The smoke has cleared, the vendors have packed away their wares and the port-o-potties have been hauled away. This can only mean that the 2014 GRITS Winternationals launch has come to a close. The rainy weather attempted to grab the biggest headlines of the weekend but some monstrously huge flights on Saturday nipped Mother Nature in the bud. She would have her revenge, however, by moving in earlier than expected on Sunday to rain out the final day entirely.

Friday started out rainy as well but cleared up in time for us to get a few flights in starting around 3pm. The low ceiling kept the flights low, but that just meant we got to see the rockets better.

Saturday, however, was spectacular! Bright sunshine and high, thin cirrostratus clouds were the order of the day and everyone with a rocket were clamoring to get them on the pads. As well, a large crowd of local spectators showed up and it was estimated that as many as 300 people were on the field during the busiest part fo the day.

The big projects were unleashed shortly after noon including Burl Finkelstein’s “Big” V2. This 500lb. behemoth flew perfectly and all appeared well until the three large cargo parachutes opened. The stress of slowing down that much mass was apparently too much for the shock cord and the lower section of the rocket came crashing down to the ground. All told, we had 233 flights on Saturday. We hope to have a breakdown soon of the motors used but I believe it’s safe to say that about half of the flights were high power (H and above).

The field owner, and the local community, as well, was extremely happy with the launch and was eager to start talking about next year. Suffice to say that there WILL be a 2015 installment of the GRITS Winternationals!

Before we start plans for next year, however, SoAR and TARA would like to thank Doug Gaskins, the field owner, for allowing us the use of his property as well as Mark DiBois, our “man on the ground” there in Berrien County, for his tireless groundwork in helping make this launch successful. Also, we need to thank all the vendors that came to support the launch and who helped make sure we all had just the perfect motor or parachute or ignitor. Lastly, a HUGE THANK YOU to all the GRITS Board of Directors and SoAR / TARA members that contributed many hours to ensure the success of GRITS. We, quite literally, couldn’t have done it without you!

If you would like to provide feedback on the event, or if you have an interesting story that we can include in the magazine coverage, please send to: grits@gritslaunch.com