Le mardi 17 février 2015 22:10:49 UTC+1, Jonathan St. Cloud a écrit :
> HI Chris. I was wondering if you could write a bit about the soaring in France (how how long the season is, how strong the thermals, many glider ports and variety of terrain, is there good wave, ridge, good xc options... etc.) What is it like living France... I know none of the above but somehow I find myself jealous :)
I've been flying in this region for the last 20 years in la Motte du Caire, Seyne-les-Alpes and since a couple of years in Fayence (Chris, I'm the nuthole who had blocked your trailer with my rigged Ventus in the morning something like two years ago...).
Season goes typically from March to end of September. Two large clubs (Fayence and Vinon) have all-year-round activity, but winter thermals are fairly week. Variety of terrain is almost flat land to the south (Vinon) to... well anywhere you want to go in the Alps. Highest summit would be Mt Blanc about 250 km north of Fayence with 4800m.
Right (10 km) North of Fayence start the French Sea Alps, which is a mountain range about 100 km with tops in the 2000-2500m, giving to the high alpine region with 3000-4000m tops.
Thermal strength is anything from 1 to 10 knots (rarely above), and on a real good day you don't stop for anything below 6 knots. Ceilings are 3000-4000 m on good days, which means that you often fly the ridges to climb, and you have to manage mountain passes. Going from Fayence to Switzerland involves passing several passes into different meterological regions, with 2 mountain pass at 300 m. An out-and-return from Fayence to the Furka Pass is 800 km and takes you along the most spectacular landscape in Europe.
Outlanding field have to be carefully managed as valleys are deep and narrow. However, there is are catalogues of referenced fields for France, Switzerland and Austria, with each field presented with photos, GPS reference, elevation, do's and don'ts. So although sometimes the next field may be 50 km away, you can fly safely and most of the time, there are several options.
There are frequently wave days, notably with strong Northern wind (called "Mistral") which is a stable meterological situation, often lasting for a couple of days. Klaus Ohlmann did an out-and-return from Serres to Wiener Neustadt some years ago, which is 1400 km. There is also some wave with strong Western or Southern wind preceeding a frontal system (and often not even holding for the whole day). During wave conditions, outlanding is better restricted to airfields.
Living in France... I've been living in Grenoble (roughly 100 km north of Provence) for a good 5 years, but that's been almost 20 years ago (now I live in the French part of Switzerland - mountains start at 3000 m right away ;-)), but I did like it. Living on the French Riviera is certainly a much sweeter plan, but you probably want to flee the crowds moving down from Paris durng July/August. But that's the time you want to spend in the air anyways ;-) I have a very good friend living close to Hyères, and he spends summers on the airfiled, and winters going sailing.
Bert
TW