{"id":7571,"date":"2022-05-23T19:56:40","date_gmt":"2022-05-23T23:56:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/?p=7571"},"modified":"2022-05-23T19:56:40","modified_gmt":"2022-05-23T23:56:40","slug":"tohickon-scouts-spring-camporee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rocketshipgames.com\/blogs\/tjkopena\/2022\/05\/tohickon-scouts-spring-camporee\/","title":{"rendered":"Tohickon Scouts Spring Camporee"},"content":{"rendered":"

This weekend the Boy Scouts’ Tohickon District\u00a0 held their Spring Camporee. One of the activities was earning a “Space Exploration” merit badge and the leaders had asked PARA<\/a> if we’d do some demos and help out. It was held at Tinicum County Park, about an hour north of Philadelphia, which none of us were familiar with but turned out to be very close to the farm at which we usually launch. We didn’t quite know what to expect of the event or venue going in, but it was a great day all around. Weather-wise we got bluebird skies, no wind in the morning, and just enough shade and breeze later to not be insufferably hot. Tinicum Park turned out to be a very nice launch field for small to medium rockets. PARA also had good turnout, with 8 people there to help and hang out.<\/p>\n

The photos here are a sampling of Ken’s.<\/p>\n

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Very serious launch site!<\/p><\/div>\n

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Display tables.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Checking out Jim’s big rockets.<\/p><\/div>\n

Ken got the scouts to change the launch site on the field to a much better one, as well as to revise their schedule quite a bit, and really enabled a much smoother, better paced day. The scout leaders were happy to use our launch racks to further streamline, and Jim kept them all flying expeditiously with waves of twelve at a time. With the racks and the safety flags and some banners and everything, the scouts clearly all thought this was a big-time serious launch. Between all of us we setup four display tables overflowing with rockets, everything from Jim’s ~14ft 40+lb L3 certification rocket, to a whole pile of micro-rockets. Walt had made some posters about different motors and other rocketry aspects, and Steve’s Saturn V<\/em> was a much appreciated prop for the scouts’ lectures. The two of them had steady business all day talking about the rockets on display. Fortunately, despite some high spirits and exuberance, our collection suffered only two casualties, micro-rockets that blew off the tables and got stepped on. Chris and Bill helped with setup\/teardown and pre-flight checks of all the scouts’ rockets. Alice and I worked with some scouts not enrolled in their program to launch a few of our rockets, and conducted extensive comparative testing of the several types of cookies Walt had baked.<\/p>\n

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Putting in motors.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Learning how to connect launch control.<\/p><\/div>\n

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Ready for the first wave!<\/p><\/div>\n

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Blast off!<\/p><\/div>\n

My count was 58 launches:<\/p>\n