Some of Sunday's rockets grabbed from video, again sorry about the quality: a 3x1/2A cluster launches with others ready to go , a heli-roc launches over a wet pad, the return of a helicopter, and Chuck Webb demo's a rocket with F-62 Dark Star power
The NASA/Houston Rocket Club hosted the Gulf Coast Regional competition
on October 3-4, 1998 at the NASA/Johnson Space Center in Houston.
All
three of the Texas sections were represented at the meet. The
weather
on Saturday was splendid as far as Gulf Coast weather goes. There
were
moments of stillness and stiffling heat mixed with cool breezes and
nearby rain storms. It was thought that the rain would become
a major
factor as the thunderheads lumbered through the area most of the day.
As it turned out, such was not the case and many great flights were
recorded. Sunday was a different story. The morning started
with a
driving rainstorm shortly after the range was set up and contest
director Sam N. Saenz along with Bob Supak and club member Andy Eng
found themselves under a canopy hanging on to the top to prevent it
for
being blown away as the rain soaked them. Veteran Bob Supak reminded
those present that "It's only water!" Rain showers came and went
through out the day and finally forced the range shutdown around 4:30
pm
when no end was in sight to the downpour.
1/2A Flex-wing brought out Terry White and John
Pursley, the Jeckyll
& Hyde Team, fresh-back and pumped up from their showing at the
summer
NARAM. Their flex-wing entry operated with perfection.
Ejection at
apogee and no transition time. Judges strained to see the flexie
sail
to the boundary of the Johnson Space Center launch site. With
grass
nearly waist high in some areas, it was thought that the model would
surely be lost. Undaunted, Jeckyll and Hyde zeroed in on the
model and
returned for a qualified flight of 140.1 seconds! On Sunday,
1998 USA
World Spacemodelling Team member Tony Reynolds, representing the Dallas
Area Rocket Society stepped to the launch area and put up his entry.
This flexie entry did an astonishing 157 second fly-away followed
by a
a 40 second qualifier for a total of 197 seconds and a first place
in
the event. Andy Eng, representing the NASA/Houston Rocket Club
made his
debut into competition putting up two qualifying flights totaling 46
seconds.
In the 1/2A Flex-wing Junior Division Gib Reynolds,
defending Texas
State Junior Champion and 1998 Top 10 contestant went head to head
with
1998 Top 10 Junior contestant Jeff Supak. Gib's entry put in
a 23
second flight while his second flight decided to not glide and was
DQ'ed. Jeff has similar luck when his first flight did a nose
dive with
no glide and second flight did a marginal 5 second flight for a second
place in the event.
1/2A Parachute Duration: In the senior division,
Doug English,
representing the newly formed Austin Area Rocket Group, made a fine
showing as he was entering his first competition. Doug made two
qualified flights totaling 106 seconds for first place in the event.
Andy Eng appeared to be able to snatch Doug's first place entry status
when he put up his first flight of 86 seconds and and needed only
a 21
second flight to pass Doug. But, such was not the case when Andy's
second flight put up a paltry 10 second flight for a total time of
97
seconds and second place in the division event. Jeff Supak came
out of
the Junior Division to capture third place with 59 seconds of total
flight, edging out Jekyll & Hyde's 54 second entry, and Leslie
Houk's 39
second fifth place entry. Rain shut down the range on Sunday
and
neither Tony Reynolds or Gib Reynolds were able to get in qualified
flights. Chuck Webb's flight was DQ'ed when the chute failed
to deploy
and the model augered into terra-firma.
The 1/2A X 3 Cluster Altitude event was the first
event of this type
to be held by the NHRC section in many years. Very creative models
came
out of the trunks and backseats of the competitors' vehicles.
On
Saturday, Sam N. Saenz and Bob Supak manned the tracking theodolites
while other competitors ran the launch control system. Andy Eng
made an
impressive showing with two tracked flights, the best of which was
164
meters and took third place. Jeckyll & Hyde put up a fine
shot, but the
track was lost and they had to wait for another chance. Warren Benson,
Doug English and Chuck Webb had models plagues with 'flight sprites'
as
their models failed to deploy, spit motors or just went unstable.
Sunday, the Jeckyll & Hyde second attempt was flown proxy to a
closed
track of 188 meters and second place. Tony Reynolds use a 'floating
head piston' launcher to heave his entry up to 233 meters and the first
place ribbon in the event. In the junior division, Mirriah Benson
made
a valient effort but was DQ'ed with a non-deployment. Gib Reynolds
made
a fine closed flight to not only capture the fourth place position
against the seniors, but his 146 meter flight was enough to capture
an
'unofficial' junior record in the event.
A Streamer Duration saw awesome flights by the Jeckyll
& Hyde team
totaling 262 seconds! One of their flights was a 136 second
'fly-away'. These flights solidly took the first place ribbon
in the
event. Andy Eng made a run at the team with his second place
total time
of 164 seconds. Tony Reynolds took third place with two qualified
flights on FAI fiberglass models for a total time of 69 seconds in
'very
heavy wet air'. Leslie Houk came in fourth with his 67 second
total.
Other qualified flights came from Doug English with 64 seconds, Chuck
Webb with 33 seconds and Warren Benson with 24 seconds.
In the junior division a battle royale ensued as
all 5 contestants
entered the event. Jeff Supak racked up 87 seconds on two qualified
flights to capture the first place standing. Gib Reynolds chased
Jeff
with a 63 second total, followed by Virginia Houk's 26 seconds, Mirriah
Benson's 20 seocnds and Josh Butcher's 14 second total.
