About Me. John C. Payne is a professional marine electrical engineer and surveyor. During his long maritime and offshore oil career, he has served on a variety of commercial ships, from general cargo, reefers to oil tankers and dive support vessels, both as an Electrical Officer and Marine Engineer. In the offshore oil drilling industry, he is still actively involved with the world’s most technologically advanced deepwater drilling rigs as a Construction and Commissioning Manager. John has been employed by one of the leading maritime consultancy companies as a surveyor on a wide variety of vessels and acted as electrical expert witness on several large marine litigation cases.
As a professionally qualified technical author and writer, John has been responsible for defining and writing technical and operations manuals on a diverse range of air force, marine and naval projects including naval research vessels and submarine sonar systems. He is a licensed electrical contractor and a Certified Maritime Safety Auditor under the ISM Code. Previously he has been a Fellow of the Institute of Diagnostic Engineers and The Institute of Scientific and Technical Communicators.
John is the author of The Marine Electrical and Electronics Bible, 4th Edition, and The Motorboat Electrical and Electronics Manual, the Understanding Boat series, The Fisherman’s Electrical Manual, and Piracy Today. As his passion for cruising is local cuisine, he also authored The Great Cruising Cookbook, or Cruisine©, as he likes to call it. He has been widely published around the world in various boating and yachting magazines and regularly lectures on the subject.
His sailing journey started in high performance racing dinghies as teenager. He has restored, cruised, and lived aboard a classic 37-foot Herreshoff ketch and a 34-foot wooden sloop cruising Europe, UK, the Pacific, Australia and the Mediterranean. After several years living aboard his 115-year-old Dutch barge navigating European rivers and canals, he is now back sailing and cruising aboard a 36-foot Westerly Conway ketch, and is a member of the Westerly Owners Association, and also he is a member of the ABYC and the UK Cruising Association.