Colin Speedie

Background: Colin has owned boats since childhood, and has spent over twenty years working as a professional yacht skipper and team leader on yacht based research projects, including projects on whales and dolphins, basking sharks and turtles.

Colin’s practical expertise from decades of boat construction, modification and maintenance has long been sought by people eager to get out on the water.  Colin now provides a specialist consultancy service to cater for clients individual requirements, advising prospective yacht owners on both new-build construction specifications and suitability  for their needs, along with advice on used-boat options where this is required.

Colin founded and is Director of the WiSe Scheme, the UK’s national marine eco-tourism training and accreditation scheme.

He has undertaken effort-corrected boat-based surveys for basking sharks around the Hebrides and western UK waters for many years, in later years made possible by the support of the Swiss Shark Foundation. From 1999-2007, he was director of the Wildlife Trusts Basking Shark Project, and from 2002-2007 was Principal Investigator on the Earthwatch Institute (Europe) project “Britain’s Basking Sharks”. Together, he and the team covered nearly 25,000 km of effort based surveys between the English Channel and the Outer Hebrides aboard the 11.7m cutter Forever Changes.

In 2017, Colin published his book entitled ‘A Sea Monster’s Tale – In Search Of The Basking Shark’, available from publishers Princeton University Press. He has also worked for many years as a photo-journalist, covering a wide range of subject matters – you might like to visit the Attainable Adventure website, which hosts a large collection of Colin’s articles in relation to yachts and yachting, ranging from technical guidance to travelogue pieces.

“ I have had a lifelong involvement with the sea and its inhabitants as a professional sailor, conservation researcher and naturalist. The marine world has given me so much; it is my aim to repay that gift through images, action and words, and by enabling other people to get out on the water in a safe and sustainable manner. ”