Bill Johnson

I was brought up in the Scottish Borders and the Isle of Skye, became an engineer and worked for 20 years mainly in software.

I was also a keen SCUBA diver, and that was my main occupation most weekends.

Then I took a year off work to go long distance sailing (with a SCUBA compressor strapped to the coach roof of the yacht), and that year out of the office literally changed my life. It was impossible to take corporate life seriously any more!

I moved to Devon and started a sailing school called Aztec Sailing. (There's more of this on the Aztec Sailing website if you're interested.) My own sailing background is a little unorthodox and largely self taught - I love the sea, and enjoy teaching and explaining things in, hopefully, a fresh way.

That's what the books do. My 3 sons keep me pretty tied to home these days, and writing is a great occupation to fit in with that. My aim with each book - and the Aztec Sailing website - is to explain things as simply and clearly as possible.