Due to the ongoing fire risk, the first launch this year at Serpentine is CANCELLED The Working Bee and Club Social will still go ahead.                        

This is a scheduled CLUB SOCIAL evening starting with dinner at the Bridgewater Hotel following the club working bee at the range. Even if you cannot make the working bee, please join us for dinner and club social at the pub prior to our launch on Sunday. We will schedule the same for the Saturday of our two day launch and the second working bee on 9 September. Please register (free) so that we can arrange for the pub to cater for our numbers. They are usually very heavily booked on weekends.

Saturday prior to our Sunday launch will be a club working bee to undertake maintenance and preparation work on our range equipment for the upcoming launch Season. We will also do some work around our equipment storage area to clean-up the site, remove debris, and cut grass. We will have an informal social event and dinner on the Saturday evening.   Launch Site Location: Our Serpentine launch site is located approximately 43km from Bendigo along the Loddon Valley highway. For those heading out of Melbourne, drive to Bendigo, and then out through Eaglehawk along the Loddon Valley highway (B260), after approximately 30 mins start looking for a bridge over “Bullock Creek” 3.5km from this bridge you will see a cluster of trees, and on your right you will see a gate, you can enter through this gate and drive to the launch site. Please approach the site slowly as we all don’t want to be covered in dust, and there maybe cables across the road. If you miss this entrance 6.5km from the creek you will see another entrance to your right, drive in through here and then right out along the track past the harvester shed, follow the road along the edge of the field until it makes a right hand turn, continue to follow this until your reach the intersection, where you will find our range head. If you continue down the highway and your reach “Serpentine” you have gone too far! For Serpentine the GPS coordinate of the entry gate is -36.50066, 144.01692 https://www.google.com/maps/place/36%C2%B030'02.4%22S+144%C2%B001'00.9%22E/@-36.50066,144.0147313,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x5c37ecb02ea5b157!8m2!3d-36.50066!4d144.01692 Registration To help us plan the activity, you MUST register for this event.  If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us via our website, facebook or instagram. We look forward to seeing you there!

The flyers briefing will begin at 9:00am and the range will open from 9:15am until 2:00pm. As the briefing includes critical information for flyers, anyone wishing to fly MUST be on-site to attend the briefing. Range setup will begin at 8:00am.  *************************************** Please note, this event is subject to weather and can be postponed. Confirmation will be made on the Thursday evening prior to launch with updates on social media and this event page. *************************************** Altitude: The launch ceiling for the Drouin site is 2,000 ft. Registration: To help us plan the launch, please register for the event. We just need to know how many will be coming in your group/family. Registration is free. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us through our website, facebook or instagram. We look forward to seeing you there!

The flyers briefing will begin at 8:30am and the range will open from 9am until 2:00pm. As the briefing includes critical information for flyers, anyone wishing to fly MUST be on-site to attend the briefing. Range setup will begin at 7:30am.   *************************************** Please note, this event is subject to weather and can be postponed a week. Confirmation will be made on this Thursday evening prior to launch (December 1st) with updates on social media and this event page. ***************************************   Altitude: The launch ceiling for the Drouin site is 2,000 ft.   Registration: To help us plan the launch, please register for the event. We just need to know how many will be coming in your group/family. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us through our website, facebook or instagram. We look forward to seeing you there!

