Dmytry Borovyk set off for a 500 FAI triangle with his Russian student pilot Ivan Savchenko on 1st January and once again made a ridge soaring passage – in the middle of the lunar landscape, around 200 km northwest of Bitterwasser. Dmytry: “As a flight instructor in Vinon, I'm used to that.” The photo shows the area in the northwest, which one would rather fly over at high altitude.
The American Jeffrey Banks knows difficult weather and terrain from Alaska. The ex airline captain indulges in gliding there in Palmer with a Silent Elektro. For performance-oriented flying, however, he has an ASH 31Mi stationed in California. Jeffrey is part of “Flying with the Youngsters” in Bitterwasser and is now being instructed in southern Africa by Simon Briel.
And we know it no different from the English in Bitterwasser, they haven't skipped a day during their traditional stays in January. Patrick Naegeli announced at the welcome that it should be the same this season.
In early September, the containers holding the gliders for the 2026/27 season were loaded in Waghäusel. Transported by trailer, truck, and cargo ship, the gliders are now on their long journey to Namibia, to the Bitterwasser Flying Lodge.
The Bitterwasser Flying Lodge was the main sponsor of the Junior World Gliding Championships, where from August 2 to 17, 2026, around 80 pilots from 22 nations competed for the titles in the Standard and Club classes. The grand prize for the JWGC winners was a one-week stay at the lodge, including travel and an airplane.