Early Sunday morning, Ben and I awoke to a slight splattering of rain. We packed some rockets and headed over to Maryland’s Eastern Shore hoping for better weather. The rocket gods did not disappoint as the weather cleared when we arrived at the field. The winds were slightly gusty but provided adequate cooling from the August heat. It was still early so Ben and I made the field ready and waited for the other flyers to arrive.

It was a lazy morning with flyers arriving and shooting the breeze. It was after 10:00 AM before the first rocket took to the skies. I study the flight very well as the wind direction was inconsistent at the different altitudes. I continued to let other flyers go ahead of me before I was satisfied that I understood what the winds were doing and that my rocket would not come down on someone’s vehicle.

The already prepared Shaken, Not Stirred was taken out to the pad for its 69th time. The launch rail was straightened to allow the winds to carry Shaken, Not Stirred over the crowd on its descent. After enduring various comments from the crowd, Shaken, Not Stirred was launched into the checkered sky and slowly arced over at 1,230 feet before separating and deploying her drogue. Shaken, Not Stirred quickly descended in the breezy conditions until the mains were deployed with a POP at 300 feet. Shaken, Not Stirred came to a gentle rest in the soft sod near the porta-potty. At least I killed two birds with the long walk to retrieve Shaken, Not Stirred. See Shaken, Not Stirred leap into the skies by clicking the video to the right.

The gusty and variable winds grounded my other rockets as I witness many of them heading into the trees. Ben continued his LCO duties and I filmed other flights until it was time to shut down the field. We enjoyed a nice cold beer after the field was shut down and then joined the traffic jam caused by returning beach vacationers as we all headed towards Maryland’s Western Shore. The vacationers will be extinct for next month’s launch. Until the next launch . . .