in the flights.

Dave Morey flew his Velociratpor on a J401FJ for a nice flight.  Later, Dave tried to fly his Formula 98 on an older H268R and air starting two H180’s.  Unfortunately, the older red motor was felling cranky and refused to light properly, sitting on the pad, and just chuffing for a very extended time and causing significant damage to the motor mount area of the rocket and some recovery gear.  

Ralph Malone flew Sudden Rush on the Loki I405 and his Plum Crazy on an H123.  Brent Bierstedt flew Bandit on a G64 and Nike Smoke on a K550.  The K550 is a very nice motor to watch.  Nathan Patvin flew his Carrot on a J510, and Sailor Koeplinger flew Changes in Altitude on an I435T. 

Jim Livingston was flying EX as usual and had a nice flight of LZ on an approximate I300 “thing” motor.  Later in the afternoon Jim also flew Carbon High on a motor he lists as an L1600 (but possibly an M).  This went to a good altitude, at eight to nine thousand feet and landed extremely close to the pad considering the altitude. 

Saturday afternoon was the time to fly high.  Mike Nay flew his Double Nike, a two-stage rocket on a J760 in the booster with a J295 in the sustainer.  The booster worked well but the electronics failed to detect motor burnout and light the sustainer.  Mike also flew Little John on a J415 for a nice flight.

Nick Pyrtle flew Fever Pitch on a K1499 and Hyperion on a L2200.  This latter flight went to about 13,000 feet and apparently the main chute deployed at apogee or at least near to it.  The rocket finally came down in the little “tree island” almost directly East of the launch pads.  It was eventually recovered with the help of a tree climbing specialist.

Sunday was very lightly attended and not busy at all.  Katherine Jackson flew Hi-Flyer on an E30 and Riptide on a C6-5.  Both flights were nice. 

We had two more flights that were higher altitude, and both landed near the tree line at the eastern edge of the recovery area.  That is a good long hike if you have never tried to make it.  Mike Nay flew Double Nike again on a K828 Black Max staging to a J295.  This time the sustainer lite and it was a nice flight to about 8,00 feet.  The sustainer came down in the brambles just short of the eastern tree line and by the time Mike got the rocket and got back to the flight line, he looked like he had been tied up in a bag with a few angry cats.  That’s dedication. 

Nick Pyrtle takes the altitude title for the launch with his Ardent Hawk that flew on a K375.  That motor is a dual thrust design with 1300N of thrust for the first half second or so followed by 3.5 seconds of 375N of thrust before tailing off at about 5.25 seconds.  Nick’s flight went higher than expected, to 17,002 feet as reported by the altimeter on the rocket, not much short of our waiver limit of 17,500 feet.  It too landed near the eastern tree line, but not in the bag of cats.

Kurt Hesse

Prefect

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