Some specifics about the recently completed Deep South Spring Scrimmage at the White Horse Christian Retreat Camp – it was surprisingly a success. The weather really turned out to be not a major factor in many ways. There was observing accomplished on every night and this included Tuesday night which was not an official night but due to the forecast looking good for Tuesday and Wednesday but not so great for Thursday thru Saturday, 7 of us opted to come early. Tuesday was a great night, no bugs to contend with, manageable dew, and temperatures which were quite pleasant. While just 7 of us made for less than a crowd, it was nice. Wednesday night was good too, not quite as good as Tuesday but still good.
Due to the forecast for Thursday and the marginal forecast for Friday, 6 of us did leave on Thursday This left Ron Keating to hold down the fort and waiting for others to arrive on Friday. Ron reports that he did get some observing in on Thursday evening with the sky clear by 11 pm and with the sky overhead being very transparent and dark. Friday night cleared shortly after dark and was almost as good as Tuesday and it stayed clear until dawn. Saturday night/Sunday morning cleared about 11 pm and was still good at 2 am when Ron reports that he went to bed.
Ron was not alone on Friday as he was joined by Mike Danielson and David Diaz. On Saturday they were joined by Rick Truxillo and Steve and Remy Millet. So everyone was able to get some observing in under dark skies and in total the Spring Scrimmage had an attendance of 12 people. Not as good as previous years but understandable considering that some had used up vacation time for the total solar eclipse and others perhaps did not want to commit considering the forecast which turned out to be somewhat overly pessimistic.
Barry Simon