‘Below Deck’: Did Captain Sandy From ‘Below Deck Med’ Just Shade Captain Lee?
Captain Sandy Yawn from Below Deck Mediterranean didn’t call out Below Deck‘s Captain Lee Rosbach by name but shared a tragic story about a captain who didn’t maintain anchor or night watch.
“The grand jury cited three specific federal safety violations – failures to assign a night watch or roving patrol aboard the boat, to conduct sufficient crew training or to conduct adequate fire drills,” she tweeted in response to a story about a dive boat that caught fire, leaving 34 dead.
The dive boat tragedy became national news last year when the boat, anchored off the California coast, caught fire in the middle of the night. US prosecutors blamed the captain for “his misconduct, negligence, and inattention to his duties,” The Guardian reported.
Yawn tweeted about the story only days after Rosbach replied to a viewer’s question about anchor watch. Rosbach tweeted he didn’t always do an anchor watch and it is up to the captain.
Captain Lee doesn’t always call for anchor watch
Rosbach didn’t tweet that he never has his crew do anchor watch, but it wasn’t a regimented part of the crew’s daily routine. “Nope, no need for it in some cases and others call for it,” Rosbach responded. “I only do anchor watches when called for. I do not compromise safety, but when I deem it necessary I do have them. It’s a situational call. Up to the Capt.”
A few fans agreed with Rosbach. But someone pointed out the boat fire story. “34 dead pax and the captain of the Conception indicted for manslaughter for failing to keep a night watch at anchor would seem to be a fairly good argument to maintain watches. With running machinery, paying guests and a green crew all asleep, what could possibly go wrong?”
Another person wondered about the circumstances when a captain would not call for an anchor watch. “So what would be the circumstances that would call for an anchor watch compared to not needing one?”
This is why anchor watch is also important
One person tweeted that the fire story is why Yawn maintains a strict anchor watch. “If you don’t know why her yachts have a night watch, this is why,” the person added to the Twitter thread. Another person wondered if Yawn’s tweet was in response to Rosbach’s comment about anchor watch. “Is this your way of passive aggressively disagreeing with @capthlr not assigning anchor watch?”
Yawn has been unyielding on her series about anchor watch. She previously revealed she was chased by pirates and said the weather in the Med is extremely unpredictable.
She described a phenomenon called “medicanes” where weather goes from calm to hurricane conditions in an instant. While at the helm in the Med, Yawn experienced a 70 to 100-knot wind that came out of nowhere. “It’s like the mountains burped,” she told Showbiz Cheat Sheet. “It’s so weird. It was 100 knots of wind for 15 minutes. But then it calmed right now. But the Med is really unpredictable.”
Safety experts contend that night anchor watch is important in case the anchor drags, which could allow the boat to drift into other vessels or land.
