Disappointment

Today, being a month before I was due to depart for Rockall on my 60 day occupation attempt, is the day I had written in the diary that I needed to have all the funding in place for the expedition. Unfortunately, the cash required has not been forthcoming, despite some very generous pledges from the likes of Petrostrat.

So, like so many other adventurers both this and last year, I have had to officially postpone the record breaking attempt for another year. However, I'm please to say that I will still be departing for Rockall at the end of May on a much shorter reconnaissance expedition. This will allow me to recce the rock, test kit and equipment, as well as attempt a landing and check out various aspects of Rockall itself, of which up until now I have had to rely on other people's descriptions.

I hope that this reconnaissance expedition will raise the profile of the main objective, that of setting a new occupation record in the future, especially as both The Scottish Sun and the BBC will be coming along for the ride! This will also hopefully bring the expedition to the attention of future sponsors, who can help with the funding for the next attempt.

I will shortly be launching a new website for the recce expedition, still at www.rockallsolo.com, so please watch that space. For now, thank you to all those companies who have already donated equipment or pledged their support.

Floatation

Brilliantly, today Safequip have agreed to provide the expedition with a bouyancy aid, which I will use during the landing on and evacuation of Rockall. Safequip are widely recognised as one of the leading suppliers of technical rescue and water rescue equipment to the emergency services, both in the UK and around the world. Numerous rescue organisations currently choose Safequip as their single source supplier for water rescue and technical rescue equipment.

Specially developed for the emergency rescue services, the Rescue Pro is the ultimate technical rescue PFD for all types of water borne operations. Manufactured using a hard wearing, durable rip-stop fabric and comes with many features and is certified to the latest ISO standard. It has one of the highest buoyancy levels compared with other different brands on the market.

I am very grateful to Safequip as this is one of those keys pieces of equipment which could make the difference between landing on Rockall and not.

Rocky Start

Well, after a rocky start (excuse the pun) I finally managed to finish a video interview with Iain Mciver for his blog. He will be sending me a link which I will post up asap. Iain also informed me of another article in The Scotsman today about the expedition and my struggles to raise the funds to go, so thanks Iain for the heads up!

Its been a Rockall full weekend so far: yesterday I went to the GMDX annual conference in Stirling and saw a great film by the Belgians who landed on Rockall last September. They had a really hard time of it, but it was a reminder, if I needed it, that apart from the fact that you don't go to Rockall that late in the year, the landing is totally weather dependant and could in fact be the hardest part of the whole the expedition.

Food for thought.

Safe and sound

I got back home yesterday after a manic week in London to a massive box of goodies from Tackle Store Ltd., who have very kindly provided the expediton with access and safety equipment and the all-important gear for strapping the Rockpod to Rockall, in order that it stays put for the duration of my 60 day stay.

Obviously, I'm very grateful to Tackle Store for their help and support in this key area of safety. To find out more about them and their products, please click on the logo above.