Joins us for a social get together and presentations at The Golden Gate Hotel in South Melbourne Members are welcome to arrive after 6:30pm and order drinks and a meal. The formal AGM will be held at 7pm. The agenda is: Confirm Minutes of Previous AGM Presidents Report Financial Report General Business Election of Committee Members (President, Vice President, Secretary/Treasurer, and general committee members) If you wish to stand for election for any of these positions, or you wish to submit an item of general business, please do so in advance of the meeting. General Business items cannot be added to the agenda at the meeting. To register your interest in standing for a committee position, or if you have an item of general business to address at the meeting, please email our club secretary at p.plevier@hotmail.com Only current members of the VRA can stand for election or participate in the AGM.  However, we welcome any of our rocketry community and their families to attend the AGM as observers.   2022 BALLS Experimental Rocket Launch Following the AGM, David Wilkins will provide a presentation on his recent trip to BALLS 2022 in the USA, including lots of photographs. BALLS is THE premier Experimental Rocket Launch in the world. BALLS brings together dedicated rocketry enthusiasts devoted to the leading edge of non-professional rocketry activities for the best demonstration of experimental design, using today's best technologies, and probably the largest non-professional rockets seen anywhere. BALLS is a venue for projects that should NOT be flown at other events or locations due to safety considerations and potential altitudes. This may include, but is not limited to, LARGE rockets, complex staging or clustering, metal rockets, self-designed and/or fabricated rocket motors and new technologies being developed or proven. Swap Meet We will also have an informal swap meet running at the meeting.  If you have any rocketry related items that you would like to sell or swap, you are welcome to bring them along.  We will have a table set up at the back of the room.  Please have a note on them with your description, name, and asking price. Propellant and pyrotechnics cannot be brought to the venue, but you can still have these for sale. We will send out a list of items for sale in advance of the event if you wish to have your items on that list.  Prior to 15th November please send a photo, description, and price indication via email to isim0009@student.monash.edu We are disbanding the club library, and books and videos from the library will be available if people wish to make small donations to the club for the items. We encourage our rocketry community to attend this event.  It not only helps you participate in the running of the club, but also helps us cover the costs of hiring the venue as we have to achieve a minimum spend by participants for food and drinks to subsidise our costs.  

The flyers briefing will begin at 8:30am and the range will open from 9am until 2:00pm. As the briefing includes critical information for flyers, anyone wishing to fly MUST be on-site to attend the briefing. Range setup will begin at 7:30am.   *************************************** Please note, this event is subject to weather and can be postponed a week. Confirmation will be made on this Thursday evening prior to launch (November 10th) with updates on social media and this event page. ***************************************   Altitude: The launch ceiling for the Drouin site is 2,000 ft.   Registration: To help us plan the launch, please register for the event. We just need to know how many will be coming in your group/family. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us through our website, facebook or instagram. We look forward to seeing you there!

The Loddon Valley has experienced severe flooding in past weeks, and our Serpentine Launch Site has been underwater at levels between 300mm and 1 metre.  The damage to the farm has been substantial, with the addition of huge damage to this years crops which will have significant financial impact to the farm's owner. We will have a working bee at the site to support the farmer's remediation works and also to clean-up the areas where our club's equipment is stored. A BBQ lunch will be provided. It is essential that you register for this event so that we can understand numbers for catering, work allocation, and in order to contact you in advance.   We have also established a flood donation system to help support recovery at the site.  More details can be found here: https://victorianrocketry.org.au/public/shop/products/flood-donation  

Due to poor weather this event has been cancelled

Due to unfavorable weather, this launch has been postponed until October 29th. Please refer to the new event in the events tab.

