Ben and I woke early Saturday morning and loaded the Highlander with some rockets before heading to Maryland’s Eastern Shore ahead of the beach traffic. We stopped at Holly’s for a quick breakfast before heading to Higgs Farm to relocate some rocket trailers. We soon headed to the Sod Farm in Centreville to start to set the field up. There were many eager flyers waiting and the field was soon ready to put some rockets into the air.

The temperature was warm, the breezes slight and intermittent, and the skies were only occasionally dotted with puffy white clouds. This was a rare good flying day for the sod farm in August. I watched other flyers test the upper winds before becoming satisfied enough to start my preparations for Shaken, Not Stirred.

Shaken, Not Stirred was prepared with a familiar CTI H152 blue propellant. Shaken, Not Stirred had flown with this motor combination before which usually quickly accelerates the rocket to about 1,300 feet under a blue plume. Ben was filling in as the Launch Control Officer (LCO) and was responsible for launching all the rockets, ensuring that launch pads were safe, the fields were clear, and the skies were clear. Ben completed the countdown and the familiar blue plume appeared under Shaken, Not Stirred as she quickly cleared the launch pad. However, the CTI H152 seem to lack its normal kick and Shaken, Not Stirred had trouble remaining stable during its ascent. After some squirrely moments Shaken, Not Stirred arced over at a paltry 1,097 feet where she successfully deployed the drogue. The mains were ejected on queue at 300 feet where Shaken, Not Stirred came to a soft rest in the dusty dirt some distance way. See Shaken, Not Stirred shaken here.

Ben did not fly as he continued with MDRA’s LCO duties the rest of the day. We helped some other flyers and soon packed the field up for the night. Toni, Ben, and I arrived early Sunday morning to continue our rocket flying but the weather betrayed us with rain and predictions of continued rain the remainder of the day. We packed up the field and headed home early, grateful that the rocket gods provided at least one good day for one good flight. Until the next launch . . .