Everyone gets some organic produce donated by our sponsors.

We are very excited to be running the 10th Chabre Open.
It seems like everyone else was excited too, with the competition being filled and fully paid in 11 minutes; sensational. Sorry to all of those that didn't get in, but we can only take a limited number of entries.

The pre-comp week was again very good. 6 days of Westerlies of varying strength saw flights to Chorges, Dignes and Tallard. The days are getting hotter and hotter, the scoring room is a hive of sweaty activity.

Registration went pretty smoothly, and to celebrate our 10th edition, Chabre Open goes organic with some great give-aways for every pilot! We have some yummy organic drinks - iced tea and smoothies - from our new sponsor, Beodrinx in Switzerland. And local hang glider pilot, Marcel Richaud, happens to run a Cotes de Rhone vineyard and has bottled some of his magnificent Cairanne wine with a special label for us.

Friday night saw the usual GPS talk and Introduction to Flying Compettitions Safely to a full marquee.

See the facebook page:

Rachael over Chateau Arnoux.

The usual Practice task is today. Forecast looks strong from the North but getting better during the week.

The task for today was cancelled and pilots heading for Saint Vincent Le Fort and some trying their luck at Chabre and Mens.

The only ones to fly were at Saint Vincent but unusually the conditions were a little ratty.

Jocky did a Thermalling talk later in the evening followed by Apero: Wine, beer cheeses snacks and sociable pre-comp banter.

After a breezy night we woke up to still air and blue skies. The forecast is quite good with winds from the West and North up high.

We went to Bergies next to Sederon and the wind on the hill was fickle; light from all directions. Time to wait?

The task was set and the wind was fickle.

39km task to south of Sisteron via one turnpoint.

The window opened and nothing happened. The wind, was fickle.
Slowly people went, and more and more, greeted with slow climbs that got better and better. More got off but launch remained tricky.

Bergies always claims a few souls and today was no different. A few landed minimum distance. The rest were treated to a lovely day. Thermals were smooth and some strong. Down the course was good and speed was of the essence.

The crux of the task was at the turnpoint; whether to glide direct or to go further down the ridge for another climb.

49 were in goal, well done. Winner of the day was Roger Turner-Smith (Ozone Delta2) with a time of just over 1 hour; brilliant. Next Andrew
Williams (Gin Carrera+) and 3rd Jan Dekker (Ozone Mantra6).

The day was great, and there is more to come.

The forecast for the day is light winds from West to South West. It'll be hot.

Tricky decision today but we are heading up to Chabre. Setting a task will be fun.

The wind on launch was fickle.. deja vu. We trusted that the the anabatic flow would come up and set the task: 49km to yesterday's goal via Col St Ange and Beaumont.

The first off were greeted with some light lift, which quickly turned a little better. Everyone was off after about an hour and the sky was full. The journey to Col St Ange, Orpierre and Beaumont was fairly straight-forward. And then the thinking began. Coming back to Chabre had some decision points and the climbs were variable in strength. Once past Chabre and on to La Platte saw several variations of route and then to the Sisteron ridge. From there the glide seemed straight forward but 20 pilots landed within 5km of goal as the headwind low down was punishing.

48 pilots made it into goal. Well done. Some flew on to Mallemoison 15km further.. as that was an option given for the guns.

Top pilot of the day was Andrew Williams (Gin Carrera+) followed by Jens Cullmann (Ozone Mantra6) and Hugh Burnaby-Atkins (Advance Sigma).

It was nice to welcome Bruce Goldsmith and his son Tyr, as they came to say hello and fly the task. Having Jocky's son Josh and Tyr flying tasks at 16; I wonder whether they will be as competitive as their fathers?

Another fantastic day and more personal bests, here's hoping for another one tomorrow.

Forecast today looks good, yay. Winds from the South to South West. We will be going to Chabre and flying North.. but we don't know where yet.

We all were up on Chabre in plenty of time for the briefing and a RACE to goal at Charance landing towards Gap, 45.2km, via three turnpoints: Col St Ange, Beaumont and Veynes (more or less).

The interesting thing was the choice to go the sure route via Aspres or the risky direct route across the valley. Only a few took the risky route and were rewarded with a tricky section but then fast to goal. The Northerly route claimed some in the transition but saw many in goal.

60 pilots made it to goal; fabtastic. First was Jens Cullman on his Ozone Mantra6. Very good. Next was Rick Van Der Sloot (Ozone Delta2) and Roger Turner Smith (Ozone Delta2).

What a great day.

Tonight is the Pizza and Paella night in Ribiers.. get your dancing socks on.

Waiting at the start with my mates.

We drank to the weather gods but I'm not sure it worked.

The wind looks strong from the South, we may not task today.

No task today.

The debrief for yesterdays task was very entertaining in the morning.

Many pilots were in the river whilst the temperatures seered above the summer average.

Chris White and Dan Edwards lead a reserve repack session in the evening.

Back to busines.

Today has a Southerly forecast, we may set a bigger task today.

As we sat cooking on launch on Chabre it looked like we were in Singapore; milky skies, not much wind and super hot. The original task of 75km was changed to plan B: 40km elapsed time to Aspres, a tried and trusted route, via Col St Ange and St Genis East end.

The conditions all day were slow with a base of only around 2000m. Going to Col St Ange was slow and getting back to launch was not straightforward. Onto St Genis (the volcano) took some souls and geeting onto Aujour was tough. It was a tough day, especially near Aspres at the end; a glide from the mountains was not enough and the smallest of climbs was required on route. Many just landed before the town.

14 Pilots made goal.

The winner of the day is Luc De Meester (Ozone M6). Well done.

Second was Mark Graham (Ozone Delta2) then Hans Ter Maat (Nova Triton II).

It looks like we may get another one in tomorrow. Here's hoping.

Still waiting at the start with my mates.

Today looks similar to yesterday with a chance of storms; I hope not.

Alas, the weather did not play ball. Light wind from the South, West and North made launching tricky and the clouds were growing bigger, blacker and closer.

By 13:30 it was looking too ominous to task and the day was cancelled. A large percentage of the pilots flew back to camping.

What an epic competition. Many happy faces. See you in 2016?

Martijn Van Dyke flying towards Beaumont.

All of the results are on the results page.

Task reports by Mark Graham