I'll be back! – Buckie fundraiser vows to return to Rockall
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A BOLD Buckie fundraiser has been recounting his experiences of spending a month on the remote island of Rockall in a bid to raise funds for Armed Forces charities.
Chris 'Cam' Cameron, who now lives in Wiltshire, was accompanied by team-mates Emil Bergmann and Adam 'Nobby' Styles for the initial phase of the expedition, landing on the rock situated over 200 miles off the coast off Scotland at the end of May.
In addition to the primary aim of raising at least £50,000 for ABF, The Soldiers’ Charity and the Royal Navy and Royal Marines Charity, the former Gordon Highlanders soldier wanted to smash the 45-day endurance record set by Nick Hancock in 2014.
However, freak foul weather brought an end to the endurance record bid, with Cam being evacuated by a Coastguard helicopter on Wednesday, June 28 after making a Mayday call.
The team's camp was perched on a ledge measuring 4m x 1.5m some 17m up a cliff face. They lived in a small, portable accommodation unit called a landpod
At the time of writing, Cam was actually preparing to go back to Rockall, but not for another bash at the record.
He said: "I'm just getting used to being home but I'm going back again with Nobby and Emil to try and retrieve the equipment I had to leave behind when I was evacuated.
"The landpod's still there, as far as we can tell and there's other equipment totalling around £15,000, including a Panasonic camera we were leant, we'd like to retrieve, although how much of the kit is still there after the pounding the camp got from the waves is anyone's guess."
To access the ledge the team had to jump off a rib and scale the 17m cliff then haul up their equipment and supplies. However, they were to face an early and rather unexpected hurdle.
Cam explained: "Getting onto the rock and the climb itself once we got to it weren't difficult.
"The big problem was we had self-inflating life-jackets, so every time a wave hit us they were inflating and you can't climb wearing one of those things when it's inflated.
"We wanted to switch to manually inflating life-jackets but our skipper Glen – who was amazing – wouldn't let us for safety reasons, so we just had to keep trying.
"We eventually got to the summit we gave each other a massive hug, set up our kit and were ready to go."
Conditions not for the squeamish were amongst many challenges Cam and his friends faced.
He continued: "The rock was covered with bird mess.
"It was dry when we arrived so it was quite grippy underfoot but once it got wet it became slippery and slimy. The stuff smelled and so did everything it touched; you got it on your hands and it made the rock very slippy.
"I had to be locked in on two places when I moved about which made it very restrictive.
"The major challenge we faced, though, was getting accurate weather forecasts. We really struggled with that as they weren't accurate enough. For example, the forecast would tell us the wind was going to be Force 2 whereas our measurement s told us it was Force 4.
"Comms were a problem as well. The touch screen on the satellite comms, which is similar to the screen on a mobile phone, wouldn't work when your fingers were wet, it just wouldn't accept anything you tried to tap in. I ended up having to use WhatsApp on my phone.
"On the plus side, once Emil and Nobby left I actually had lots of space, it was truly amazing. I had space to lie down plus another half a body length of free space. The landpod was ideal.
"I managed to lose 1.5 stones when I was there, although I've no idea how. I was eating regularly and not really doing any physical activity. Maybe it was the stress."
However, freak weather proved to be the undoing of the bold expedition, leaving Cam 15 days short of the record.
He said: "On the 26th the weather was horrendous, I thought it was never going to end, and the Tuesday was even worse, I was getting smashed by waves.
"It was freak, unprecedented weather for two weeks straight. While it's normally easterly winds you get on Rockall I was getting hit with westerlies, which is unheard of. There was nothing standing between me and those winds coming in from the Atlantic.
"While there as a heatwave on the mainland the hot air was getting sucked up and causing this freak weather out at Rockall.
"The waves were mountainous and the water was rushing underneath the landpod. When it receded it would pull the door open and water rushed in, I had to pull the door shut with a cord I had attached to it. My electrics were knackered, the only things that worked were may satnav and VHF radio.
"On the Tuesday I thought to myself 'I have to get out of this' and I made the decision to make the Mayday call the next day as conditions at the time were too dangerous both for me and the rescuers.
"At 6am on the Wednesday the helicopter arrived and it was the greatest feeling in the world knowing I was going to see my family again.
"There was a very small window of opportunity to get me off and I literally owe the Coastguard and the crew of Search and Rescue Stornoway my life. They are incredible people."
While support for the team's fundraising exploits and the causes they seek to benefit have attracted what Cam described as overwhelming support, he went on to say there had been some negative and critical comments about the expedition and its ending.
Cam said: "Why did we do it?
"We did it because it was possible and I'm 100 per cent glad I did it.
"Yes, I had to get rescued but people end up getting rescued from the sea off Cullen or Findochty beaches, never mind Rockall.
"The expedition was the result of two years' of meticulous planning in every aspect – the team were amazing. You roll the dice and take your chance and, at the end of the day, when you've got to make the call, you've got to make the call.
"I want to go back – there's been lessons learned and I want to do it again."
Cam has stressed from the beginning that the endurance record very much played second fiddle to the drive to raise cash for the veterans' charities.
He noted that at the moment the expedition had amassed in the region of £20,000 and the push was still very much on to hit the £50,000 target.
Cam added: "People are still giving.
"When I was up in Buckie recently visiting my mum I had people stopping me in the street and giving me £5 or £10 notes.
"We've had some very generous donations but at the end of the day it's the small donations, a lot of people giving a little that will make the difference. If everyone in Buckie gave us £1, we'd have £12-13,000."
Cam is currently writing a book about his experiences on the Rockall expedition – Rockall: The Edge of Existence – which he hopes will be out next year.
Donations can still be made at https://www.justgiving.com/page/rockallexped
More information on the expedition can be found at https://www.rockallexped.com/ where donations can also be made.
