DM Hall surveryor to equal record in North Atlantic

An Edinburgh surveyor who broke the record for the longest single occupation of Rockall, a North Atlantic islet 230 miles west of the Scottish mainland, is to return to the site of his achievement as a guide.

DM Halls Nick Hancock hopes to equal a world record with his return to Rockall next year. Picture: Contributed

Nick Hancock, a director at chartered surveyor DM Hall, set a world record when he spent 45 days on the tiny uninhabitable islet in 2014.

Next year he will act as a guide to a party of adventure tourists hoping to become the first people to set foot on Rockall since 2016.

The 2020 trip, organised for by Lupine Travel and adventure sailing experts Kraken Travel, will include 18 tourists looked after by a captain and a crew of four.

If Hancock does return he will equal the record for the most Rockall landings made by an individual, which currently stands at three.

He said: “I will be acting as a guide more in the sense of a mountaineering guide, rather than a tour guide, since a tour of Rockall would take a very short time indeed.

“The whole trip will be very weather dependent. It takes a minimum of 16 hours, and perhaps in excess of 24 depending on wind direction, to travel from Oban to Rockall and the ocean swells can make landing very tricky.”