Share If one man could claim responsibility for affluent Asians’ growing passion for yachting and the sea, that might well be Mike Simpson. His tall figure has been a well-recognised presence around the typhoon shelter ever since he berthed his yacht alongside the Aberdeen Marina Club almost 40 years ago. In those days, Mike Simpson was a one-man-band, living aboard his boat, meeting fellow sailors and occasionally, over a beer or two, selling them a yacht. Now he heads one of Asia’s leading yacht-sales, charter and management companies, with a team of almost 100 based in 12 locations across the region, from Bali to Taiwan. And yet this freedom-loving Englishman had never intended to build a business at all.