The Parts Guy

This characteristic is proudly admitted to by the three lads who run the show there, Ed, Rick and Jon.

Rick grew up in St. Louis and was drawn to the sea by Clemens, Hemingway, Melville, and DeFoe. He also liked to read.

After some time in the Army, Rick became a boat keeper at a lake in Illinois. He tended lines, cleaned, polished and performed safety-checks on vessels in a marina where he lived aboard his own boat.

A move to Tampa Bay, Fl. in the early 1970’s led to his employment as a rigger at a yacht dealership. His previous sailing experience got him the job and the job increased his knowledge of boats.

Rick worked with Morgan Yachts, and for Paul Lindenberg in the early days (before most of us were born).

While working for Paul, he designed the initial electrical system and production templates for a racing sailboat’s electrical needs and its weight/balance.

Shake-down trips, some racing and learning navigation, took him all the way from the Bahamas to Montreal, Canada as helmsman and navigator of a privately-owned 58-foot trawler.

Fast forward this segment of Ricks extremely long life through 19 years of managing inventory and purchasing in a "different" industry and we finally get back to boating.

Ed, Jon, and Rick met in 1997. Ed was Rick's customer then, and Jon worked at the same company as Rick.

Soon after Jon went to work at Hale's Marine, he convinced Ed to hire Rick. Man, you almost need a program for this, don't you?

Now they're all like brothers, except that Rick is really really old.

But heck, who cares as long as he's accurate.

You can get in touch with the Parts Guy at Hales Marine Services at 22241 North 24th Avenue, Phoenix or call him at: (623) 879-7236.

Hale's Marine's Web site is at www.halesmarineservices.com.