Ben
and I threw a rocket into the Highlander and leisurely headed to
the Maryland’s Eastern Shore to fly some rockets. There was a
bike ride to Ocean City so despite being after Labor Day, the
roads remained crowded with various motorcycles darting about.
We enjoyed breakfast at Holly’s and dawdled about Kent Island at
the hardware store before heading to the sod farm field. The
weather was chilly and the breeze variably brisk. The skies were
clear. Flyers were already waiting and the field was quickly set
up with their help.
As become the norm, I waited to judge the winds. Unfortunately
the breezes were brisk and blowing everything into the flight
line. If a rocket was lucky to miss a parked vehicle, it would
end up in the tall green corn only to be found by the combines
in the near future. I chose not to fly. Ben continued his duties
as Launch Control Officer (LCO) and was quite busy the entire
day. I assisted others in various rocket searches and completed
some MDRA club tasks that required attending. Soon we left for
home in the setting sun.
Ben and I returned to the sod farm early Sunday morning. The
beautiful weather held but more importantly, the breezes calmed
and changed direction. Some impatient flyers quickly put their
rockets into the air only to discover that they were landing in
the treetops off in the distance. I observed this closely and
felt the trees would not be a threat if I tweaked the launch
angle slightly and kept the main parachute deployment at 300
feet.
Shaken, Not Stirred was already prepared from the
previous day except for the motor. A CTI 2-grain H120 Red motor
was chosen for propulsion. There was slight trepidation when
Shaken,
Not Stirred was readied on the pad as
Shaken,
Not Stirred never flew on this motor before. The
club members put Ben up to calling me Joseph, my twin brother’s
name, in an attempt to get my goat but I was too busy
concentrating on keeping
Shaken, Not Stirred
focused in the small video camera’s view finder. Ben finally
pushed the button and
Shaken, Not Stirred
screeched off the pad on its bright red plume to a vertical
trajectory before arcing over at 1,350 feet and deploying the
drogue.
Shaken, Not Stirred quickly descended in
the small breeze to 300 feet where the main parachute was
successfully deployed, far from the menacing trees.
Shaken,
Not Stirred landed in the soft sod not far from the
launch pad that shot her into the air.
See
Shaken, Not Stirred pushed by the red plume
here.
Ben continued his LCO duties and chose not to fly. We helped
around the fields and tried to listen to the dismal Redskin’s
game against the Green Bay Packers. The field was closed Sunday
when there were no more flyers left. The equipment was packed
and stored. Some of us remained behind to enjoy the nice weather
and regale each other of rocket stories of yore. Ben and I
started our return in the setting sun. It was a nice rocket
weekend and we tried not to let the Redskins performance bring
us down. Until the next Redskins’ game, ahem, I mean until the
next launch . . .