Comps and Events, News

Ozone Chabre Open 2026: ‘The original fun comp’

'Pilots had a great time flying every day bar one in this stunning location'

9 July, 2026, by Cross Country | Photos: Martijn van Dijk

Pilots at the Ozone Chabre Open 2026 flew “six days out of seven” in Laragne, France, with four tasks flown and scores of pilots flying new personal bests.

“The 19th edition of the Ozone Chabre Open proved a winner once again,” said co-organiser Louise Joselyn. The competition ran from 27 June to 3 July.

“Most of the 120+ pilots flew six days out of seven. After a great practice task, four tasks were scored including one at 78km and another at 51km. One task was stopped late on due to over-development, another was stopped early and not scored.”

Louise added: “After a couple of weeks of hot, sunny and largely flyable conditions, the competition weather was good for the first two days, with a 44km practice task, then the classic 78km run from Chabre to Chorge, with 68 pilots in goal and quite a few PBs.”

Europe has been experiencing heatwave conditions this summer, but the weather started to change mid-week.

“On Monday, a task was set and started from Bergies, with all pilots in the air, but was stopped shortly after due to the fast-building storm clouds. Tuesday’s 51km task was stopped late in the day, with many pilots already in goal.”

Wednesday was a day off from flying due to the Mistral wind while on Thursday, the competition decamped to Saint Jean Montclar for a short 25km task. “Friday was back to Bergies at Sederon for a 37km run to goal at the campsite at Laragne,” Louise said.

Personal bests

The Ozone Chabre Open is the original ‘Fun Comp’ – designed to be part XC Camp, part learning experience, part competition and part great flying holiday in a beautiful part of the world. Running for two decades now, it has provided the first competition experience for several generations and hundreds of individual pilots.

Meet director Jocky Sanderson is the face of the competition, and is a big part of why many pilots come back year after year.

He said: “As you know, the Ozone Chabre Open is not about who wins overall. It’s about who won their class. It’s an educational competition for all levels of pilot. This year all pilots had a great time flying every day bar one in this stunning location.”

Alongside the flying day, evenings at the Ozone Chabre Open feature flying debriefs and talks from pilots.

Louise said: “This year we had a fascinating talk from Ozone’s Cameron Dawes on harnesses, and [former world champion] Russ Ogden hosted a well-attended Q&A session. Plus there was plenty of fun to be had at evening parties.”

She added: “With six classes (fun, recreation, sport, X-class, rookies, women) we had six winners, plus one winner of an Ozone glider in the raffle at the end. The generous prize packages were sponsored by Ozone and Cross Country magazine. The trophies were local fossils beautifully presented on individually hand carved wooden supports.”

Each year the Ozone Chabre Open gifts a brand new Ozone glider to a random pilot drawn by raffle at the end of the comp. This year that lucky pilot was Brian Watson.

Now in its 19th edition, the Ozone Chabre Open is organised by local club, Chabre Vol Libre. It is sponsored by Ozone as well as Cross Country magazine. This year’s edition was a memorial edition for Jez Coombes, one of the co-organisers of the competition who sadly died in a non-flying accident last year.

Fun Class