Anchors Away We ❤︎ Captain Sandy

Over the last however-long-this-bloody-PannyD-has-been-going-on-for-now my television viewing habits have changed dramatically. A huge fan of true crime (the darker the murder the better, am I right ladies?) and a lover of a good drama (shout out Downtown Abs), reality TV was never reaaaaally my jam.

Yes yes, of course, I watch I’m a Celeb when Christmas is approaching, there’s nothing like semi-famouses making fools of themselves to warm the cockles at that time of year. And I’ve been known to dip my toes into the island of love here and there. But things like TOWIE, Keeping Up with The Kardashians etc. were, let’s say, never really my type on paper… that was, until, the Panny D came upon us.

I’m not sure what happened, but my brain (somewhat understandably) made a dramatic switch from craving an intense watch at the end of the working day, to an unquenchable thirst for real mind-numbing, trash TV. Given the apocalyptic vibe that was going down at the time, I decided to treat my poor, overwhelmed mind to what she wanted for once and bought a subscription to Hayu - the home of reality television (only £5.99 a month friends, check it out*).

*this week’s post isn’t sponsored by Hayu or any other streaming service, though if any fancy paying us to promote you the answer wouldn’t not be yes.

I’m ashamed (actually I’m not in the slightest) to say that since old Covid began, I’ve managed to numb my mind through all 20 seasons of Keeping Up with The Kardashians (I don’t even want to think about how many hours of my life that adds up to), and I’ve loved every drama, shapewear, and lip kit filled second. In fact, I was completely bereft (like many) when the show’s last episode aired just a few weeks ago.

My face when KUWTK ended xxx

With great strength and resolve, I pulled myself together and moved on (like we all must after a break up of this kind) and set out to find another show to fill the void that those perfectly and plastically shaped sisters left.

This was how I came across the new love in my reality TV life - Below Deck. More specifically, Below Deck: Med. with (heart eyes) Captain Sandy.

It was one of my glorious managers at work who first introduced me to the foreign world of Below Deck after discovering it on her mat. leave last year. ‘High drama on the high seas’, ‘Beautiful people in beautiful places’, was how it was sold to me. I was intrigued. And after the first few episodes, hooked.

The premise of the show (for those who don’t watch it) is a gripping reality series following the lives of the crew and guests aboard a superyacht during a six week charter season. Over the course of the show, they navigate demands, dramas and romances aplenty above and below deck. (Are you sold yet?). Now I come to think of it, it’s a bit like a modern-day, real-life Downtown Abbey, with equal amounts of sex and scandal - just floating around the Caribbean and Mediterranean Seas instead of the English countryside.

I scooted through all eight series of the OG Below Deck, the first few of which you can find on Netflix (you’re welcome) - for the rest you’ll have to head over to my friend Hayu (still not a paid ad). But it was when I discovered the spin off series Below Deck: Mediterranean that my Keeping Up-level infatuation really began.

‘Yachting’ (as us people in the know call it) is a very hierarchical industry, akin I imagine to other at sea lifestyles like say, The Navy in the way it’s structured. (I’m sure anyone actually in The Navy would baulk at the comparison, but I’ve made it, so there). As you can imagine, Yachting like the other aforementioned profession is a very male-dominated space, especially within the deck crew - the team that runs all things related to the function of the boat (traditionally burly males and burly males only).

For the first eight seasons of the OG Below Deck, the superyachts were each captained by the loveable rouge ‘Captain Lee’, who has a (slightly more handsome and slightly less father christmassy) Captain Birdseye feel to him (AKA exactly what you’d picture a practised Sea Captain to look like).

Ahoy there Captain Lee

So you can imagine my surprise as I switched on and settled down to Series 2 of Below Deck: Med., to find the bombshell that is Captain Sandy Yawn at the helm. (Yawn by name but not by nature). You already know we love to see a woman smashing the stereotypes of her industry, but especially when their job involves driving a chuffing great, multi-million pound superyacht around some of the most spectacular locations in the world.

The queen herself

As with any great reality TV show, Below Deck: Med. offers all the classic elements of heightened drama, troubled romances and alcohol-fuelled arguments, and follows storylines which maaaaay exaggerate the truth here and there. But Captain Sandy herself is a very real captain, with a very real career and honours to boot.

Not only does she regularly manoeuvre 180-foot vessels into what look like 181-foot slips (with a level of cool shared only perhaps by Idris Elba). In 2006 she won the International Superyacht Society’s Distinguished Crew Award for her bravery (/serious kahoonas), handling a terrifying onboard fire in a military zone off the coast of Yemen. (Surrounded by gunboats in a flaming ship, no biggie!!).

She’s sassy, classy and exactly the kind of boss that anyone would want. A person who seems to genuinely care about getting the best out of her crew, and a woman who’s managed to get to the top of her profession (smashing through significant barriers to do so) whilst maintaining a huge level of respect from those in the industry.

Though you could be mistaken for thinking otherwise, this article isn’t an attempt to romanticise or justify why I spend most of my free time these days watching Captain Sandy and her team of beautiful employees floating around the Mediterranean. It’s here as a declaration of kinship to all of you out there who’ve been chastised for your love of reality TV, fly your trashy-telly-watching flag high huns !! (I certainly will from now on.)

For those thinking they’re above entertainment of this kind - don’t knock it until you try it people. And, if you are tempted to dip your toes in, then Captain Sandy’s series’ of Below Deck: Mediterranean ain’t half a bad place to start.