Explore like a local - Sandy Campbell

Living, Working & Exploring in the Heart of Argyll

Sandy Campbell

Owner and Skipper Venture West. Wildlife and whirlpool boat trips, private hire and commercial charters. www.venture-west.co.uk

HOATA: Your family is from the heart of Argyll, how did you get started with Venture West?

SC: I have always enjoyed being out on the water and being involved with boats growing up on Loch Sween.

Around 2005 I bought a boat that had been previously coded. I started doing commercial jobs with it and things grew from there. Venture West officially started in 2009 and I left my fulltime employment in 2011 to focus on the business. Next month we will celebrate 15 years of Venture West!

HOATA: Skippering fantastic Redbay boats and guiding around our west coast waters isn’t your only role. Can you give us an insight into your working day?

SC: Every day is different and that’s something that I enjoy! We still run our family farm on the shores of Loch Sween with 400 ewes which keeps us busy. I also service and maintain all our vessels myself so life can be hectic at times, trying to manage the farming and tourist calendars alongside having a young family.

HOATA: When you do get time out with the family what is your ‘best day out’ in the Heart of Argyll?

SC: When we do get a few hours out we tend to head to Kilmory Beach, but this is usually during the winter months when we get the beach back to ourselves!

Kilmory Beach

Credit Marc Pickering

Living, Working & Exploring in the Heart of Argyll

Wildlife, Whales and Whirlpools

Sea Eagle photo : Credit customer Glynn Hobbs

HOATA: As well as the general public you have taken celebrities and film crews out to experience our waters. Do you have any behind the scenes stories you can share with us?

SC: Over the years we have been fortunate to have had lots of opportunities to meet and work with interesting people and take part in various media, tv and filming opportunities. My two most memorable guests have been Joanna Lumley and Billy Connolly.

Joanna Lumley was really down to earth and friendly and sent us a thoughtful card in the post afterwards to say thank you, which was a lovely surprise and not your average mail!

Billy Connolly was full of humour and nonsense as you can imagine and we had a great day. We were filming in front of Duntrune Castle with a piper on the shore and he managed to persuade the piper to play ACDC’s Thunderstruck. It was one of those moment’s you’ll never forget!

HOATA: Thanks Sandy!

HOATA spotted Venture West and Duntrune Castle – sadly not with a piper or Billy Connolly