His attitude to customer care was equally positive. I remember a phone call from him about 22:00 one night when he was sitting in his car on a cliff top looking out at a very stormy English Channel and worrying about a customer’s boat that he knew was out in that weather with gearbox issues. He was trying to work out how he could help.
Apart from actual surveying John developed, from that early 2003 seminar, into a senior and respected contributor to the IIMS. He became chairman of the Small Craft Working Group and a member of the Management Board in 2007, joined the Certifying Authority Committee in 2010 and was on the Board of Directors by 2013 with responsibility for Large Yachts and Small Craft.
John was very much hands-on in these roles. He attended meetings and always contributed both with vision and pragmatism. His passion and enthusiasm sometimes led to heated debate, but he got things done through sheer personal energy - and if later he thought he may have been too forceful he was the first to come back with a smile or a friendly apology.
He also organised surveyor training. Under John’s highly effective leadership the Large Yacht and Small Craft Group ran training events and seminars both in UK and overseas, Palma and Athens being notable. He developed the Institute’s Tonnage Training Course, writing both a training manual and a supporting PowerPoint presentation. To date his IIMS Tonnage Training is the only programme approved by the UK Maritime & Coastguard Agency.
Apart from organising formal training events John was always ready to assist individual surveyors with specific issues, or career advice, and would regularly take time out of his own busy schedule to answer queries by telephone or email.
John was also fun! He would be entertaining over a pie and a pint whilst discussing Certifying Authority matters and he would also always communicate enthusiastically at Institute dinners with people who had very different backgrounds from all around the world.
He has gone far too young, and I will miss him.” Fraser Noble FIIMS
John being 'hands on' at a training event in November 2017.
John doing what he loved and did best - surveying and...
...sailing.
John and Hilary Excell in 2016
The Report • June 2021 • Issue 96 | 37
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