It was the crash heard around the boat when, for the first time in Below Deck Mediterranean history, Captain Sandy Yawn hit the dock.
Captain Sandy repeatedly asked Bosun Nathan Gallagher for directions over the radio, but his instructions were muffled, causing Akira One to collide with the dock. Struggling to hear him, she said over the radio, “You’re not clear.”
She tried to get clarification, asking, “Do you need me to go astern or hold it here?” Nathan told her to hold position, but by then the collision had already occurred.
“I don’t want to hit the dock again,” she said.
Convinced he was about to be fired before the season even began, Nathan knew the mistake rested squarely on his shoulders. “And I can’t provide for my family and my family is out here. I feel like my f—king heart is beating out of my chest.”
Deckhand Cooper Dawson tried to reassure Nathan, pointing out that Captain Sandy may not have been able to hear clearly because of the party happening onshore.
“I cannot believe what just happened,” Captain Sandy says in a confessional. “If there’s structural damage, our charter season’s over before it got started.”
She later tells Nathan, “It’s my first time in my life I ever hit anything.” Examining the dock, she adds, “Right there… we damaged it. I don’t believe it.”
Nathan apologizes, telling Captain Sandy he doesn’t “know what happened. I feel like crying.” At that point, Captain Sandy shifts into leadership mode, calming him down and asking him to inspect the damage.
Of course, deckhand Joe Bradley — who is already at odds with Nathan — believes the accident never would have happened if he had been making the calls. According to Joe, he understands that you need to be loud enough to rise above any background noise.
“Obviously, this sucks but I think because I’ve been through so much in my life that it does take a lot to rattle me,” Captain Sandy says in a confessional. “If something happens, you know how some people get excited and ‘Oh my God!’ I’ve always gone quiet. I wanna find my way out so the only way to do that is to be calm, clear-headed and strategic.”
Thankfully, Akira One remains seaworthy, with only cosmetic damage that can be easily repaired. Nathan is relieved, but the incident could be an early sign that more drama lies ahead this season.
Below Deck Med is on Mondays at 8 p.m. ET/PT on Bravo.
