ALRS 2014

Once again, my last rocketry event of the year was a trip down to Switzerland for the ALRS launch. I didn't fly all that much, but definitely flew the Art Applewhite Saucer (probably on an D12), and the Thargoid foamboard model on an Aerotech E15-W motor. Pretty impressive flying foamboard saucers etc. on such meaty little AP motors :)

I really ought to do an upscale of my trusty Estes Black Brant some time...

With upscale flame effects of course...

Meanwhile, Juerg (or was it somebody else?) was demonstrating that a single canted outboard motor is perfectly OK for a safe flight, so long as it is canted to point through the CG, and sized with enough thrust to propel the rocket to a stable flight speed.

IRW 2014

So it's August again, and that means another trip to Scotland for the annual International Rocket Weekend. This would be my 22nd attendance out of 23 events, if my sums are correct.

Arrived on the Monday (the week before the English bank holiday), and when pitching the tent, for once there were zero midges. Not a single one. Weather for most of the week was excellent - sunny but breezy, with the only rain being overnight once. The last day was superb weather, not even needing a jacket since the wind was so calm.

One day was mostly filming with the first of 3 crews, although I think there were some smaller models also flown. I flew the saucer a total of 4 times over the week on D12-0, D12-0, D12-5 and finally on a Pro24 E22 Smoky Sam for its 40th flight. That E22 was much faster than I imagined, and I'd purposefully chosen the "slowest" Pro24 motor too.

I've also been building a Thargoid ship from the Elite computer game, made from foamboard, similar to the Qubit. That got flown on a D12-5. Then I flew the VB Extreme 29 on a D12-5 too, and the Loc Legacy on an Pro29 F36-7 Blue Streak motor. The ejection on that was rather meaty, and caused the motor retainer to be ripped clean off the motor tube! The motor and retainer fell and landed in the ground not far away. Not sure how to rebuild that, since there's no external motor tube left now to attach another retainer!

The Landward programme from one of the Scottish TV channels was also filming one day, and for the weekend, a couple of girls from the Vice Media "Motherboard" channel on Youtube were also filming. Pretty sure I must be in that one. Will update this entry with a link when the show goes out.

It also seems that quad- and hexa-copters have caught on big time too. Between the various participants, there was at least a Parrot AR-Drone 2, a DJI F440 quad and a F550 hex. The latter crashed twice. Impressively stable even in the stiff breeze, but it didn't like something. Possibly hitting the GPS Return to Home when at an altitude below that of the home location? No damage at all on the first crash, but the second caused the legs, one or 2 arms and some propellers to break. I am definitely going to buy one though!

Here are a selection of other photos from the week. More can be found here.

Bletchley Park and MRC

On a weekend in July, a few of us took a short trip to Bletchley Park, home of the wartime codebreakers. Darwin (from US, but studying in NL), Howard, Phil and me.

Firstly we did the Bletchley Park part of the complex. Definitely recommend the free guided tour, which takes about 1hr30 all in. The tour just does the outside, complete with explanations of all the various complexes. Inside was free to roam. There are also some demonstrations and other indoor activities (eg the Phoenix electromechanical computer used to crack the Enigma).

Following the Bletchley Park part, we took a trip around the National Museum of Computing, which is on the same site, but costs an extra £5 entry.

The first section was the rebuild of a fully working Colossus computer, rebuilt to the same basic spec (90%+ identical) of the original machines. On a hot summer's day, and the airconditioning was one small window that was open, and those valves generate a lot of heat (so definitely take a bottle of water!).

The rest of the museum is really just a massive collection of computing nostalgia, from calculators, mobile phones, huge archaic business hardware, pretty much every home computer from the ZX80 to the Raspberry Pi, and every home games console too. Many are powered, still running, and you can play or work on them too. My first ever school computer (RML 380Z) and first ever home computer (Amstrad CPC 464), unsurprisingly, were on display at least once each.

The following day, 2 of us also went to the MRC rocket launch not far from Twycross Zoo. Don't seem to have any photos of that. It seemed to be a bit of a jinx day though - several rockets lost to the crops, abnormal flights, and a BBQ that just wouldn't cook sausages! Thankfully there were a couple of camp stoves, and Malcolm always had his frying pan, which came in handy!

The rest of the weekend's photos can be found here.

MTB Austria and Liechtenstein

I'd visited Liechtenstein before, but on the hike part of the trip, the weather was bad and the snow and landslides prevented the completion of the intended hike in the mountains. So I decided to use up one of the long weekends and have another go. This time, the weather was much much warmer and sunnier.

On one day, I did a bike ride (CX bike this time), starting in Feldkirch (Austria), riding along the Rhine to Vaduz (Liechtenstein), and crossing a few times in to Switzerland. The day started with a bit of a rain shower, but it soon cleared up.

Vaduz is not a massive place (and I don't think it's even the largest town in Liechtenstein) for a capital city. Only took a short walk around the town, but next time must get up to the castle etc.