The VRA launch scheduled for Serpentine Saturday 15 October 2022 is CANCELLED This is extremely disappointing and the decision has not been taken lightly. We have been in constant contact with the owner of the range over the last few weeks and have offered a number of suggestions to minimise damage to the farm. Unfortunately the range is absolutely saturated from recent rains and more is expected in the area this week. The Lodden River has flooded a number of farms in the area and the farmer and local community have commenced flood mitigation activities. This was the last opportunity to fly at Serpentine this year.   The good news is that we still have three launches scheduled for the Drouin Range with the next scheduled for the following Saturday, 22 October, and the Drouin range is less affected by rain. Don't forget to register. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- We have scheduled a launch at Serpentine for Saturday the 15th of October.  This is subject to confirmation from the landowner that conditions on the farm are suitable.  We will provide updates on our Facebook page and on our Events web page as the launch gets closer.   The launch window will be open between 10am and 5pm. The flyers briefing will begin at 10am. The range will open immediately after the briefing. If you are planning on launching: it is mandatory to attend the 10am safety briefing. You must have your Tripoli Membership card with you showing your current level, or an image of the membershipc ard from the your profile on the Tripoli website. ************************************************************************ IMPORTANT: This event is subject to weather and may be postponed or cancelled. Confirmation will be made on Wednesday evening (October 12th) with updates on social media and this event page. ************************************************************************* Launch Site Location: Our Serpentine launch site is located approximately 43km from Bendigo along the Loddon Valley highway. For those heading out of Melbourne, drive to Bendigo, and then out through Eaglehawk along the Loddon Valley highway (B260), after approximately 30 mins start looking for a bridge over “Bullock Creek” 3.5km from this bridge you will see a cluster of trees, and on your right you will see a gate, you can enter through this gate and drive to the launch site. Please approach the site slowly as we all don’t want to be covered in dust, and there maybe cables across the road. If you miss this entrance 6.5km from the creek you will see another entrance to your right, drive in through here and then right out along the track past the harvester shed, follow the road along the edge of the field until it makes a right hand turn, continue to follow this until your reach the intersection, where you will find our range head. If you continue down the highway and your reach “Serpentine” you have gone too far! For Serpentine the GPS coordinate of the entry gate is -36.50066, 144.01692 https://www.google.com/maps/place/36%C2%B030'02.4%22S+144%C2%B001'00.9%22E/@-36.50066,144.0147313,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x5c37ecb02ea5b157!8m2!3d-36.50066!4d144.01692 Keep your eyes open for the club sign identifying the usual access to the range off the highway. A modified (shorter) Flyers Briefing will be held at 10.00am sharp and anyone planning to fly must attend the briefing. Certification Flights Please let us know if you will be attempting to Certify. Members attempting Level 2 are requested to arrange with David Boyd to complete the written exam PRIOR to the launch weekend. Altitude The maximum altitude that we can fly is 23,500 feet AMSL. If you are planning flights above 10,000 ft please notify us in advance. Registration To help us plan the launch, please register for this event. We just need to know how many will be coming in your group/family and if you are happy to volunteer to help out in one of the roles over the weekend. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us via our website, facebook or instagram. We look forward to seeing you there!

Unfortunately due to significant recent rains at our Serpentine launch site, and the pre-existing saturated condition of the farm, we have to cancel this Sunday's launch. This was to be our final launch at Serpentine for 2022, due to the crop height and pending fire season.  However we are looking at possible options for having a launch either 1 week or 2 weeks later.  More information will follow. -------------------------------------------------------- The launch window will be open between 10am and 5pm. The flyers briefing will begin at 10am range will open immediately after the briefing. If you are planning on launching, it is mandatory to attend the briefing.   ************************************************************************ IMPORTANT: This event is subject to weather and may be postponed a week. Confirmation will be made on Thursday evening (September29th) with updates on social media and this event page. *************************************************************************   Launch Site Location: Our Serpentine launch site is located approximately 43km from Bendigo along the Loddon Valley highway. For those heading out of Melbourne, drive to Bendigo, and then out through Eaglehawk along the Loddon Valley highway (B260), after approximately 30 mins start looking for a bridge over “Bullock Creek” 3.5km from this bridge you will see a cluster of trees, and on your right you will see a gate, you can enter through this gate and drive to the launch site. Please approach the site slowly as we all don’t want to be covered in dust, and there maybe cables across the road. If you miss this entrance 6.5km from the creek you will see another entrance to your right, drive in through here and then right out along the track past the harvester shed, follow the road along the edge of the field until it makes a right hand turn, continue to follow this until your reach the intersection, where you will find our range head. If you continue down the highway and your reach “Serpentine” you have gone too far! For Serpentine the GPS coordinate of the entry gate is -36.50066, 144.01692 https://www.google.com/maps/place/36%C2%B030'02.4%22S+144%C2%B001'00.9%22E/@-36.50066,144.0147313,17z/data=!3m1!4b1!4m5!3m4!1s0x0:0x5c37ecb02ea5b157!8m2!3d-36.50066!4d144.01692   Keep your eyes open for the club sign identifying the usual access to the range off the highway. A modified (shorter) Flyers Briefing will be held at 10.00am sharp and anyone planning to fly must attend the briefing.   Certification Flights Please let us know if you will be attempting to Certify. Members attempting Level 2 are requested to arrange with David Boyd to complete the written exam PRIOR to the launch weekend.   Altitude The maximum altitude that we can fly is 23,500 feet AMSL.   Registration To help us plan the launch, please register for this event. We just need to know how many will be coming in your group/family and if you are happy to volunteer to help out in one of the roles over the weekend.   If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us via our website, facebook or instagram.   We look forward to seeing you there!

