The three-day Balloon Camp was held in Araçoiaba da Serra The name Araçoiaba (from the Tupi language) means "hider of the sun" and denotes a nearby mountain that the natives noted hid the sun as it set the whole landscape is made of small hills with valley rivers crossing the forest area leading The family-owned Hotel Vila da Serra was the perfect place to welcome our campers with a quick camp overview briefing The hotel provides a more intimate experience since all the cozy rooms open to a lovely garden with local trees and flowers you can go for a swim in the pool located beside a gazebo where we had brazilian barbecue and activities briefing A total of 20 Youths participated in the Camp: 10 between 10 and 16 Years old and 10 between 20 and 30 Years old we had five youths from the city who participated at no cost It was simply amazing how thankful and proactive they became coming to watch and learn more about it every weekend we have chance to fly there This year’s camp focused more on balloon-related activities and started the day with a morning hare and hounds flight to get them interested in competition which allowed us to present concepts of ballooning more clearly on a small scale; it was lots of fun to see everyone trying to land smoothly we attempted some tethered flights so they could try their recent landing skills on a real balloon but this was not possible due to strong winds the wind stopped right before the nightglow which was promoted through a ride around the city centre with the burners on The next day started with a morning flight but this time was followed by a balloon factory visit where everyone learned more about the manufacturing process of balloons and equipment Special attention was given to a 20-passenger basket that was being made because everyone had had flights on an eight-  person basket we all headed to a local restaurant to try a barbecue specialty known as costela we arrived back at the hotel to celebrate the end of another successful Balloon Camp FAI - Fédération Aéronautique Internationale Design by Penceo - LAB Another wave pool is slated for construction in Brazil, but you’ll have to buy property to surf it. Wavegarden announced that a new private residential community called Fazenda Vista Verde will be built in the peripheries of São Paulo with a wave pool included as an amenity for residents The community is sprouting up in the town of Araçoiaba da Serra located an hour and 20 minutes by car west of São Paulo. The four-million-square-meter project developed by LN Urbanismo will be divided up into at least 160 residential lots that measure 2,000 to 2,600 square meters each The community and wave pool will be completed by the end of 2027 Wavegarden already has two operational pools in Brazil: Praia da Grama near São Paulo and Surfland in Garopaba “Beyond the Club,” is slated to open in São Paulo proper in 2025 The common thread that all these Wavegarden pools have – and all wave pools in Brazil for that matter – is that they aren’t open to the public Wave pool technologies have found that their entry into the Brazilian market cannot mimic the commonly used public-oriented models that sell tickets to consumers They sell the pools to the one-precent of Brazilians And it makes sense. According to the Gini index – a measure of inequality in family income – Brazil is the seventh most unequal country in the world there are a few people who have a lot of money Developers have determined that the best way to build a pool in Brazil is to tack it onto luxury residential projects to drive property value and sales The American Wave Machine pool at Boa Vista Village uses the same model Buying land and/or building houses in these communities goes well into the million-dollar range Most Brazilian surfers will never surf their country’s pools and Fazenda Vista Verde will be no different That’s not to say the developers are evil; they’re reacting to the economic reality The point is: Don’t expect Brazil’s wave pool boom to spark the next wave of the Brazilian storm Only the few who can afford to live in these country clubs or the well-connected will be logging tube time President of ADB Brazil – Brazilian Airsport Institute We started the year 2019 very busy. The decision by the ballooning entity, Brazilian Ballooning Confederation (CBB) to hold the National Championship with less than 30 days to the General Briefing was a short window Between the first invitation via email on 28 June and the start of the competition on 22 July it was less than 30 days for the teams of officials and pilots to get organized The host city was Araçoiaba da Serra in the interior of the state of São Paulo An area of small and large farms that has in its DNA to keep the region natural and beautiful The region is home to the Ipanema National Forest which is a Brazilian conservation unit managed by the Chico Mendes Institute for Biodiversity Conservation - ICMBio a beautiful mountain shared with 2 other cities Iperó and Capela do Alto is a prominent feature in the area Morro de Ipanema is also the birthplace of the first iron foundry in Brazil and the birthplace of Francisco Adolfo Varnhagen in 1816 He is known as the Father of Brazilian History  He wrote describing two centuries of Brazilian development His work is a milestone today for ancient and current historians At the top of Morro de Ipanema there is the monument to Varnhagen visited by the Royal Family on November 11 On this monument there is an inscription: “The memory of Varnhagen born in the fertile land discovered by Colombo Initiated by his father in the great and useful fields his country trembles and he wrote the history to his land Your immortal soul gathers all your memories here ” It was exactly in this region that the two FAI South American Youth Ballooning Camps were held with the first version in 2018 and then again in 2019 A lot of work and dedication on the part of municipalities in addition to the Commercial Association and volunteers all did an excellent job in less than 30 days The city was a gracious host to the 20 flying balloons And Aracoiba da Serra received numerous visitors from other cities in the state of São Paulo And stories of the event were disseminated by the national and regional press Ballooning has existed in Brazil since 1970 The 1st Brazilian Championship was held in 1988 with pilot Rubens Rosdon Kalousdian the winner In 2006 they founded CBB, the Brazilian Ballooning Confederation From 2006 until today there have been three presidents who organized the 2014 FAI World Hot Air Balloon Championship in Rio Claro.  