The second day, I repeated a hike from before, but had much more success. No snow and no landslides this time. It was basically a round trip to/from Malbun (the only ski resort in the country).

The rest of the photos can be seen here.

RJD 2014

Following the trip to Poland and Czech Republic for some mountain biking, I stopped by Leipzig on the way back for an annual rocketry event. This used to be near Eilenburg, but moved to Roitzchjora, which is actually a working airfield (gliding, parachuting etc.), so quite a mix of aerial activities for a rocketry event.

I hadn't taken any rockets, only bike stuff, so was there only to spectate and meet up with the Dutch Rocket Boys.

The rest of the photos are here.

MTB Czech Republic and Poland

Yet another long weekend in Germany, and time for me to tick off another country that I've never visited. I'd been to the Czech Republic years ago, but never Poland.

By chance, I'd heard about the Singltrek pod Smrkem MTB trail centre which starts in the Czech Republic, but the trails cross over in to Poland, so thought I'd give it a go. It's actually designed by a Welshman, and you can certainly see the British trail centre influence there. The trail head has a shop, bar/cafe, showers, etc. and even camping facilities by a lake. And payment is possible in Euros, Czech or Polish currency, which is handy.

There's an Endomondo track of my ride here, which should allow download of a GPX file for the GPS. Click the expand icon in the map to make it easier to see.

The rest of the photos can be seen here.

Arabba - Too Much Snow!!!

My 6th time to the Dolomites skiing, again for the annual snowHeads Birthday Bash pilgrimage, but this time for the 10th birthday! Time flies.

This time was complete carnage. Too much snow, on top of already big snow falls meant that the pass in to and out of Arabba was officially closed. Needed to use snow chains for the first time in several years. And approximately 80% of the people didn't even arrive in Arabba, so had to be put up in hotels in Alleghe and Caprile. Some made it through later in the week, but most didn't.

The first day was no skiing, so basically walking around the village taking photos of snow. Lots of it.

Day 2: No lifts running in Arabba, but they were elsewhere. Arabba really did get much more snow than other villages in the area. So those of us in Arabba made use of available cars, hotel minibus etc. and drove up to Passo Campolongo, where we could ski from. Was a relatively easy day over to San Cassiano and back, with lunch in Ütia Las Vegas. Knowing that we might get stuck on the wrong side of the pass, we had all packed overnight bags. We didn't expect we'd need them, but with avalanche level 5, at night, with that much snow that the sides of the road were collapsing in, there was no way the carabinieri would let us back to Arabba. Fortunately we'd arranged apartments right by the roadblock, that were owned by the hotel we were supposed to be staying in.

Day 3: Since we were at Passo Campolongo, we just skied out from there. Then after 2 pistes, got the call that there was to be a couple of escorted convoys thru the pass. We raced back, but missed the convoy. Alpine security let us and a couple of cars through, and a convoy came the other way, but the carabinieri at the bottom road block were not happy! Sod 'em. We were thru the pass, and they were hardly going to send us back!

Day 4: Finally, 1 lifts and 1 piste opened, but still not linked to Passo Campolongo. Only one thing for it... loop the Burz chairlift and piste back to Arabba all day. I managed 17 laps, but some managed more. Made good use of the new Burz rifugio, and a load of us trekked up the piste to Plan Boè for apres drinks.

Day 5: They finally managed to open enough lifts and pistes to link Arabba to the Sella Ronda, at least in the Corvara direction, although still closed in the Marmolada and Canazei directions. So 3 of us did half a Sella Ronda loop to Selva / Val Gardena, and returned the same way with a diversion in to the Edelweiss valley. It was there, just after getting off the gondola, that we witnessed an avalanche in real time. It was on the other side of the valley, but no danger to us although it looked like it was heading for a drag lift down in the valley we were about to ski in to.

Day 6: Last day. They finally managed to open the links in the Canazei direction. Marmolada still closed, and most of that shut for the season, after an avalanche took out 1 chairlift and 1 draglift. So we did a Sella Ronda clockwise, using the traditional easier route. The run down thru the trees to Selva / Val Gardena from Campitello side are actually pretty good.

All the photos can be found here.

Skiing in Zillertal

I often take a trip down after work on a Friday for a weekend skiing in the Zillertal. Usually that'd be Kaltenbach or Zell am Ziller (or a day in each), but this time I decided to ski a day in Mayrhofen for the first time in several years.

Snow was a bit iffy but still perfectly skiable. A little soft in the sunshine, but better up higher after going up 150er Tux cable car. Definitely want/need to return there when the snow is a bit better. Seems the Dolomites is getting dumped on this year, but it's not quite making it across the border!

On the Sunday, I did the Zillertal Arena, skiing from Zell am Ziller over to Gerlos, and then up to Königsleiten. I'd wanted to get a bit further, but decided to head back. Snow was better over there than Zell am Ziller, which was a bit scratchy. Definitely needed a good stance, and good edges.

Rest of the general 2013-2014 skiing pics are here.