The flyers briefing will begin at 8:30am and the range will open from 9am until 2:00pm. As the briefing includes critical information for flyers, anyone wishing to fly MUST be on-site to attend the briefing. Range setup will begin at 7:30am.   *************************************** Please note, this event is subject to weather and can be postponed a week. Confirmation will be made on this Thursday evening prior to launch (September 8th) with upadtes on social media and this event page. ***************************************   Altitude: The launch ceiling for the Drouin site is 8,000 ft.   Registration: To help us plan the launch, please register for the event. We just need to know how many will be coming in your group/family. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us through our website, facebook or instagram. We look forward to seeing you there!

Join us for a social get together and presentations at The Golden Gate Hotel in South Melbourne. Spaceport America is the world's largest intercollegiate rocket engineering competition. Over 1,700 students and faculty gathered in Southern New Mexico for the annual Spaceport America Cup. Drawn by the opportunity to collaborate and compete at a world-class spaceport facility, they represent the best and brightest from more than 150 institutions located all across the world. Three Australian universities associated with the Victorian Rocketry Association travelled to Spaceport America this year and all came back with prizes, including winner of the 30,000 feet COTS price and overall winner of the cup. You will hear presentations about their rocketry entries and modelling, their odyssey travelling to and from the cup in New Mexico, and their overall adventures at the event. Our presentations will be from: University of Sydney Rocketry Team - Alison Lockley & Vismay Bhadra Melbourne University ARES - Harrison Dean Monash University HPR - Isaac Alderton We will also have a presentation by Isaac Sim from the VRA's committee about flying rockets at VRA/Tripoli events and the considerations you should take into account for your first rocket build and first flights, and also the steps you need to take to achieve succesful certifications.  This will be aimed at new VRA members and university students that are just beginning their journey with High Power Rocketry. You must register to attend this event by buying a FREE ticket. Click on the link below to begin the registration. The event is open to anybody including non-members of VRA. We hope to get a good attendance at the event as we must meet minimal spend requirements with the venue to enable us to use their facilities and have ongoing events like this. Detailed Agenda 6:30        30min    Informal event start – people can order meals and drinks and socialise. 7:00        15min    Welcome and a quick update on VRA activities and projects – David Boyd 7:15        25min    Monash HPR – Isaac Alderton 7:40        25min    Melbourne ARES - Harrison 8:05        15min    Break 8:20        30min    USYD – Vismay Bhadra 8:45        20min    Preparing for your first rocket flights, and an introduction to the certification process – Isaac Sim 9:05                        Meeting concludes – social time 9:30                        Use of venue ends.  

The flyers briefing will begin at 8:30am and the range will open from 9am until 2:00pm. As the briefing includes critical information for flyers, anyone wishing to fly MUST be on-site to attend the briefing. Range setup will begin at 7:30am.   *************************************** Please note, this event is subject to weather and can be postponed a week. Confirmation will be made on this Thursday evening prior to launch (September 8th) with upadtes on social media and this event page. ***************************************   Altitude: The launch ceiling for the Drouin site is 8,000 ft.   Registration: To help us plan the launch, please register for the event. We just need to know how many will be coming in your group/family. If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact us through our website, facebook or instagram. We look forward to seeing you there!