RATS-1 REPORT

 
 
                            RATS-1 REPORT by Rich Koehler 
 
    RATS-1 (Roar at The Shore - 1) was held this past weekend in Cedarville, 
New Jersey on Jones Island.  Jones Island is not a true island in that it is 
surrounded by huge marshlands into which has been installed the toughest and 
sharpest thornbushes this side of hades, rather than open water.  The net 
effect was the same as most rockets that landed out there were unrecovered. 
      They had 12 high-power pads, a rack for model rockets (only two could 
be used though), and on "special-purpose" pad set up for special (big motors) 
flights.  Motors used ranged from 1/2A to an M which disappeared into Sunday's 
sky and as far as I know was never found. 
      Saturday as dawned was mostly cloudy with winds increasing all through 
the day.  Unfortunately they switched just after the racks were setup and of 
course switched into the worst direction for the setup.  As a result, while 
some rockets were landing in woods and swamps, almost a mile of fields were 
free and clear and in no danger of being disturbed by landing craft and their 
pursuers. 
     On several occasions Saturday, we saw a rockets land safely only to be 
dragged faster than the pursuers could run and consequently damaged in the 
process.  Ted Apke, a regular on r.m.r. had a Thoy Falcon dragged nearly a 
mile from where it landed. Several times the wind actually lifted it back 
into the air. 
     Sunday was much clearer, calmer, and sunny.  I was told that the first 
two racks saw most of the craft lost (I was late) due to strong high (>3000 
ft) winds.  But by the time I got there they had stopped and most flights 
were straight up into a clear sky, arcing right over the sun.  The winds did 
pick up later but not nearly as strong as on Saturday.  The big problem on 
Sunday was sunburn with most of us getting toasted, semi-welcome after the 
cold winds of Saturday.  I flew my Initiator on a G80-7T and nearly lost it 
as it landed deep in the marsh.  Incredibly it landed right in the middle of 
the one dirt track that runs between swamps, and links several crop fields. 
     Kevin Nolan representing Countdown Hobbies showed up late in the morning 
on Saturday and was immediately busy.  So busy in fact, that I had to send 
the caterer to him as he was unable to get away.  He did not return Sunday, 
not having anything left in the way of motors. Next time he'll bring more 
motors and hopefully hardware (quick links, bungee, etc. as many people were 
looking for those items as well). 
     The launch was hosted by Garden State Tripoli, Damian Russo being the 
official host, his wife running the registration and Larry Z. as the RSO. 
Damian was the LSO.  I don't know who the pad managers were but the five of 
them (Damian, Larry, Damian's wife, and the two pad managers), did most of 
the work during flying hours.  Neal Davis and Barbara Erzwell (spelling?) 
relieved Damian Sunday afternoon and he was able to fly and wreck a gorgeous 
rocket due to ejection failure.  (Seems to me that happened to him last fall 
also, maybe he should have remained the LSO).  Neal's flew a smaller Swat, 
which broke apart (putting it mildly) joining his Maxi Swat which went down 
at LDRS last year and has not yet been repaired.  There was one spectacular 
Estes "E" cluster cato which saw pieces fly into the group of spectators, one 
piece of bulkhead nearly hitting my nephew. When are people going to stop 
using them, everyone knows how bad they are?  Scott Ghiz flew many rockets 
and seemed to be the most active and successful, and his are usually among 
the largest. 
     This is the second launch that Garden State Tripoli has put on, I cannot 
imagine the work involved but realize that they need more help if they are to 
keep doing so.  If we want to have a place to launch and see HPR in NJ they 
need some help from the rest of us. Damian can be reached at: 
             drusso@interserv.com 
Send him email, congratulate him on a fine job and offer him help for the 
fall launch.  That will most likely be on Halloween weekend.