‘Below Deck’: Captain Lee Reveals Why Docking the Boat Was a Challenge
Below Deck viewers white-knuckled their way through the latest docking dilemma as Captain Lee Rosbach demanded quiet from the interior team on the radio.
Rosbach looked tense as he guided the massive yacht toward the dock. He asked for quiet on the radio from the interior team so he could hear distances being called by bosun Eddie Lucas. Unfortunately, the interior team didn’t know Rosbach wanted a reduced amount of radio chatter. He became furious when his radio lit up as he tried to concentrate.
He shared what he was dealing with in his blog and why docking was especially challenging. Rosbach also named his episode cast roses and thorns too.
Wind and shallow water made for tricky docking
Viewers have watched both Rosbach and Captain Sandy Yawn from Below Deck Mediterranean deal with docking the superyacht under stressful and less than ideal conditions. Rosbach explained in his blog why conditions were especially tense.
“I just want to say something about tonight’s docking,” he shared. “It wasn’t the prettiest, but it was effective. Our goal was to get to the dock with no harm and no damage. Mission accomplished.”
“The issue with that specific area is when I’m spinning the yacht around there is nothing but shallow water all around me, and if I let the current or wind or tide move me outside of 6 feet on either side of the boat, I run the risk of grounding the vessel, and that’s when things get expensive and ugly,” he explained. “Just so you know. But the crew came thru, so kudos to them.”
Which crew members are on Captain Lee’s radar?
A few obvious crew members made Rosbach’s “naughty” list this episode. Unfortunately, deckhands Shane Coopersmith and James Hough were both on the receiving end of some of Rosbach’s sharp criticism. “Shane, Eddie is right, if you don’t have a sense of humor, you should probably not be with this crew because it’s not going to be easy on you if you don’t develop one. It seemed obvious to everyone but you that it was raining already when you announced to all that it looks like rain.”
Hough didn’t fare much better. “James, James, James, is that really all you ever think about is having a shag, or a wank, or some other form of rule breaking fun as you put it,” Rosbach wrote. “But you still remain a mystery to me. You talk about being on holiday all the while you are still getting your work done. I like that, it’s just hard to figure out.”
Rosbach noted that transferring Isabelle “Izzy” Wouters to the deck team was a smart move. Plus he commended how chef Rachel Hargrove pushed ahead despite demands from the guests. He also hopes that chief stew Francesca Rubi can get into a groove soon too.
“Chess, I think you are stressing a bit too much,” Rosbach observed. “And I totally get why. New boat, new Captain, new crew, and duh? We are on TV. You set the bar as high as I do, and that’s a good thing. We are going to work on getting your crew sorted out, and I think that Ashling is going to be a real asset to you, but as we noticed, she will have some trouble getting used to the time change and the jet lag.”
Below Deck is on every Monday at 9/8c on Bravo.
