International Water Rocket Association

IWRA Peer-Review Procedures:

Revised: 05.15.2007

The IWRA peer-review process is intended to allow individual rocketeers to compete for international water rocket achievement records even when there are no local, regional or national recognized water rocket competitions available.

This process is intended to level the playing field for all competitors and to give guidelines on what criteria the IWRA is looking for to determine official association recognition of all water rocket achievements.

General Information:

(1.1) IWRA Safety Codes shall apply. It is the responsibility of both individuals and organized competition organizers to follow good water rocket safety practices at all times.

(1.2) IWRA Competition Guidelines shall govern the design, construction and flight operations of all water rocket pressure chambers for both individuals and organized competitions that are interested in setting an IWRA achievement record.  All water rocket enthusiasts, IWRA members or non-members are eligible to set any international water rocket achievement record.

Individuals’ record achievements will adhere more strictly to the IWRA Peer-Review processes for official recognition due to these types of records are inherently harder to verify.  Recognized organized completions shall be exempt from the individual peer-review and will be officially recognized by the IWRA.  The IWRA reserves the right to request a peer-preview for any record if there is a protest over the record and how it was achieved.

(1.3) IWRA Guideline Classes will apply equally in competitions for altitude, distance over ground, flight duration (with or without deployed assistance) and accuracy. Competition organizers shall have the right to set additional specific rules for their particular competitions. 

Competition Classes are based on performance factors of the water rocket pressure vessel and PSI/Bar pressures. There are six (6) recognized classes of pressure vessel constructions and all classes shall be strictly enforced for competition purposes.

 

(1.4) IWRA Guideline Divisions are maintained in two different competitor age groups plus a team division.  All competitors need to be aware that some age restrictions do exist with some competition classes due to the inherent safety issues with curtain classes.  Please make sure you understand and follow all restrictions related to each division.

A Division: Ages 17 and below
B Division: Ages 18 and above
C Division: Teams (Group Efforts)

Competitors within divisions A and B, shall be the primary builder. (80% of the total rocket)

Restrictions: X-Open Class (A DIVISION)

Division A rocketeers are forbidden from competing within the X-Open class due to the inherent safety issues related to this class, especially the unrestricted pressure chamber pressure potential. However, Individual team members of Division C who are under the age of 18 shall be allowed to compete within the X-Open class as long as there is at less one team member aged 18 or older who will provide supervision of the younger team members at all times during pressure chamber pressurization and flight operations.

 

Individual Peer-Review:

 

(2.1) Advanced Notice - Launch Location:

Launch locations should be either publicly accessible, or if on
private property, access made available to those in the WR community
interested in watching the record attempt. 

It is the responsibility of the spectators to contact and make arrangements with the rocketeers or team making the attempt to view the attempt when the attempt is being launched on private property.

Required Documentation:

(3.1) Documentation – Photographic and Electronics:

(3.1.1) An Unedited ground tracking video shall be provided of the attempt.  This video shall be included within the peer-review packet provided by individual rocketeers or teams and submitted to the IWRA Peer-Review Committee.

(3.1.2) An altimeter (logging) log shall be required to be flown on rockets used for altitude and duration attempts. The recovered log information shall be submitted in the peer-review packet submitted to the IWRA Peer-Review Committee.

  (Should we have a list of approved altimeters?)

(3.2) Documentation - Public Notification:
(3.2.1) Record attempts shall be publicly posted at least 10 days in
advance of the flight attempt and shall include time, location, rocketeers and/or team contact information.  This notification shall be listed on both the IWRA website and on the individual rocketeers or team website.

(3.3) Documentation - Rocket Questionnaire:

(3.3.1) The builder or team shall submit a questionnaire that gives rocket details. (Class, Division, Competition Category, Pressure Chamber Volume, PSI/Bar, Reactant Fill, Additives, Nozzle Diameter, Dry Mass, Launch Tube Length and diameter)  A signature of the builder is also required.  This questionnaire shall be  submitted in the peer-review packet submitted to the IWRA Peer-Review Committee.

(3.4) Documentation – Water Rocket Website:

(3.4.1) For the purpose of providing documentation on record attempts, rocket construction and flight operations it is highly recommended that all division individuals and/or teams should have an up-to-date website detailing construction and flight data of the competition flight pressure chamber and related materials.   

(3.5) Documentation - Witnesses:

(3.5.1) Two independent witnesses must be present to watch all record attempts. They must not be related to the rocketeers who are attempting the record and must be the age of 18 or over.  Each witness must fill out and sign a "Witness Questionnaire." provided from the IWRA website and submitted in the peer-review packet submitted to the IWRA Peer-Review Committee.

(Questionnaire would have a paragraph describing what they are to do. A checklist, complete contact information about the witness, and a signature at the end stating that the above is true and that they agree to be contacted should any questions arise.)

©2007 International Water Rocket Association.