Christmas rocket free-for-all

While many were beginning to think about lunch after Christmas morning's heavy work of gift giving and receiving, a small group of rocketeers gathered at Sisters International Airport to fire amateur crafted missiles high into the sky.

The event is held every Christmas. This year about 20 brave souls gathered together to witness and participate in the event, while dodging errant missiles. The annual adventure has its origins in a very slow and uneventful Christmas vacation in 2001.

Rather than being born from a yearning to understand the high science of Werner von Braun and those who came before him, this rocket free-for-all came from a desire to just have fun and a curiosity to simply see what happens.

"We had come home for Christmas and were looking for something to do, and this seemed like a good idea," said Scott Bulloch, a Sisters High School alum who now lives in Portland.

Seeing what happens can add greatly to the excitement of the event. Shortly after the arrival of The Nugget last Tuesday, a rocket bolted into the sky and, making a 360-degree tight orbit, attacked the crowd gathered at the event like it had a mind of its own, narrowly missing the one person wearing a helmet and crashing just short of a new SUV.

"We don't allow the use of kits, as it is a lot more exciting to build stuff and see what happens. Things like the rockets taking off at odd angles and making people run for cover just adds to the fun of the event," said Bulloch.

The rockets are homemade but use commercially available engines.

"Most of us build rockets at some time in our lives, either in school science projects or with our parents. That and being from Sisters was the common thread that bound us together for the first event," said Bulloch.

Whatever is laying around the house is used in the process of building these airborne menaces.

"We use whatever is laying around the house to make them: tubes from paper towels for the bodies; perhaps a cone drinking cup for a top; fins out of balsa wood; just whatever happens to work," said Adam Guggenheim, the other founder of the event, who had the common sense to wear a helmet.

Guggenheim attempted to photograph the mayhem when he wasn't ducking for cover to distance himself from the event.

"This is all their thing. I am just trying to get some photographs, and it is a lot harder than it looks," he said.

The rules have changed over the years and will likely change again before next year's event.

"We had a lot more fun when we rolled our own tubes and tried to make everything. This year we allowed the use of commercial rolled tubes and the performance is a lot better, but next year we may do something different. Maybe someone will build a multistage rocket. That hasn't been done yet," said Bulloch.

If you would like to explore the joys of rocketry and the exercise of ducking and running, be prepared for next Christmas' launch fest by creating your own flying health hazard to share with the hardy group. Call Scott Bulloch at (503) 347-1017 or Adam Guggenheim at (310) 740-7651 for additional information.