Houéville: Weather & Logistics

Training in the French flatlands with plenty of wind.

Teammate Seb Benz asked whether I’d join for a flying escapade in France. Hard to say no to an opportunity to train flatland flying with wind. But what made him think conditions looked good?

It seems XCtherm has a toggle that lets you chose between “oneway” and “return” potential XC distance. With a significant northeaster, returns looked crummy but oneways pretty good.

The skies were predicted to be overcast below a line stretching from Andorra to Basel. We were hoping our trajectories would not take us below that.

Off we went, kindly chauffeured by Rich Binstead (aka Aus 1), training for the upcoming X-Alps.

Off to France!

If you’re not going by car (not ideal for one-way flights), the closest train station is probably Neufchâteau. From there you can take a taxi (+33 329 06 12 13). If trains are too tedious, you might share a ride on blablacar.

Other sites we looked at included Malay le Grand (https://www.xcontest.org/world/en/flights/detail:golf_papa/20.4.2023/09:55) and Chamery (https://www.xcontest.org/2017/world/en/flights/detail:Marm/9.5.2017/09:15).