WHAT A WEEKEND!
First off, Many Many thanks to the volunteers that made NSL 2005 possible - first and foremost Bill and Anna Martinez for running registration!
Chuck Pretto for the loan of the awnings for LCO/RSO, Registration, and the public viewing area (aka "the Cheap Seats"), tables and chairs for all of the operational needs.
Stephen Mickelsen and Ken Sparks for coordinating the Level certification flights (19!) for the whole weekend.
Andy McPherron for gathering all of the raffle prizes!
Phil Vanderschagen for running the website!
Val Derkesh, Todd Mullin, John Lyngdal, and Andy Woerner for running the fun fly contests.
Mike Brock & Andy W for the PA rescue!
Matt & Beth Constabile of Quest for running 3 Freeblast (make n take n fly) sessions for the kids at NSL. Those kids will ALWAYS remember those salvo launches!
Gary Rosenfield of RCS for sponsoring the L1 and L2 Certification flights!
Warm thanks to Carlos Cisneros of Q96 and KROP radio stations for the promotional radio spots and the on-air interview on Friday morning.
Loc/Precision, Sunward, Fliskits, Aeropack, PML, Quest, Rocket-In-A-Box Polecat Aerospace, What's UP Hobbies, Discount Rocketry, Just Rockets, Nadine Kinney, and Recovery Technologies for their raffle donations!
EVERYONE THAT PULLED RSO/LCO SHIFTS!
It was a complete team effort where DART & TRASD really came through.
It was really nice to see old friends and new faces alike. The best part of rocketry IMHO. Jerry Michaels, Bob Sanford, Steve Lubliner, Larry Foster, John Suarez, Jim Sullins, Mike Worthen, Fred Schecter, David Erbas-White, so many that I can't possibly name all of them.
The best flight for me was the Vostok. Having put so much work into the design and building of that monster there is just something special about seeing it thunder aloft for the the second and last time.
The defining "NSL moment" for me was this morning when 5 year old Melanie (who attended one of the Saturday Freeblast sessions) put her launch card in the slot, bounded to the the controller, waited patiently for her launch to be called, flipped the select switch, armed the panel, raised her hand, pressed the button at "Zero" and turned the arming key off. All by herself.
That's what makes me feel like I've done something right.
The problems were few, the successes were many and spectacular. I am grateful for my friends in DART that put up with my silliness on a regular basis.
Anyone that would like an NSL t-shirt or 2" x 4" embroidered patch, shoot me an email and I'll get one to you for a bargain price + postage.
With all that said, there really is only one person responsible for bringing NSL to very So Cal:
Joanna Woerner
This great lady of sport rocketry laid the groundwork and convinced me to plan and run this thing. I couldn't have done a thing without the tireless dedication of the DART and TRASD members at NSL. I get a plaque but they deserve the accolades.
all the best,
Mike (still only Sparky 6.0 but not for the lack of opportunities) Jerauld LD NSL 2005