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December Holiday Party Report (1/9/99)
The first-annual MASA Holiday get-together was held on Friday,
December 11, 1998 at the home of Damian Kostron. Around 20
people gathered to munch on goodies, talk about rockets, look at
photos, drool over Damian's workshop ("This place is way too
clean!", "Damian, are there any hobbies that you
aren't into?"), and watch Carl Persson's video tape of 1998
MASA launches.
The evening's highlight was provided by MASA President Russ
Durkee as he presented the First Annual "MASSY"
Awards. (These awards were evidently created by Russ in one of
his spare moments of lunacy.)
PRANG AWARD
2nd Place, Alan Estenson for his flight of an Edmonds CiCi
on an E23, thus proving that you can create smoking, balsa
confetti.
1st Place, Mark Thell receives the "Persistence in the Face of
Adversity" award. Mark had a number of unfortunate
flights this year. If bad and good luck come in equal
measures, Mark should have a great year in 1999 to compensate for
1998...
AMAZING FLIGHTS AWARD
3rd Place, Mike Kutzke. At the October launch, Mike
put a maiden flight on his Estes Saturn V which had won him a 4-H
purple ribbon at the 1984 MN State Fair!
2nd Place, Steve Fox. Steve launched a stock Estes Fat Boy on
an Apogee E6 giving all new meaning to the phrase "It keeps
going, and going, and ..." Flying half a mile downrange
was just an added bonus.
1st Place, Damian Kostron. Upon launch, one wing popped open
on Damian's Estes Tomcat. However, after motor burnout, this
model began a perfect glide for about 20 seconds. At that
time, the model evidently awoke to the stunning realization that it
was violating the obscure law of physics that prohibits a Tomcat
from gliding well, so it tucked under and did a nosedive into the
ground, destroying itself.
TECHNICAL ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
3rd Place, Carl Persson. Carl did some great
camcorder work this year and invented some interesting apparatus for
filming close-ups of rocket launches.
2nd Place, Jacob (?). At the October launch, Jacob managed 10
1/2A launches of the same Estes Mosquito!
1st Place, Christopher Kvidera. Christopher showed an amazing
range of rocketry interests and accomplishments during 1998.
He flew model rockets, stomp rockets, boost gliders, and camera
rockets (just to name a few).
The evening's festivities were capped off by a drawing for door
prizes provided courtesy of Hub Hobby Center, Little Canada.
Linda Fox won an Estes Astron Alpha IV. Jenny Fox won an
Estes Fat Boy. Aaron Thompson won an Estes Seahawk.
(Alan Estenson)
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