Nova Scotia company tries to set world record with giant hammock

HALIFAX – A small Nova Scotia company is trying to swing its way into the Guinness World Records with its new one-of-a-kind creation.

Michelle Taggart, the owner of Bay Hammocks, bought the company less than a year ago and instantly knew she wanted to have a massive hammock as the main attraction.

Now that she has it — a hammock the size of 11 regular-sized ones — she’s going for the world record.

“We’ve had hundreds of people stopping by,” she said. “Everybody is taking selfies, pictures of their families, multiple people getting into it.

“We want the largest hammock as per scale to a normal hammock, so we duplicated it.”

It took more than a mile of rope to complete the gigantic hammock.

Lynn Sallans, who has been weaving hammocks for the past 15 years, was happy to have the opportunity to make it.

“It’s the only one I’ve ever named. I’ve called it ‘Beauty’ because shes’s a beauty,” she said. “I think the thing I enjoy most about it is when I’m working and I hear people getting in the hammock and they’re laughing and joking and they want you to take a picture of them.”

The work took more than a month and was not easy.

Sallans said the nylon rope was challenging to work with and heavy.

The most difficult part was making the harnesses, which consist of 62 pieces of rope that are each 70 feet long.

“I got to make Canada’s biggest hammock, which is kind of nice because now I might be known for something,” Sallans said. “It took a while. It was a labour of love.”

Now it’s up to the Guinness Book of World Records to recognize it as the biggest hammock in the world.

If that happens, Taggart said it would be a great new attraction for visitors to the area and a boost for business at Bay Hammocks.

“It would be huge,” she said. “I mean, people are stopping as it is just to get on the hammock, but to get on the hammock that’s a world record holder would be even better.”