Next president was Valdemir Taveira and the current one is Johnny Alvarez - Favorites for the title flying intensely - With a few days to go before the big event a little because of the pilot presence in the competition area for training recent or history of winners and/or its sympathy from past stories shared by the press All this together leads everyone to study rules The technical direction was handled by pilot Marcos Bonimcontro and his team I think it is very important to list their names because all these wonderful people worked hard for us to have great memories of a very successful championship the technical team doesn't even have time to eat and sleep It is worth remembering the names that are always helping us The only woman in this championship, Laís Pinho, has a great future. Brazil has more than 10 women qualified to fly balloons, but in this championship, we had a single female representative. She is 26 years old, and eligible in the CIA Junior category Laís Pinho is from the state of Rio Grande do Sul which has hosted an annual balloon event since 1987 Known worldwide as TORRES INTERNATIONAL HOT AIR BALLOON FESTIVAL the event is organized by Bruno Schwartz of Air Show The Laís Pinho family has been sponsoring the event for decades offering a Chevrolet car from their dealership for the famous KEY GRAB TASK Countless international pilots have flown in this most charming and beautiful place where you can fly close to the beach This event is so important for the city and region that today it has its own pilots' association The Gaúcha Ballooning Federation has its headquarters in the city and has already trained more than a dozen pilots Five very determined young people participated in the 2019 Nationals Each deserves a lot of support in their quest to represent Brazil In a Brazilian championship with 20 participants That already excites us as it shows the growth of the sport I also believe that the mention of these young people is essential to energize them and their progress in ballooning it’s worth sharing that some of the new practitioners come from a balloonist family came because his city is the headquarters of the biggest event in South America the Torres International Hot Air Balloon Festival has made their mark in ballooning history in Brazil and internationally  Some already Brazilian champions who have flown in international events and others in state because nobody in this modality is created alone in Brazil There is always some reason and link between one and the other to take the first steps and reach a national championship - Generates apprehension but fosters the challenge for leadership  I don't know if it is like that in other countries and the new solitaries fit into one of them There are also those who participate in all of them to see and analyze the styles and see where they fit best flying as a team has been the best solution but it is important that everyone on the team plays their role of guidance Those who have been flying for a long time only with family and one or two friends were going to follow this line of family working together One of the pilots decided to assemble Team Brasil The championship ended up being flown in groups that in some tasks there were ties for first place This is certainly a sign of the improvement of our pilots but always at the expense of the first pilot that passed through the target (and had to share 1st place points) our teams were able to share each other's lead in harmony showing the way to the target and we learned a lot from each other's styles and debriefings after the flights for positive and negative on the task results Shared information brought an incentive to the new ones who accompanied us including understanding the task strategy for a particular flight everything that the new balloon pilots can learn from the experienced pilots who already know their routine by heart and experience and of course there is always the pain of those who did not reach the podium and everyone who is dedicated will have their turn on the podium With that title he accumulated his eighth championship and several times second The beauty of this sport is that its strength and strategy does not depend on age to be able to reach the top 10 in the world We have to fight here in Brazil to do many events May the times of many events return after the pandemic In the results you will see that we had 29 tasks with just one canceled The accuracy was so great that it was impossible by any means to distinguish the winner before the final results were posted - Words from the current Brazilian ballooning Champion - "My desire to win follows me since the first championship and together with my son Markus and the formation of Team Brasil at the last moment "When I heard that the championship would be in Araçoiaba da Serra I was super anxious after all it was going to happen let´s say "The victory and the conquest of the 8th title I want to thank my super Marina who was always by my side and my super son Markus who despite the healthy discussions in the decisions always supported me "Thank you very much." - Rubens Rosdon Kalousdian Words from the current 2nd place in the Brazilian Balloon Championship "I’ll never forget that week flying in Araçoiaba "After having done my check flight in 2011 in Araçoiaba with Rubens it was very nice to be able to fly in that beautiful region again and get the second place behind only Rubens himself Words from the current 3rd place in the Brazilian Ballooning Championship "It was a very competitive event in a city that I can say is perfect for ballooning Thank you very much" - Markus Dikran Kalousdian