Mike Shepherd is a Director, and the RYA Principal and Chief Instructor for Seamotion. He teaches all the powerboat courses, shorebased courses and the assessing for VHF Marine Radio licenses.
He has spent over 35 years working as a Watersports Coach and Centre Manager in the summers all around Europe, and until a few years ago his winter occupation was the Ski and Snowboard School Director on Cairngorm Mountain. He has a lot of experience as a Skipper of commercial boats, having skippered a large Rib taking tourists out to St Kilda, and a tourist Rib off the coast of South Wales. He spent 7 years as Cheif Instructor for West Highland College, working with students on their maritime courses delivering a variety of RYA courses.
His main qualifications are in Management, Health and Safety and IT, which he also uses in his other role as a Management Consultant, advising outdoor companies on writing safety systems, operations manuals and training plans. He is a Chartered Manager and a Fellow of the Chartered Management Institute. Until recently he was Station Officer of Portree Coastguard Rescue Team, on call for Search and Rescue callouts around the coast, but has retired from this after relocating from the Isle of Skye to South West Wales and taking on his latest role delivering training for Pembrokeshire County Council.
Other qualifications held include: RYA Advanced Powerboat (commercially endorsed), RYA Advanced Powerboat Instructor, RYA VHF/SRC Assessor, RYA Shorebased Instructor, Sea Survival Instructor, Senior Sailing Instructor, Racing Instructor, Advanced Instructor, Windsurf Instructor. He also holds the Mountain Leader Award and is a BASI Ski Teacher, Snowboard Instructor, Race Coach and International License Holder (ISIA)...... to mention the main ones!
Dr Caroline Langdon is our other Director. Her main job is as a lecturer for the Open University, running degree level courses in environmental science and ecology. Her academic qualifications are in Environmental Management, Ecology and Teaching and she is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. She also uses these qualifications in her work as an environmental consultant.
She spent over 20 years working in Mountain rescue, and until recently was also the Deputy Station Officer for the Portree Coastguard Rescue Team. As a Trainer for SQA First Aid courses, she runs all our first aid courses, and also runs First Aid courses at all levels around the country.
Other qualifications she holds include the RYA Level 2 Powerboat license (commercially endorsed), PADI Divemaster, Advanced Mountain rescue Casualty care and the Mountain leader Award.