27th Annual Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War

January 8th through 14th
Thus far, it's been a dry Winter. Ultra cold, but not much snow. Snow dependent activities have had to depend on residual snow and the occasional flurry. The 27th Annual Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War was no exception. Much of the lake's playing surface was snowless. Strong winds had picked up the white and deposited it on the shore and the occasional sculpted snow dune. That would have to do. The venerable forms were gathered and brought to the ice on Tuesday with the mining of the snow dunes soon after. There was enough local (within 50 feet) building material to complete the Southern fort's entire superstructure by sunset. It was cold, but it was getting warmer. Then it rained. And rained. And rained. The rain ended with a half of an inch of snow, a foot of wind, and a yard of cold. Fort construction continued on Friday. The wet and then cold made for a very solid base on the South's wall. Noggin protecting toppers were created using the snow that had collected in 2 inch drifts around the building. When finished, the southern fort had 4 full sized launch tubes, one mini-tube, and 3 polycarbonate windows. The crack just to the right of the center window was an extension of a 200 foot long pressure crack in the lake ice that ran perpendicular to the middle and extended in the Z-axis up the icy wall. Construction on the Northern fort started on Friday. Many of the snow mines were tapped out by the rain, but there was enough to build with near the shore. The scars on the lake from the strip mining of snow should be healed up with the next snowfall. By Saturday's sunset, the Northern fort had a distinct Chinese architecture on top of a 20 foot long base and 7 full sized launch tubes.<br>Photo by Mrs Nemo First fuses were lit at almost exactly 7:00 PM.<br>Photo by Marc Blazich It quickly became pretty un-quiet for a subzero Saturday night on the lake.<br>Photo by Marc Blazich Just over 5,000 rockets were launched in just under an hour. In addition to rockets, there were a few "Roman Candles" lit up, too.<br>Photo by Marc Blazich. Rockets were fired from behind snow armor and polycarbonate windows. Roman Candles are best fired while standing. This exposes the shooter's head, and more specifically their nose, to incoming rockets. Just as the last ball was on it's way to the North's wall, I saw the rocket. Amateur battlefield rocket assisted rhinoplasty is a little painful, a little bloody, but mostly funny. It was all healed up by Monday. Mostly. On Sunday morning, the great stick pickup was put off due to the -17℉ temperature and brisk wind. In the cold, early morning light, the forts had a pummeled, previously owned, for sale cheap on craigslist look. Having been built after the mid-week icing event, the northern fort boasted more "Rocket Whiskers" than the southern. The South's still had some "Whiskers" and other damage. That, plus the whole nose thing. Under all those forts and rocket sticks, there's close to 18 inches of ice on the lake. The rain combined with the brief thaw and then cold has promoted the creeks and streams going into the lake to the rank of small river. Currently, the snow totals are down, but the lake level is going up. Under the snow on Knott Lane, there's a thick layer of ice. Running down the Lane is strongly discouraged. We really wanted to get some images and movies from an orbiting drone during the war, but it required more logistics than there was time, so it didn't happen. Maybe next year. We'd also like to thank all the engineers, participants, and after-party attendees for making this year's Bottle Rocket War one of the best ever. A special thanks to Marc Blazich for getting the images I wanted to get, but was too busy lighting fuses and shouting for the nose medic. The 28th Annual Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War is scheduled for Saturday, January 26th at 7:00 PM. We missed many of you this year, so remember to save the date. Don't forget to get a nose guard.<br><br>-Nemo vows nose based vengeance!