My First Club Launch

A couple of months ago my wife asked, "Why don't you join a club to find other people to launch your rockets with?"  Since I always listen to my wife's advice, I joined the National Association of Rocketry and then joined a local NAR club, the Northern Illinois Rocketry Association.  Yesterday I drove to the far western suburbs for their last scheduled club launch of the year at the East Branch Forest Preserve in Glendale Heights.  First, of course, Google Maps took me to the wrong side of the large park so I had to pull up the emailed announcement and follow the directions to the entrance "about 1000 feet north of the railroad bridge."

When I arrived I found a dozen cars parked on the edge of a field, overlooking a large field of open prairie.  Several parents were walking in with their children for a scout group's launch, which NIRA was hosting.  I introduced myself to a couple of club members, including the current president.  It quickly became apparent that the forecast "strong northwest winds this afternoon" had arrived early, because the wind was consistently 15 or 20 miles per hour with gusts much higher.  

I watched as several scouts launched their Alpha's and other rockets into the wind, only to have them drift across the open field.  The launch director tried to launch into the wind on what looked like a 60 degree angle so the rockets flew back behind us, only to drift deep into the prairie with some landing in the stream ("DuPage River").

It was clear that the day was too windy for any rocket with a parachute, and almost too windy for rockets with streamers.  Unfortunately, my fleet of seven new rockets were designed to go 600 to 1000 feet or more and float on parachute for at least minute, which would almost guarantee they would be lost for good.  Before coming, I had used Google Maps to measure the approximate dimension of the East Branch launch area and it was about 1000 feet to the DuPage River and a mile to I-355 so I left my fleet safely in the car.  From the launch area was actually closer to 750 feet to the river.  I had finished my latest rocket, my DE' FatBoy, the morning of the launch and wanted to be able to enjoy it for many launches.

When the wind started blowing over the launch equipment around 2:30 the launch came to an early end.  The club members were talking about upcoming high power launches in neighboring states and the possibility of a NIRA "polar bear launch," so I'll wait for calmer but colder weather before trying to launch again.  The good news is a) I didn't lose any rockets and, b) I think I've found "my people"!  My fleet will have to wait for calmer conditions.