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	Mississauga’s Jack Nye, a WWII Royal Navy Vet completes his 18th Transatlantic voyage
	story Mike Beggs English pop star Rod Stewart sold millions with his 1974 album Atlantic Crossing. And surely Mississauga’s Jack Nye deserves some props of his own after recently completing his 18th or so Transatlantic crossing – at the age of 86! In a specially rigged 29-foot Alberg sailboat (the “Panderama II”), this gentlemanly World War II Royal Navy Veteran and his Anglo/Irish shipmate Julian Brown finally touched home in Long Pond, Newfoundland, on September 6 — 59 days after they set out. “We’ve lost track of how many crossings he’s done,” muses his son Mark. “We’re estimating 18 across, and 19 going back.” The two friends departed from Dartmouth Yacht Club (in Nova Scotia) on June 27 and arrived in Land’s End, England on July 23. On July 27, they sailed to Bantry Bay, Ireland. And on August 4, they began their gruelling return voyage. Racking up 5,600 miles, they were 27 days to England, and 32 days back. “I’ve done that same trip in 16 days, so the weather was against us,” he says over tea, at the offices of Nye Manufacturing on Mavis Road. You’re not kidding. On the way over, the winds got so bad that the “forestay” snapped and fell into the sea, forcing them to rig an emergency replacement, and then an emergency sail. On the trip home they ran into consistently heavy headwinds, hellish rain, lightning — even the tail end of Hurricane Irene. A week in, conditions were so dire they considered turning the boat around. But ultimately, they shook hands and pushed on. “You have to be prepared to take it,” he says, with characteristic reserve. This great grandfather prepares himself for these crossings by eschewing the elevator and walking up the stairs to his 12th floor condo. “He’s extremely tough,” says Mark, now president of the family business.  “He has a tenacity of purpose. When he decides he’s going to do something, it’s going to happen.” Nye attempted to join the Royal Navy a year under age (at 17), before enlisting the following year. He served Atlantic and Pacific missions on the 30,000 tonne HMS QE battleship (which his license plate bears the name of). “Before that, as a boy we used to get sheep troughs and go down the river on them, much to my parents’ dismay,” he recalls. “I get a great enjoyment out of (sailing). I like being on the water, and nobody’s controlling you. The elements control you.” For Nye, the approach of Remembrance Day stirs up mixed sentiments. It was only in the past few years that his family was able to persuade him to don his three service medals, and attend November 11 ceremonies – at local schools, or the Port Credit Cenotaph. “It was a great experience (in the Royal Navy),” he says. “I enjoyed parts and feared parts.” “(But it was) a bloody useless waste of a war. Heading home after VD Day, some people had their mothers and fathers burnt out. Cities in Europe were levelled. Some guys didn’t have a place to go back to.” After the war, Nye’s immigration application for South Africa was turned down, so he chose Canada instead. He worked on a ditch-digging machine, before starting his own business, Nye Welding, in 1952. “He didn’t have any equipment,” Mark relates. “He got an old Chevy, and cut two holes in the trunk lid, one for acetylene and one for oxygen. That was his service truck.” As a company director, Nye still comes into the office every day. A long-time member of the Port Credit Yacht Club, he never sailed competitively, but is known in Toronto sailing circles for his inspiring feats – having made it around Cape Horn three times, and across the Atlantic solo, once. The long-running Toronto Shellback Club recently honoured him with the “Sui Generis” designation (a Latin term meaning, “of its own kind/genius”). He and his family go on overnight sails to Niagara-On-The-Lake, and the U.S. And his grandson Michael just restored the steel sailboat that he built back in 1959 (the “Tiki”). “Typically, we only go out when there’s a small craft advisory for Lake Ontario,” Mark says. “Quite often there’s nobody else on the lake.” But will Jack Nye be braving the Atlantic again? “No, this is the last one,” he says. “I’m getting too old.”  GL    ABOVE: Charts for the return journey depicting each day’s progress. ABOVE RIGHT: A satellite photo of the heavy rainfall (in millimetres) encountered from the fallout of Hurricane Irene.	ABOVE Jack Nye enjoys a sunny day at sea. Photo by Julian Brown Jack Nye and his shipmate Julian Brown at Royal Newfoundland Yacht Club in Long Pond, Conception Bay South. Photo by Jim Eastman Julian Brown repairs a sail in the North Atlantic. Photo by Jack Nye Clean shaven Jack Nye, a longtime member of the Port Credit Yacht Club, displays his three Royal Navy service medals at  Nye Manufacturing on Mavis Road in Mississauga Photo by Mark Nye