“I’m going to huff and puff and blow your rocket launch down.”

And, that’s exactly what happened at ROC Stock XIII.

We arrived out at Lucerne Dry Lake at 8:30pm on Friday night; an easy 2:45 drive away from our hometown of Las Vegas. It was a pretty familiar drive for us.  Drive like we’re going to LA or San Diego. When we reached Victorville, take CA 18 out to Lucerne Valley then take CA 247 North about three miles to the dry lake.  I drove down with my son, Gianni, and two neighbor kids (teenagers). And after yelling stop it a million times, my voice was severely horse. And, by Saturday night I sounded like Barry White.

As we determined our location for our campsite, I noticed 15-25 MPH winds. However, people had already started their night launches. I was concerned for Saturday’s launch because the weatherman was calling for “breezy” conditions.  We setup nearly on the end of the flight line and quickly setup or camp. I purchased a new EZUP canopy that sets up in seconds and was the saving grace of the weekend. The wind continued for the pursing hours of Friday evening, and after a dozen night flights we retired back to Victorville for the night.

I brought most of my rockets for display: Cohiba, Melanzane Ubesh, Ubesh, (2) Initiators, Slim-Jim, four small Estes rockets, and Vidroc! We arrived at 7:30am on Sat. and finished setting up our camp. People had just started launching. Some of the highlights of Saturday were Andy and Joanna’s Woerner’s Level III “love” rockets. Andy had configured a dual L1120 drag race, however, only one rocket decided to launch. It was a perfect flight. Andy took the remaining “L” motor and put it in “Thumper” a small rocket with a lot of punch, another good flight for the Woerners. The wind was constant all day Saturday at 15-25MPH. I tried to launch my RDS Quasar, “Slim-Jim,” however the wind was a deterrent. I decided to launch Ubesh, which has had about 100 launches.  Ubesh was my level 1 rocket and is older than my son. I bought it in 1988.

At the right is a picture of the flight line about 10am Saturday morning. I estimate there must of being at least 500 people out for the launch. As the wind picked-up in the afternoon, we lost about 60% of the crowd.

Due to the extreme heat at the prior week’s launch in Ocotillo, I decided to put together a misting system, which we used at Chuck’s level III launch. These things are great. Buy a bug sprayer; buy the cheap, ready-made mister system, and a coupler. That is it! I think I spent nearly $40 for the entire system. The only caveat was to use distilled water because the nozzles get clogged rapidly.  I believe we'll have one canopy set up as a “misting canopy” at LDRS that people can lounge at.

The wind sustained 20-30MPH most of the afternoon, and we decided to head for the Greentree Inn and go swimming. Man, I’ve determined that is the way to do it. Set up the camp on the flight line and head back at the end of the launch and have a shower or a swim!

As we awoke early Sunday Morning, we had expectations of a good flying day. We left the Greentree Inn in Victorville at about 7:30am with 5MPH winds. Great we thought! As we made the 25-mile drive out to the dry lake we noticed 15-25MPH winds. As time progressed the winds increased. Notable flights on Sunday included the Gates Brother’s Athos. They launched at 7:00am on Sunday so I missed it, however, I saw the rocket after the launch in perfect conditions. And, several people that witnessed the flight said it was a perfect launch. Good work Dirk and Eric.

Foot Note: As I write this, one of the rocket episodes on “Junk-Yard Wars” is on with Ky Michealson and Bruce Lee.

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