Allan Nye Scott (15 August 1924 – 12 July 2012)
Born 15 August 1924 in Montreal, Allan was introduced to boats at a young age in Boy Scout camp. During World War II, he served in the Royal Canadian Navy as AB (radar control) aboard the cruiser HMCS Prince Robert in the South Pacific. He was present at the Japanese surrender in 1945 in Hong Kong. After demob, he studied chemistry at McGill University, where, as an undergraduate he purchased his first 16-foot daysailer.
Allan worked for Union Carbide (Montreal) on epoxy coatings. He became a member of the Royal St. Lawrence Yacht Club in the late 1940s. Travelling extensively between Montreal and Toronto, he joined the National Yacht Club in 1951, serving as board member, then as rear commodore.
In 1962 he approached Carl Alberg to design a similar boat to the successful Pearson Triton to be built by Kurt Hansen of Whitby Boat Works, but the deal failed for Allan (not for Whitby Boat Works, who started manufacturing the Alberg 30) so he bought his R-class boat Diana (amongst a fleet of six R-boats at NYC) with which he had many successes, including the 1967 RCYC Duggan Cup.
In 1967, Allan contacted Olin Stephens of Sparkman & Stephens for another design, which became the Hughes 38 built by the Hughes Boat Works of which many hulls and decks were delivered as unfinished kits rather than being completed at the factory – Allan's was one of these, which he christened Diana of York, and finished in Toronto.
Early in 1968, Allan was approached by Jack Martin, owner of a Toronto automobile parts factory, to negotiate the purchase and management of J. J. Taylor & Sons (wood boat builders in Toronto since 1904) and convert the company to fibreglass production. First production series was the Contessa 26 with more than 400 hulls built; the Contessa 32 followed, with 87 hulls produced before J. J. Taylor closed in 1991.
However, in 1974, Allan left J. J. Taylor for Belleville where he founded Nye Yachts, on the site of Ian Morch's Belleville Marine Yard which had been producing the 31 foot C&C Corvette. Allan started production of a new Carl Alberg design, the Alberg 22[1] in 1974.
In 1977, Nye Yachts added the Alberg 29 to the production line (about 70 built); then in 1979 the Alberg 34 of which only six were built. In 1982 Nye Yachts moved to a larger, 20,000-square-foot, facility in Bloomfield.
At its height, 1983 – 1984, Nye yachts employed 22 workers to complete about 50 boats a year; by 1987, twelve employees were left, under General Manager Art Athawes, but the market for boats was in decline, and despite the possibility of a small production run of a multi-hull - the 26-foot Dragonfly trimaran - Nye Yachts closed permanently in 1988.
Allan returned to Belleville and established Nye Boat Works – a repair yard – which was moved to Foxboro after sale to Nathan Bresett (2003?).
In 1968, Allan became engaged to Evelyn Jonas, former lieutenant in the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve then English teacher. They lived near Belleville where Allan, a member of the Bay of Quinte YC, sailed Diana of Hastings, a glass fibre replica of his first R-class. He passed away on 12 July 2012 at Kingston General Hospital. A Celebration of Life was held at BQYC on Sunday July 22nd from 2 to 5pm.
Notes:
[1] Douglas Marine of Port Stanley had been producing this boat under the name Douglas 22 with no rights to the Alberg name. After Douglas's bankruptcy, Nye Yachts obtained the molds and permission to use the Alberg trademark.