Simon Schröder is currently twice the title holder. In 2019 he won the Junior World Championship in the standard class in Szeged, Hungary, and this year the general World Championship in the standard class in Montlucon, France. The great success of Bruno Gantenbrink is a little further back. He won the title in 1989 in Wiener Neustadt in the racing class. Before that, he was twice vice world champion.
For Simon Schröder it is the third visit of the Nambian gliding center. In 2016, he completed the dream distance in Wilfried Großkinsky's 1000 km training camp and then flew it in Germany from Bad Wörishofen. And this time on November 29th it was almost 1250 kilometers at 143 kph. Bruno Gantenbrink collected a good 100 glider flying hours over Namibia this season and several 1000 k distances.
A stay at the Bitterwasser Lodge is usually beyond the financial means of young pilots. At the same time, the next generation is the key to the future of our wonderful sport—and of the lodge as well. That is why supporting young pilots is a core part of the Bitterwasser Flying Center’s mission.
Early October is the ideal time to prepare the runways for flight operations. You can land at the Bitterwasser Flying Lodge in every which direction—depending on how you look at it, on 8 runways (plus one emergency runway), each in two directions. Jeremias carefully levels the landing area over the course of several weeks.