Surveyor to spend two months on remote Rockall

AN Edinburgh chartered surveyor is set to spend two months inside an eight foot water tank on a deserted speck in the ocean to raise money for charity.
Rockall is 100 feet long. Picture: SubmittedRockall is 100 feet long. Picture: Submitted
Rockall is 100 feet long. Picture: Submitted

Nick Hancock is planning to set two endurance records by living on the 100ft-long island of Rockall to raise money for the Help for Heroes charity.

He plans to live in an eight-foot pod that he has converted from a water tank and sprayed with insulation foam to protect himself from the cold and pounding seas.

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If he is successful he will beat a near 30-year record set by Atlantic oarsman and former SAS soldier Tom McLean, who spent 40 days on the isolated Atlantic rock in 1985 to affirm Britain’s claim to the island, which is 225 miles west of the Outer Hebrides.

Mr Hancock, 38, recently won £3500 from the Kukri Adventure Scholarship – following a presentation at the Royal Geographical Society in London – to help his bid, which is planned for early June.

Only four people have ever slept on Rockall. Fewer than 100 have landed on it.

Speaking of his plans, he said: “The RockPod survival shelter I have constructed is almost complete”.

‘It was recently insulated by Foamspray Technologies in Leeds, and I am now finishing it internally.

The majority of my equipment and supplies have arrived and I have been distributing and packing them in the plastic drum, which I will use to get my kit on to Rockall.

‘I fully expect that I will have to repack several times to ensure I know where everything is, but otherwise I feel confident that I will be ready in a month’s time for this amazing adventure.’

The expedition is being sponsored by Calor Gas, which will provide a stove and the LPG needed to cook.

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In 2011 TV adventurer Ben Fogle said he wanted to lead an exhibition to “reclaim” Rockall for Britain. He said ‘Nick’s attempt to not only land, but stay for 60 days and raise money for a very worthy charity is an apt gesture for an island so immersed in eccentricity.’

Survival expert Bear Grylls added that it was ‘an ambitious, exciting – and wonderfully mad – project, but in aid of a life-changing charity that needs our help.’

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