Club History - the nineties

1990 Lakes Charity Classic

In 1990, after years of talking about it, the first Lakes Charity Classic was finally incorporated into the Club calendar and proved such a success it spurred other clubs to similar events. With sites now having to be worked harder for, positive public perceptions of the sport were becoming a necessity. Despite all the hard work and goodwill shown by the Club some sites were unfortunately lost.

With the membership now bolstered by paragliding and moves to amalgamate the two associations, a new Constitution and name change were put to the 1992 AGM. By an overwhelming majority those present voted in favour and the Cumbria Soaring Club was born.

Throughout the next decade the club experienced a continued rise in the popularity of paragliding and with the advancement in glider design, XC's linking the various valleys of the region became a popular way of exploring the lakes and the potential of this relatively new sport.

The period between 1992 and 1996 saw a number of new site records being set and then reset sparking a competitive rivalry within the club to explore new sites and set ever-longer distances from them. This internal club rivalry crystallised into three distinct posse's - The 'Keswick boys', the 'Golden rule collective' and the 'Eskdale crew' each exploring new sites and rewriting the record books on a regular basis. Though it was visiting pilot, Nigel Page's 90km flight in May 94 from Jenkin Hill taking him across the Solway Firth and up in to the Southern Uplands around Moffat, which turned heads. How did the local pilots miss out on the prize? However nothing can be taken away this was a remarkable achievement, a record which stood till 2005 as the longest paragliding flight from any CSC site.

The club always has always had a strong competitive presence with Jocky Sanderson, Pat Holmes, and a young Mike Cavanagh regularly representing the club in the Nationals and their country at international level.

In 1995 Pat was crowned British National's Paragliding Champion and in the 96-97 season the club had over 10 representatives competing in the British Nationals the largest single club contingent in any Nationals and with a little under 20 pilots regularly entering flights under the CSC banner in the national XC League. The competitive spirit of the club was being maintained.

Most XC's were either linked ridge runs or flights over the back though through the flights of Pat Holmes and later on Jim Stilling each demonstrating the potential for a paraglider to complete more complex defined tasks.

April 1997 saw Mike Cavanagh set a national out and return record from White Pike to Grasmere and back a distance of 31.8kms and in August, Steve Etherington flew a 28.71km triangle flight starting in the Langdales for the national 25km triangle speed record with a speed of 8.83kph. Pat topped the club's competitive achievements by becoming the 1997 National XC league Champion.

In 1998 the Club had its first attempt at attracting corporate sponsorship for the Lakes Charity Classic. As this was a particularly wet summer, the event was probably saved by the fact that we had secured commercial interest. On the hang-gliding front Ed Cleasby had introduced the Mosquito powered harness to the moribund hang-gliding community in late '97 and this sparked a resurgence of interest in hang-gliding, albeit in a different guise. In September 1998 this led to the world's first ever FLPHG meet at Lindale, when over 30 pilots enjoyed good weather and demonstrated an alternative and certainly more sociable future for hang-gliding. Three other subsequent power meets have been successfully held and with the advent of rigid wings the future for hang-gliding looks a lots more interesting.

Acro1999 was a good summer and saw an increase in flying activity. XC flights were now averaging in the 30-40km band and the national Club XC competition became a fiercely contested battle between the CSC and the SMPC (Scottish Mountain Paragliding Club). The two clubs trading top spot right up to the last weeks of the season. CSC's victorious team of Pat Holmes, Steve Etherington, Burkitt Rudd and (the now late) Dave Wilson ensured the Club had something to sing about.