Young Adulthood

The Captain Jack Years

With a new wife and a child on the way, Richie parted ways with his first investment the "Mina II" after a few charters. In 1957, he knuckled down and found his groove with Harry Berkowitz of the Captain Jack fleet on Woodcleft Canal in Freeport. Harry himself was not a fisherman but a shrewd businessman in the auto parts and junkyard trade. He bankrolled his friend Capt Jack Levins by investing in fishing vessels and at the time Richie joined the team, they had a fleet consisting of the “Capt. Jack II” (“Bertha U”), the “Capt. Jack III” and “IV”, and the newly acquired "Mina II."

Richie began his career with Captain Jack piloting the “Capt. Jack III” and within three months moved up to the 45- foot “Capt. Jack IV” which he commandeered until 1962. She cruised at 9 knots and took fisherman as far as Seabright, NJ, a distance of 21 miles from the Jones inlet. Applying the knowledge that Capt Charlie Roesch taught him, Richie became a renowned fisherman. Back in those days, GPS and other marine electronics were incomprehensible. The early captains navigated by compass and time and used inshore land ranges to navigate their way to the hot spots. I can personally remember the hand drawings in my Dad’s logs indicating how various buildings, towers, and other landmarks aligned with each other as the “X” that marked the spot. These trade secrets were carefully scribed and recorded manually with the finest details and notations. A quality pair of binoculars was a critical tool of the trade. The “Jack IV” was also a new breed as it was retrofitted with a diesel engine. Most vessels at that time used gasoline engines

As Richie developed as a captain and accomplished fisherman, the emergence of the electronic age made its migration to marine navigation and the fishing industry. His first experiences with electronics began with LORAN- A (long range navigation system) which emerged from World War II. Richie also experimented with the Decca Navigator system on the “Starstream”, which was developed by the British after WWII. The Decca system was extremely accurate, but soon thereafter, the US released LORAN-C and then LORAN-C II which were just as accurate. Richie is now learning to use electronics equipped with the global positioning system (GPS) as LORAN-C was put to rest by the US Government in 2010. The continuing upgrade in electronics, the boats that were bigger and faster, kept Richie engaged and motivated in learning and finding new hot spots. This broadened his horizons and the range of his fishing grounds increased as well as his ability to track his hot fishing holes. Charting out his “honey holes” on maps has been a longtime hobby and passion of his.