[roc-chat] Re: Best December Launch I can Remember
- From: Tom Hanan <tom.hanan@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: roc-chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Mon, 10 Dec 2012 09:28:18 -0800
I agree Jeff,
I have been Lurking and flying out on the Playa since Jeff Stai first
suggested I come out in the 80's. The Dec - Mar launches can have great
"W"eather on the Playa.
In those years I have seen the ebb and tide of the availability of
ROC's volunteers. It comes down to always having enough to handle the
people who show up. Sometimes there are too few and our vendors are
unhappy. Sometimes there are more launchers than volunteers and the few
who do volunteer get burned out.
Typically when their are large numbers of HPR flyers you can always
"recruit" people for range duty from the ranks of the HPR flyers. But
when their are large numbers of LPR flyers, especially youth groups, the
ratio of Volunteers to Rocketeers can "unexpectedly" get way out of
balance at a particular launch.
Ask 99.9% of ROC member and they will tell you that they love LPR at the
launches, but the unpredictable number of LPR flyers and volunteers can
quickly force HPR volunteers to forgo their own flights to support the
young LPR flyers. ROC people are great, but they should always be able
to fly!
I tip my hat to the ROC BOD who are trying very hard to put some
predictability into the ratio of Volunteers and Rocketeers. Allen's
online Rangeduty signup sheet was a great success! (Great Job Allen!)
I hope the BOD and Allen implement the suggestion that youth groups
receiving a discount must pre-register their "likely" head count online
and staff a range duty slot or two. They might be able to do that by
simply filling in a Youth group head count field on the existing
RangeDuty signup sheet (Hint).
I personally have nieces, nephews and grand kids now and get a blast out
of watching them fall in love with "making cool things, my proffesion".
So the lurking is over, I took the time to get trained and volunteer for
PM and LCO so that I can again give back.
I think we all need to tip out hats to those ROC members who have
contributed so much over the years to maintain ROC as one of the premier
amateur rocket launching organizations with one of the vest venues
available!
Thanks everybody!
"Straw (Green) Hat" Tom
On 12/9/2012 8:07 PM, Jeff Gortatowsky wrote:
Oh no! People have such a skewed idea of these launches. I have been
doing this, like many of you, on and off, for 16 years. The December,
January, February, March, and April are always *the best*!! As long as
the weather holds. Cold in the AM? Yes... but honestly it's almost
aways tolerable by 9 or 10am. Sorry I could not be there. I had
intended to be there but I tore a left knee ligament (Richard that was
the limp you saw 2 weeks ago... little did I know how bad it would
get!) :(
Volunteering. Glad there were people
WTF are the pictures!!! :)
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