Allelujah 100k Barrier final popped from a CSC site !!!!!!!!
Posted: Sat Jul 11, 2009 9:59 pm
After over 20 years of paragliding on our beautifull fells, finally on what looked liked an o.k. day Mike Cav unfurled his wing on Blease Fell ,took off and a few hours later landed just short of Tinto just over 101 k.m direct distance.
For years this invisable barrier has stood in the way of our clubs luminary pilots, many fantastic x.c. flights have been done but none have managed to clear the invisable 100k mark. Mike has flown some brilliant flights through out this time, with some of his best being done durring the mid 1990's when he would regulary beat the 70/80k mark. I have always admired his 'studious' approach to x.c. flying, long before GPS he used to log every thermal he caught by placing a pin on the map of the Lakes he had at home and draw on the track of his x.c. flights. After a couple of years his map looked like a pin cushion but gave a great insight into where one can find the some times elusive lift produced by the Lake District. After all the years of trying I can not think of a more appropriate pilot to achive this brilliant free flying accalade.
Well done Mike, I am 'chuffed' for ye big man. Lets hope this is the start of the flood gates opening and hopefully Kitt, Steve E, Marra or any of us Cumbrian pilots can keep pushing the boundaries even further and who knows may find one of us landing at Inverness or Norfolk after smashing the U.K. distance record.
For years this invisable barrier has stood in the way of our clubs luminary pilots, many fantastic x.c. flights have been done but none have managed to clear the invisable 100k mark. Mike has flown some brilliant flights through out this time, with some of his best being done durring the mid 1990's when he would regulary beat the 70/80k mark. I have always admired his 'studious' approach to x.c. flying, long before GPS he used to log every thermal he caught by placing a pin on the map of the Lakes he had at home and draw on the track of his x.c. flights. After a couple of years his map looked like a pin cushion but gave a great insight into where one can find the some times elusive lift produced by the Lake District. After all the years of trying I can not think of a more appropriate pilot to achive this brilliant free flying accalade.
Well done Mike, I am 'chuffed' for ye big man. Lets hope this is the start of the flood gates opening and hopefully Kitt, Steve E, Marra or any of us Cumbrian pilots can keep pushing the boundaries even further and who knows may find one of us landing at Inverness or Norfolk after smashing the U.K. distance record.