MikeAdmin12 September 2021
Finally a chance to go see Margaret and to check out some of the local New Hampshire seacoast culture. Every year the sea side city of Hampton New Hampshire hosts a weekend long Seafood Festival featuring local seafood restaurants and live music along a great sand beach.
We were able to make an early departure with the plan to arrive at the Hampton Airport, 7B3 at 0900. The weather leaving Vermont was VFR in the Champlain Valley but clouds predominated between the Green (VT) and White Mountains (NH). Fortunately we had an IFR clearance on file and were able to pick it up for the flight over. At 9K we were in and out of clouds for the majority of the 50 minute flight. As we arrived in the Portsmouth Area the weather returned to VFR and we were able to cancel our IFR clearance about 15 miles west of the Airport.
The Thunder of New Hampshire Air Show was also scheduled for this weekend but our early arrive kept us out the high traffic time period. This Air Show also led to us picking the Hampton Airport instead of landing at Portsmouth, KPSM, like normal. The Hampton Airport is a small 2000 ft field about 20 south east of Portsmouth with a very interesting approach. As you come in to land on runway 20 the trees have been cut back but not quite on centerline. You actually do your final approach through the “chute” then side set left to land on centerline once you arrive at the threshold. This situation combined with gusty winds made for a fun approach and landing but the RV10 again proved it was way more capable then its pilot. We touched down I the first 200 feet of the runway and had to had power to reach the taxiway at the departure end – look mom no brakes.
The Hampton Airport is home of the Airport Café one of the busiest Airport Restaurants that we have ever visited. They recently moved to a much larger building that includes an overhead carousel of airplane models. Fortunately we didn’t have to wait in line for an hour for a seat and instead were headed to the beach for SEAFOOD! Margaret and her boyfriend Sam picked us up at the FBO (former Café) her “new” (to her) Honda Accord.
Jaimie was the planning guru for this trip and directed us to an offsite location to catch the free shuttle. Unfortunately our early start meant we had to wait a little longer at the Winnacunnet High School for the first bus of the day, but it eventually showed up with a driver in 1970s disco costume. Observing COVID safety protocols the School Bus serving as a shuttle required masks for all riders and quickly delivered us to the Seafood Fest entrance.
The Festival is setup along the Hampton Beach Strip the street that runs between the Atlantic Beach to the east and blocks of shops, hotels and restaurants to the west. The street was fenced off and tents were setup along the street with restaurants and venders similar to a fair or craft fair. At the center of the seafood fest strip were two venues one a claim shell stage that faced the street and then a bit further down a stage that had been setup on the actual beach. At the claim shell we saw an old time big band orchestra playing and then later a 80’s rock band playing on the beach.
After walking the strip to get the lay of the land we developed a strategy to ensure everyone was able to get what they wanted for lunch. Jaimie enjoyed a nice swordfish kabab sold by the local fire department. I had a pint of very nice, though pricey full belly clams, Margaret enjoyed a lobster roll and Sam enjoyed a BBQ pork sandwich. Jaimie also got us a cup of fluffy clam chowder to share that is clam chowder with lobster added on the topJ. Margaret being a highly compensated young professional on her own purchased a blooming onion for us all to share. A great lunch with great company, enjoyed in a great location.
After lunch we decided to explore the local arcade. A blast from the past the arcade was a through back to the board walk days of the 1950s. We all enjoyed a few dollars’ worth of entertainment and learned that Jaimie is a bit of an arcade shark.
After the arcade we headed down to the stage on the beach/beer tent. The band playing was covering songs by the Doors and Rolling Stones. The lead singer was surprisingly good and we enjoyed the show.
Having seen that and done that we headed back to the car via the shuttle bus, then back to the airport. Amazingly the Airport Café still had a line waiting at 1430 in the afternoon and a live band playing outside.
After a through preflight and run-up we taxied for takeoff on runway 20. Because of the 2000 foot runway and trees at the end we chose to execute a partial short field takeoff – meaning full flaps and short field rotation and climb speeds but without holding the brakes prior to roll. The RV10 amazed us once again as it leapt from the field I the first third of the runway and we were at pattern altitude prior to reaching the end of the field.
Despite VFR conditions along the coast we could see clouds on the horizon so we picked up our IFR clearance in the vicinity of (IVO) Laconia, NH. After being switched to Boston Center we could hear this weather was causing traffic issues. In addition we listened in as two F35s coordinated a holding position for themselves and their tanker as they held prior to doing a flyby for the Patriot’s football game. Kind of cool. The route back was solid clouds from four to nine thousand feet and we were unable to get in a request to climb so we ended up flying through a bit more rain than we would have liked. Lesson learned and next time we will be more forceful in getting in our request. We ended up flying through some moderate precipitation north of Montpelier VT then taking our own weather deviation north toward Newport to get around an area of extreme precipitation forming a line from Burlington east to Morrisville.