It was Father’s Day weekend and Ben wanted to fly some rockets with me. We woke early and threw some rockets into the Highlander before making our journey across the Bay Bridge ahead of the beach traffic. We enjoyed a nice leisurely breakfast at Hollys’ in Grasonville. We then killed some time at a local hardware store and browsed through some of the hidden antique shops before it was time to head to the Central Sod Farm.

The weather at the sod farm was warm and sunny with some cooling and relaxing breezes. The large diesel engine clanked in the distance as it pumped water to the various sod fields. We made quick work of setting up the launch field and then Ben and I headed to Higgs Farm to help unload some potential rocket building materials. We ate our packed lunches from Subway upon our return and then started to prepare our rockets.

I had already done most of my prepping to Shaken, Not Stirred at home but still had to fluff some parachutes and ensure all the shrouds were attached. I was still missing the Q-CAM so there were no onboard video to worry about. Being a Southern Maryland boy, I knew I did not want to walk through the almost waist high corn field to retrieve my rocket so I adjusted the launch rod angle accordingly and armed the electronics.

Shaken, Not Stirred smoked off the launch pad at the conclusion of the countdown on its 35th flight with the slightly intended arc into the wind. Shaken, Not Stirred arced over at 1,240 feet where the drogue successfully deployed. The mains were successfully ejected and deployed at 400 feet where the rocket came to rest very close by, almost hitting the LCO’s truck. The LCO was thoroughly impressed with Shaken, Not Stirred’s flight and awarded it a record breaking 17 “nices”. Count Shaken, Not Stirred’s “nices” here.

Not to be outdone, Ben dusted off and prepared his Warp Drive. Warp Drive has not seen flight for over two years. Ben prepared an Aerotech F52-8 for propulsion and soon had Warp Drive on the pad. After waiting through a faulty igniter problem, Warp Drive finally achieved liftoff and soon disappeared into the yonder. It was soon sighted descending under chute before it came to rest in the soft sod. Warp Drive almost hit the LCO’s truck as well. See Warp Drive’s return to flight status here.

Warp Drive was our last flight for the day. We helped with the launch and filmed some other flights. We visited the vendors where we managed to purchased some difficult to obtain Loki H144 reloads and a number 22 nozzle for Toni, since I broke her other one which had grounded Toni’s Sally Ride. We relaxed in the shade of our camp before it was time to leave. As I walked over to make a pit stop, I found another arrow head in excellent shape. This simple arrowhead provided an excellent ending to an excellent day. Happy Father’s Day goes out to all those that are lucky enough to be a father and have a father. Until next launch . . .