07/11/2026 - Bona Bona - The international gliding community's eyes are turned toward the southern hemisphere as Series 13 of the FAI Sailplane Grand Prix arrives at its sixth venue: Bona Bona, South Africa. Today marks the official practice day, giving competitors their final opportunity to test the local airmass and fine-tune their strategies before the intense racing commences tomorrow.
Running from November 8th through November 14th, 2026, the Bona Bona SGP promises a week of high-speed, high-stakes competition. Known for its powerful thermals and demanding weather systems, the South African landscape will challenge the tactical acumen and raw speed of every pilot on the grid.
The Venue: Luxury Lodge Life and Racing Over Africa
This year's South African leg is hosted at the spectacular Bona Bona Game Lodge, offering competitors and teams a taste of luxury lodge life. The privately owned 1,600-hectare bushveld is a true reflection of the local ecosystem, providing an incredible backdrop of acacia veld and wildlife nearby.
The competition is operating directly out of the Bona Bona airstrip, seamlessly integrating the high-speed thrill of sailplane racing with the untamed beauty of the African landscape. As the gliders launch into the powerful South African thermals, they will be racing over Africa in one of the most visually stunning and meteorologically demanding environments on the SGP calendar. Ensuring the competition runs flawlessly is Contest Manager Jason Adriaan, who will be overseeing operations and directing the daily racing tasks.
How to Follow the Action
On the ground, Indya Ruijgrok is stationed on the airfield to manage the media side of the event, capturing the behind-the-scenes action with a profesionnal crew.
While there will be no traditional live streaming for this specific event, fans worldwide will not miss a moment of the high-stakes racing. The SGP media team is preparing a robust coverage package. Here is what you can expect at Bona Bona:
Immersive Media: Daily releases of on-board footage and behind-the-scenes content directly from the grid.
Real-Time Race Tracking: Follow the head-to-head tactical battles live via our 2D & 3D livetracking platforms.
A Few Surprises: The team has a few surprises in store for fans throughout the week.
To watch the races unfold in real-time, livetracking can be followed at sgp.aero/livetracking. For comprehensive daily updates and event information, visit the official event portal at sgp.aero/south-africa-2026.
A Formidable Grid
This week’s grid features a heavy concentration of world-class talent, with an impressive showing from the host nation as well as top-tier competitors from Germany, Denmark, and Switzerland. Unsurprisingly for a South African event, the start list is dominated by the high-performance JS1 and JS3 models, setting the stage for a spectacular showdown of local aerodynamic engineering.
The 17 pilots set to launch today for the Practice Day are:
Stay tuned to sgp.aero and our official social media channels for daily race reports, video highlights, and tracking links as the first competitors cross the start line tomorrow.
