28th Annual Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War

January 21st through 27th
Last week started off cold. Then the temperature fell. Deep Winter often dovetails with the Annual Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War. This year the two coincided almost perfectly . Fort construction was harsh. The South's fort desertion rate rose to 34%. Castle construction started early. The cold and meager snow amounts made building conditions difficult. The assembly A team adapted and overcame the worst the northwoods had to offer, and soon thereafter the first walls of a mighty stronghold were cast. Last Friday, the Southern fort was finished. It boasted two polycarbonate ports, three Krispa Class Tubes, one mini tube, and <s>eight</s> seven "Blue Orbs of Terror". The "Blue Orbs of Terror" turned out particularly well. As the sun set on Saturday, the Southern keep was stocked and ready. The Northern fort scrambled to be ready by the 7:00 PM deadline. At 7, the first bursts of rocket fire crossed no man's land and struck wall. The automated camera that took these images can be a difficult piece of technology, but it functioned without anomaly during the entire event. Huzzah! Both sides put out good fire. Over 3000 rockets were expended in just under 30 minutes. In retrospect, I should have set the camera automation for 10 to 15 second exposures instead of the 60 second exposure time used. Near the end of the event, the knottlane drone was sent up to see if it could capture a new and interesting view of the shots. We didn't consider how this would be captured by the automated camera. The aircraft was not struck during the entire flight. The images it got were interesting, if not well focused. The focus got better. Some of the video it took is posted to the right side of this update. The first ever awards ceremony had Ryan and Mrs Nemo winning the Silver Brick (1 troy oz of 99.9 silver) for their building efforts. The Morte Prima Di Disonore coin of honor (2 troy oz of 99.9% silver) went to Joey for his perseverance after taking a noggin shot (Rule one, never peek over the wall.) and Nemo because he wanted it. The bar night that followed the Northern fort's formal surrender was well attended and fiery. Judging from the " you must try this, it's really good" nature of the shots that came later in the evening (Note: it was ghastly), bar night might have gone on a bit too long. Sunday morning was mostly spent recovering from Saturday night. Eventually we made our way to the forts to check out the damage/pick up the sticks. The Northern fort had more than a 5 o'clock shadow of red whiskers. The captured "Blue Orb of Terror" that was hidden in one of the upper walls was exposed. It was unclear if it was uncovered during Saturday's battle or as a form of taunt Sunday morning. The other fort did not escape unscarred. Despite a stronger than expected breeze and a -5°F start temperature, during and after the 28th Annual Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War a great time was had by all. The drone imagery turned out well enough to ensure that we'll use it again next year. It took only about 90 minutes for Mrs Nemo (winner of the Silver Brick!) and her crew (me) to pick up all the bottle rocket sticks and other debris from the ice. Now that the bottle rocket event is over, there's the waiting for Deep Winter, the hardest sub-season of the solstice, to pass into thaw. The week or so of extreme cold should pass quickly.<br><br>-Nemo: wearer of hats, winner of coins.







Saturday, January 26th
The last few shots from the 28th Annual Lake Lucerne Bottle Rocket War.