Below Deck Sailing Yacht Historic Boat Crash: Shocking Winds Create Serious Dangers, Captain Glenn and Captain Sandy Explain (Exclusive)
Below Deck Sailing Yacht viewers witnessed powerful and sudden wind squalls slam the vulnerable sailing yacht into the dock.
The dock collision is considered to be one of the worst boat crashes in the history of Below Deck and it is clear that mechanical failure is a big reason why the boat smashed into the dock. But sharp winds, which seem to come out of nowhere can also create a dangerous situation. Captain Sandy Yawn from Below Deck Mediterranean explained to Showbiz Cheat Sheet that “medicanes” occur, which is when hurricane-strength winds suddenly emerge, putting vessels in extreme danger.
70 to 100 knots of wind can come out of nowhere in the Med
The Below Deck Sailing Yacht crew is challenged on two occasions during the episode. Sudden winds prompt the crew to move the boat, but it loses power and the boat started grinding against the dock. The deck crew is seen on the dock physically trying to restrain the sailing yacht from colliding with the dock.
The boat initially sustains a significant scratch. Unfortunately, the scratch wasn’t the only damage to the boat. Captain Glenn Shephard tries to dock the vessel but loses power and intense winds slam the vessel into the dock.
In a 2019 interview, Yawn told Showbiz Cheat Sheet that 70 to 100 knots of wind can occur with no warning. She recalled experiencing something similar when the “wind from nowhere on a clear day” in the Med when the yacht’s owner was on board.
“It’s like the mountains burped,” she said. “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.”
Yawn referred to the powerful winds as a “medicane” and shared a photo of Sirrocco (from seasons 2 and 4) docked in the middle of a storm. Despite the horrific image, Yawn said the boat remained intact and seaworthy after the storm.
Captain Glenn reveals that the ‘Below Deck Sailing Yacht’ lost power
Shephard told Showbiz Cheat Sheet he physically felt the impact of the crash. “And when I’m feeling the impact I’m fearing the worst and thinking ‘Oh my God this is really, really bad,’ he said. “In the end, it’s not quite as bad as I feared. So I may have overreacted a little bit. But yeah, it’s pretty serious.”
“I’ve had issues before,” he continued. “I’ve never had an issue with the result like we had. And you can tell I was quite upset about it. I’ve never had that kind of result, but I’ve definitely had issues before where I’ve lost everything. The engines shut down. I have no thrusters, nothing. And that can be a little nerve-wracking.”
“So there was a malfunction involved. And, you know, I may have put myself in a situation that I should never have and without going into too much detail,” he added. “But occasionally problems like that come up and yeah, one can be quite serious.”
While weather and equipment malfunction was likely to blame, Shephard took full responsibility. “Ultimately, I’m the responsible person involved there,” he said. “But there was a malfunction involved. I was telling the boat to do one thing and it wasn’t responding in the correct way. There was a throttle malfunction. There are computers involved in the throttle controls and the propeller and it’s balancing the load on the engine. And I may have over-stressed it or something and it couldn’t respond. Unfortunately, I had too much momentum.”
