Day 5 British / French HG Nationals (Chabre Open), Laragne, France

Day canned. The Mistral wind is blowing a hoony through the area, effectively grounding all hang gliding and paragliding. The only gliders able to play in the strong winds are the full scale sailplanes. Perhaps that's why quite a few hang glider pilots end up switching over, when they can afford to...

The voluntary catering team

As like every morning though, the comp organisers had their team of sandwich makers working hard to provide the packed lunches for the pilots. A sterling effort by all. Thank you to everyone involved. 

Well, another day to find some amusement. After yesterdays five hour mountain trek, a more sedantory day was on the cards. The Laragne market was on today, a great place to wander around and see local fresh produce. Quite a few pilots and their families were out buying olive oil, paprika, fruit... It made for a very colourful scene.

After a leisurely morning, a party of French and Britsh pilots headed off to the lake where Laurent Thevenot had discovered the "Blob Jump" - you know, when someone jumps on to a huge inflatable bag to launch someone sitting on the end in to the air and in to the lake. All harmless good fun. That is until you have the catastrophic mix of Ollie Chitty, Luke Nichol and Laurent working together to create a record breaking jump... As Laurent and Luke jumped from the top platform to launch Ollie, Luke's knees slammed in to Laurent's nose as he hit the bag. Its not much fun pushing a broken nose back in to place. 

Well, time for a pizza and a glass of wine before an early night. If the Mistral continues to blow through, then tomorrow I may well pack up and head up north to Annecy to at least get fly on my way home.