On Sunday, Warren and Mirriah Benson seemed bent
on out doing each
other as they put up two excellent flights in the A Helicopter Duration
event. Warren took the senior division with 111 seconds on two
flights,
one of which was 66 seconds! Mirriah took the junior division
first
place with 113 seconds, beating out her Dad. Tony Reynolds took
second
in the event with 63 seconds on one qualified flight when his second
flight failed to rotate properly. Third place in the senior division
went to Chuck Webb's entry with two qualified flights totalling 41
seconds. Also in the senior division were Andy Eng's 30 seconds
and
Jeckyll & Hyde's 29 seconds totals. Second place in the Junor
division
went to Jeff Supak with his two qualified flights of 73 seconds.
Gib
Reynolds took on two 'launch sprites' and failed to rotate on two
attempts.
The last event of the meet was the B Super-Roc (or
Stupid-Roc as
Terry White often refers to the event). Terry and team mate John
Pursley put a fabulous first flight that was timed to over 270 seconds!
Unfortunately, their 'stupid-roc' had a separation and got DQ'ed.
With
the class of national competitors that they are, Jeckyll & Hyde
recovered, repaired and reflew their entry to capture first place with
an 81 second flight and score of 14,806. Second place went to
Leslie
Houk with two qualified flights totalling 10,432 points. Tony
Reynolds
came in third with 9680 points followed by Andy Eng's 6020 on one
qualified flight, Warren Benson's two flight combo of 3310 points and
Doug English's 750 point single flight. Chuck Webb dug a new
hole in
the NASA terrain on one flight and failed to deploy on a second flight
for no qualified flights.
In the Super-Roc junior division, Gib Reynolds walked
off with
another first place by posting a singular flight of 51 seconds and
a
score of 10,220. Mirriah Benson's 7744 points took second place
and
pushed Jeff Supak into third place with his 3524 point score.
The rain clouds have parted and the rain has drained
away. All that
remains is the sweet smell of wet spent engine casings and mental
pictures of tremendous flights and great competition. The Gulf Coast
Regional was the opening salvo of competition events scheduled for
the
NASA/Houston Rocket Club's 1998-99 year. The three Texas sections
were
represented in this event and among the competitors were three of the
NAR Top 10 competitors for 1997-98 along with one 1998 USA
Worldspacemodelling Team member.
The weather on the Saturday was great for competition.
Some weak
thermals teased the entrants and the sun punished the tracking team,
but
the skies and winds cooperated as rain clouds skirted the NASA launch
area.
Here are the preliminary results of the various events
pending
certification by the Regional Contest Director:
1/2A Flex-wing Duration
Senior Division:
Event Score Contest
Points
1. Tony Reynolds
197
510
2. Jeckyll & Hyde Team
140
306
3. Andy Eng
46
204
Junior Division
1. Gib Reynolds
23
510
2. Jeff Supak
5
306
1/2 A Parachute Duration
Senior Division
1. Doug English
106 seconds 210
2. Andy Eng
97
126
3. Jeff Supak (Jr)
59
84
4. Jeckyll & Hyde
54
42
5. Leslie Houk
39
21
1/2A X 3 CLUSTER ALTITUDE
Senior Division
1. Tony Reynolds
223 meters 420
2. Jeckyll & Hyde Team
188
252
3. Andy Eng
164
168
4. Gib Reynolds (Jr)
146
84
A STREAMER DURATION
Senior Division
1. Jeckyll & Hyde Team
262 seconds 240
2. Andy Eng
97
144
3. Tony Reynolds
69
96
4. Leslie Houk
67
48
5. Doug English
64
24
6. Chuck Webb
33
24
7. Warren Benson
24
24
Junior Division
1. Jeff Supak
73
240
2. Gib Reynolds
63
144
3. Virginia Houk
25
96
4. Mirriah Benson
20
48
5. Josh Butcher
14
24
A HELICOPTER DURATION
Senior Divison
1. Warren Benson
111 seconds 600 pts
2. Tony Reynolds
63
360
3. Chuck Webb
41
240
4. Andy Eng
30
120
5. Jeckyll & Hyde Team
29
60
Junior Division
1. Mirriah Benson
113
600 pts
2. Jeff Supak
73
360
B SUPER-ROC DURATION
Senior Division
1. Jeckyll & Hyde Team
14,806 seconds 420 pts
2. Tony Reynolds
9,680
252
3. Leslie Houk
9,326
168
4. Andy Eng
6,020
84
5. Warren Benson
1,853
42
6. Doug English
750
42
Junior Division
1. Gib Reynolds
10,220
420
2. Mirriah Benson
7,744
252
3. Jeff Supak
3,524
168
OVERALL CONTEST RESULTS:
Senior Division
1. Tony Reynolds (Dallas Area Rocket Society)
1638 points
2. Jeckyll & Hyde Team (NHRC)
1266
3. Andy Eng (NHRC)
846
4. Warren Benson (NHRC)
666
5. Chuck Webb (NHRC)
264
6. Doug English (Austin Area Rocket Group)
238
7. Leslie Houk (NHRC)
237
Junior Division
1. Jeff Supak (NHRC)
1158 points
1. Gib Reynolds (Dallas Area Rocket Society)
1158
2. Mirriah Benson (NHRC)
900
3. Virginia Houk (NHRC)
96
4. Josh Butcher (NHRC)
24
Section Points:
NASA/Houston Rocket Society
5,457 points
Dallas Area Rocket Society
2,796
Austin Area Rocket Group
238
Total Section Points Awarded 8,491
Congratulations to all the competitors. Now it's time to prepare
for
the February "Hearts & Darts" Regional to be held at NASA on the
first
weekend in February.
A special thank you to Bob Supak who provided all of the equipment for
this event and managed the registration table for the two days.
Remember Bob, "it's only water!" (reference to the downpours).
Sam N. Saenz, Contest Director