Stormy days in Bitterwasser

The forecasts from TopMeteo for Namibia in the last few days have been a nice promise. The potential flight distances (PFD) told from many kilometers. But it wasn't that simple.

The flights had to be fought hard. Only a look at the wind maps showed the problem. The working altitudes in the blue thermal in the afternoon were 5000 meters MSL and more, but in the heights and already well below it was blowing at 60 kph plus. Wind shear did the rest to stir up the thermals vigorously. Only the strong and then tight lifts made it all the way up. Lots of clubs and a high tolerance against shaking were the order of the day. If you liked that, you could also bring together decent daily distances, like the Italian TwinShark team Pietro Sileri/Gaetano Benincasa with almost 800 kilometers.
Another challenge awaited the returnees when they had to land in the 30 knots northwest with gusts of up to 46 knots. The photo shows the current weather on the afternoon of November 26th. In Bitterwasser that wasn't that big a problem. On the large pan, it was possible to approach and land exactly against the wind.

Go back

We mourn the loss of Dieter Schwenk

As a member of the Bitterwasser Board of Directors and CFI of the Soaring Society of Namibia, Dieter has rendered outstanding services to gliding in Namibia.

Sitting at his favorite spot in Bitterwasser, he has left us forever.

We will not forget him.

Season final

The season in Bitterwasser is slowly drawing to a close.
One by one, the gliders are being loaded into the containers. And still some teams fly over 1000 kilometers every day.