The De-Tour Home

We left Laragne last Monday and did a slight (well, it was supposed to be but ended up a very long) de-tour to L’Alpe-d-Huez which is one of the legendary and most challenging stages of the Tour de France. Each of the 21 turns are marked to help cyclists countdown the 9 miles and 3,670ft of elevation difference, which an average slope of 7.9%.



"L’Alpe-d’Huez lies at 1,860 m, facing south, at the foot of Grandes Rousses massif. The panoramic view from the top of Pic Blanc, culminating at some 3,330 m, spans across Ecrins National Park and its majestic peaks, encompassing one fifth of the French territory from Italy to the Massif central."


The scenery was simply stunning and will make watching the race all the more enjoyable now especially as we know that the drive up in the car was a second gear climb! We passed a good few riders on the way giving it a go but they looked more likely to have a heart attack than reach the top!

The Tour de France hits L’Alpe-d'Huez on Wed 23 July.

Thank You

The Pre-Worlds was a very well run competition and I would like to express my thanks to all involved, especially Meet Director Heather who did a great job of keeping us all in line.

There were around 120 pilots from 24 countries in the competition and whilst the conditions were not totally brilliant (which is a shame) we did manage a couple of good tasks – the last one was a particularly good shout.

The key to flying in the mountains is to ‘always respect them when there is wind’ – if we keep this in mind we will have a safe Worlds next year.

Thanks guys……… great blog too.

Its All Over - The Results

Individual
1st - Scott Barrett
2nd - Balazs Ujhelyi
3rd - Dan Vyhnalik
4th - Carl Wallbank
5th - Mario Alonzi



Team
1st - GB1
2nd - France
3rd - Hungary



Sportsman Award was presented to Hans Kiefinger from Germany

Day 9 - Task 7

Task 7 - 107km

Launch - Chabre North
TP1 - Col St Jean
TP2 - La Gauche
TP3 - De Lure
TP4 - Malija
TP5 - Valensole
Goal - Attero Aerodrome Puismoisson

We had our first launch off the north side – 3 groups with 3 separate launches depending on your comp position. I was on the nice chilled out launch on the east end of Chabre. I was the last to take off our launch (my decision) as the north side doesn’t tend to work until later on in the day.

I had a lovely flight and got to goal 13th in after taking the second start. The route took us out of the mountains and into the high plains that are just lavender fields as far as the eye can see with the sweetest smelling thermals you can get.

Conditions were very weak in the flats which I guess suits my kind of flying and the thermals in the mountains were very smooth for a change.
















CHABRE BLOG

The Official Site
2008 Chabre Hang Gliding Open - the Pre-Worlds
COMPETITION BLOG
Other Bloggers
Jamie
Oz Report
Weather and Stuff - links from the Oz Report
Laragne WIND
Laragne SATELLITES
Laragne WEATHER FORECAST

Day 8 - Cancelled - Via Ferrata

Rather than keeping us hanging around the day was canned early which meant we could go and ‘do’ something!

After a morning shopping in Gap Bruce and I joined Carl, Jamie and Rob at the Via Ferrata.

Bruce has not done one before and I could tell as I felt his knees knocking as we went over the wire bridge – great fun
















The Official Site
2008 Chabre Hang Gliding Open - the Pre-Worlds
COMPETITION BLOG
Other Bloggers
Jamie
Oz Report
Weather and Stuff - links from the Oz Report
Laragne WIND
Laragne SATELLITES
Laragne WEATHER FORECAST

Day 7 - Task 6

Task 6 – 80.5km

TP1 – Savournon
TP2 – Antenne Due Roche
TP3 – Pic de Crigne
TP4 – Le Vireuil (north of Sisteron)
Goal Ribiers

Task Committee set an 80k task - there was a pause at take-off to maybe extend the task luckily they did not as it was very difficult to punch into wind. At 8,000ft it was 20mph. I had an excellent start but the first thermal after the start was total chaos with pilots turning left, right, left right and seemingly all the Laminars had a right turn even though 50 other pilots were turning left!!! A scary start to the task and amazingly nobody hit each other!! Lessons need to be learnt from this.

I had a good day overall - it was nice to get another task in - even though I landed short of goal and the last turnpoint. I remember been in the same valley doing the yo-yo bit during another comp a few years ago (probably a Brit one) and we all landed in the valley of death.

(I think?) Bruce, Dave and Carl in goal with the rest of the Brits spread out along the task.

The Official Site
2008 Chabre Hang Gliding Open - the Pre-Worlds
COMPETITION BLOG
Other Bloggers
Jamie
Oz Report
Weather and Stuff - links from the Oz Report
Laragne WIND
Laragne SATELLITES
Laragne WEATHER FORECAST

Day 6 - Task 5

Task 5 – 87.7km

Task stopped before it was activated – we landed and got packed away just in time and missed the storm!

In the evening we went to a Paella and Pizza evening in Ribiers – Thank God Fran from the Irish Team and Heather our Meet Director got the party started taking over the mic from the band who had been booked to entertain us but were a ‘little slow’!



Fran - got the party started

Heather


Mia enjoying her fag and beer


Zippy Team USA

The Official Site
2008 Chabre Hang Gliding Open - the Pre-Worlds
COMPETITION BLOG
Other Bloggers
Jamie
Oz Report
Weather and Stuff - links from the Oz Report
Laragne WIND
Laragne SATELLITES
Laragne WEATHER FORECAST