In our pack, the cub scout leaders have a tradition of rotating through each of the scout derbies (pinewood derby, space derby, rain gutter regatta) so that each boy will have a chance to do all of them during his time in cub scouts. This year was the space derby and since this is a derby I had never seen before, I had no idea what to expect. Neither did Kevin or Daniel. But let me tell you this: space derby is tons of fun!
As with all derbies I've witnessed, there are some rockets that definitely have a lot more parental work than cub scout work but Daniel's is not one of those. He did it all (with instructions and supervision, of course) and was mightily proud of his creation.
The rockets have propellers that send them flying across the room on fishing line and the goal is not to go the farthest, but to get the most points. Each section of line is given a point value and the boys try to figure out exactly how much to wind their propeller to get their rockets to stop in the highest point areas.
(Daniel's rocket in action)Instead of doing elimination rounds like in the other derbies, each boy gets two practice runs and four real runs and points are totaled up at the end to find the winners. I loved this since I know it can be discouraging to spend weeks working on a vehicle only to be eliminated after one run. Broken rubber bands are common and a hazard we were well warned about. In between his third and fourth runs Daniel replaced his rubber band five times. He was a bit bummed but it all turned out okay. There were three winners from each den rather than just three winners from the entire pack and Daniel took first place in his den! He was very surprised . . . and pleased, of course.
(Daniel's rocket in action)
