ROCKALL SOLO – 45 DAYS ALONE. A WORLD RECORD !

Portable Winch is proud to be one of the official partners in the Rockall Solo expedition by providing a PCW3000 winch and accessories.

Rockall Solo is a unique endurance expedition to be undertaken by Nick Hancock in order to raise funds for Help for Heroes, an organization who provides direct, practical support to wounded, injured and sick Service personnel, veterans, and their families.

Since the first recorded landing in 1811, only four people have spent more than one night on Rockall. The challenge is for Nick to land on Rockall for a second time, becoming only the third person to have landed on Rockall more than once, and this time survive solo for 60 days, setting two new endurance records:

The longest ever solo occupation of Rockall;

The longest occupation of Rockall in history.

Rockall is an extremely small, uninhabited, remote rocky islet in the North Atlantic Ocean. This very small island lying approximately 300 km (186 miles) west of St Kilda. St Kilda is 66 km (41 miles) west of Benbecula in the Outer Hebrides, and 430km (267 miles) from the nearest point on the Irish mainland.

The outcrop measures circa 25m (82ft) on its north-south axis and 22m (72ft) on its east-west axis; the summit is circa 18 m (59ft) above sea level, having been officially 19.2m (63ft).

With our PCW3000 winch, Nick Hancock will pull his equipment and material on the top of the island. Nick has chosen our PCW3000 winch because it is

Portable; he needs to bring it with him.

Very light; he has to climb the wall of the island.

Powerful; he needs to pull all his equipment and material on the top of the island (500 kg, (0.5 tonnes)).

Unlimited rope length; the island is 59 ft. height.

Easy to attach; he has to anchor the winch quickly and easily.

Easy to use and safe; in the extreme situation he will be, the equipment he uses must be easy to use and safe.

Reliable; no matter the conditions, the winch will start!

*Those pictures have been taken during an experimental mission for testing the equipment. The expedition is expected for Spring/Summer 2013. You can see more pictures athttp://bit.ly/Tn1jI0

BIG MAC (MALCOM SHAW

Richard Tregoweth - Thursday, September 24, 2009

Malcolm Shaw, from Norton Tree Services had a problem.

He had topped a big Macrocarpa and was left with the 20m stem protruding skyward, on a slight lean in the wrong direction. The property owners house was 5 meters away (in the natural fall line) and a fenced off turning bay almost surrounded the base of the tree. The big Mac needed to be dropped precisely into the gully below the house without any damage to the surrounding structures or property.

Malcolm had seen the Portable Winch in Treetools 'showroom' and thought it would be ideal for the job - turns out he was right. Unfortunately the closest anchor point was 60 meters away through the bush across the gully and Malcolm only had 50 meters of 16mm Samson Stable Braid rope on hand. With a bit of clever rigging and use of the Portable Winch, Malcolm was able to get the Samson rope clear of other trees and at the correct angle to make the final pull.

By using a couple of blocks to create a 3:1 mechanical advantage the trunk was soon angled in the right direction for a successful felling. A fair bit of rope heat was generated at the capstan end but it was hosing down with rain so the rope and capstan cooled down rapidly.

Impressive work from a winch powered by a 50cc Honda.

The only potential issue was worker communication due to the noise produced by the engine. From across the gully it was difficult to hear directions and there was no line of sight. Luckily both Malcolm and his helper could whistle rather loudly so communication was restored without too much difficulty.