Competition Report: Ozone Chabre Open 2010

British pilot Mark Graham flew his Axis Vega 3 to first place in the Ozone Chabre Open 2010, but unfortunately a few days later became aware that certification for the paraglider he was flying was ongoing, so he asked to be withdran from the rankings. This made Swedish pilot Fred Angrimer first overall and EN C winner, flying an Ozone Addict2, and it is he who gets the top prize of a sailplane flight with Quo Vadis.

Norwegian Randi Eriksen was the top female, in 5th place overall, flying a Gradient Aspen 3, while Mark Remnant won the rookies class (Advance Sigma 7) and Joel Bonvin the EN B (Aircross Ufly).

Karen Thorpe (GB), Catherine Batholdi (CH) and Gillian Le Gras (GB) were second, third and fourth women, and won prizes sponsored by Cross Country magazine – congratulations to them all.

Randi Eriksen, Karen Thorpe, Catherine Batholdi and Gillian Le Gras, winners of the Cross Country-sponsored women's prizes. Photo: Marlyn Van Dyk

The European competition scene so far in 2010 seems to have been plagued by poor weather, and the Chabre Open was no different: no rain or snow this time, but strong southerly winds meant that only two tasks were valid and these were kept short (32 km and 29.7 km) – and in fact had to be stopped before their natural conclusions – as the skies overdeveloped.

As always with this friendly competition, there were plenty of non-flying activities to inform and entertain the pilots while the weather was frustrating. Jocky Sanderson, and Alain Zoller of EN test house Air Turquoise, gave a talk on reserve deployment and testing, with a practical demonstration the following day; Cross Country magazine’s editor Ed Ewing gave a talk on 25 years of flying in the Himalayas; and Ozone’s David Dagault spoke on his 333 km flight from Col de Bleyne in the Southern Alps, before he and boss Mike Cavanagh held an Ozone question-and-answer session.

Mathieu Rouanet demonstrated his prowess with a paramotor, flying an Ozone Mantra under power and looping a Viper 2 on the morning of the last day whilst pilots held their breath for the wind to not pick up too much and allow them one final task – but it wasn’t to be. Still, the buses were put to good use on non-flyable days, and pilots were able to enjoy the area and try karting, via ferrata and other activities. Not to mention several lucky pilots who went home with Ozone raffle prizes – the ultimate of which was a glider for one lucky person.

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