Once again launch day came and I was too busy to prepare any rockets or even attend both days. I grabbed my reliable Shaken, Not Stirred and a V2 and headed over to Maryland’s Eastern Shore ahead of the beach traffic. There was an accident on the bay bridge that delayed me and I feared I missed everyone for breakfast. I arrived at Verna’s late only to discover that it had gone out of business. Some quick calls discovered that everyone else was also caught in the bay bridge backup. I questioned the locals to discover that breakfast could be had at Hillside in Centreville. We arrived at Hillside to discover that it was a liquor store with a few tables tossed in the back corner. The breakfast was still good and the prices were reasonable.

We arrived at the sod farm and made quick work configuring the field. The uncharacteristic cool and breezy weather for August at the sod farm drew many flyers and soon the field was full. As customary, I let the impatient fly before me to gauge the upper winds. I discovered a wind shear about 1000 feet that blew west where the surface winds were blowing east.

I prepared Shaken, Not Stirred with an H120 Red and took the rocket to the pads where I fiddled with the launch rail angle before deciding to leave it in the straight vertical position. Shaken, Not Stirred ascended on its red plume and arced into the wind shear over my head and behind the spectator line. Shaken, Not Stirred deployed her drogue at 1,190 feet. This was not anticipated and I hoped that no vehicle or person would be injured, and that Shaken, Not Stirred would recover without damage. The mains deployed at 300 feet and Shaken, Not Stirred disappeared behind the sod farm building. Upon retrieval, it appears that Shaken, Not Stirred missed the building but the main parachute was snagged on the roof. Some finagling with a pole freed the parachute and Shaken, Not Stirred was recovered without damage.  See Shaken, Not Stirred fly.

Shaken, Not Stirred was once again my only flight of the day. I had an apogee deployed V2 but the unpredictable winds kept the V2 grounded. Instead I mentored a bunch of young children with flying Estes rockets from the A-Cell. The launch continued until 06:00 PM when the field was made ready for the night. Some drinks in the setting sun capped a good weather evening after flying rockets. I reluctantly made my way home without incident. See all the day’s flights here. Until the next launch . . .