The weather was cloudy and snow was in the air as I made my solo trek to Maryland’s Eastern Shore for MDRA’s Eastern Shore Launch 188 and more importantly, the 7th Annual Christmas Tree Drag Race. Toni and Ben were smart and elected to stay home. I arrived at the field with strong blustery winds that took the 28 degree temperature down to “real feel” 12 degrees where it stayed through the remainder of the day. There is a fine line between dedication and stupidity and I found myself on the wrong side of this line this day.

I assisted in some launch equipment repairs while trying to protect myself in the frigid winds but the winds penetrated my layers of clothing until I became cold. I filmed an experimental GPS guided ram parachute deployment recovery and the two heats of the Christmas Tree drag race but that was it. I was cold and I was not able to warm up until my journey home after the launch. I had the seat heater on high and finally started to feel again around Edgewater, Maryland.

Sunday morning I conned Toni into joining me for day 2. We arrived at the field to sunny skies and less blustery winds. The temperatures were to reach a balmy 36 degrees but the sunshine provided the illusion of warmth. As the day went on, the slightly above freezing temperatures melted the permafrost making for muddy conditions throughout the field.

I prepared Shaken, Not Stirred with a CTI H120-Red propellant and adjusted the launch angle on the pad to account for the winds. Shaken, Not Stirred scurried off the pad on its red plume and arced into the winds directly over the spectators before deploying its drogue chute at 1,317 feet. Shaken, Not Stirred quickly descended and was pushed back over the field by the winds until the main parachute was successfully deployed on queue at 300 feet. Shaken, Not Stirred came to rest just feet from where she was launched. See Shaken, Not Stirred redeem herself from last month’s flight here.

The third heat of the Christmas Tree launch was in the afternoon. What is it about Christmas Trees with rocket motors strapped to them that brings all those smiles to everyone’s faces? Much top-secret research goes into flying Christmas Trees and the accumulation of this research can be seen with some of these flights. See the MDRA 7th Annual Christmas Tree Drag Race here.

Toni and I assisted with the launch and other flyers for the remainder of the launch. We closed the field in the setting sun and dropping temperatures before heading to Ichiban on Kent Island for some sushi and drinks. The sunny skies and above freezing temperatures made for a much better day. Until the next launch . . .