The adventurers planning to live for up to 60 days on the islet of Rockall in the north Atlantic have arrived on the isolated rock and begun broadcasting to radio hams around the world.
The three adventurers, led by Cam Cameron, a science teacher who hopes to beat the 45-day record for staying on Rockall by remaining there for two months, landed on the islet on Tuesday after defying rough seas.
Their arrival on the rock was confirmed by radio enthusiasts who were among the first to hear broadcasts from the team.
Cameron and his colleagues Adrian “Nobby” Styles, a radio operator, and Emil Bergmann, a mountaineer, are broadcasting from Rockall for the next week to raise funds for British military charities.
Col McGowan, the editor of the radio enthusiast website DX World, told the expedition’s WhatsApp group, run by Harry Brayford, the team’s mainland communications coordinator, that Styles and Bergmann went on air on Tuesday afternoon. “I spoke to Nobby and he said everyone is fine, all are safe and to pass that info on to family members,” he said.
“Apparently the landing was very tough and a swell is still kicking about the island, but they did it! Nobby told me that Emil was ‘lost’ to the sea twice due to the swell, but is obviously OK. [They] are there until Friday. So to repeat: all are good, safe and well.”
The three set sail on a yacht, the Taeping, from Inverkip, a small port on the Clyde, at the weekend and arrived off Rockall at about 7.30am on Tuesday.
Their voyage began in earnest at 4am on Sunday morning when they passed the island of Arran, before sailing approximately 420 miles (675km) around the Mull of Kintyre and then westwards past the southern Hebrides to Rockall.
Cameron is hoping to beat the 45-day occupation record set nearly 10 years ago by Nick Hancock, a surveyor who lives in Ratho near Edinburgh. Hancock had originally hoped to live there for 60 days but was unable to do so after losing critical supplies in a storm.
He did, however, surpass a record set by three Greenpeace activists in 1997, who lived on Rockall for 42 days to protest at suggestions the surrounding seabed could be drilled for oil. Greenpeace christened Rockall the micronation of Waveland.
The UK annexed Rockall in 1955, laying claim to the rich fishing grounds and mineral rights around it. Ireland disputes the UK’s ownership, as does Iceland, arguing that since Rockall cannot sustain human habitation it cannot under international law be used to take control of surrounding seas.
