My Seanna

Same boat. Not same Captain. You're referring to Todd Lee. The captain on Below Deck is Lee Rosbach.

Must be a challenge filming to keep the invisible members of the crew unseen. What we see is the Captain, 4 Deckhands (until 1 was fired), 3 stews (until 1 quit) and 1 chef for a total of 9. That boat normally has a crew of 12 for charters. That would mean there's at least 1 other captain/officer and an engineer. I'm guessing a 1st officer, 2nd officer/oow, engineer although it could be 1st officer and 2 engineers. Often on a boat that size you'd have a second chef or crew cook or something too. Versus what I would expect they also have more deckhands and fewer stews than would be normal for a boat in that range.

I used a model and it showed normal staffing of 13 as follows:

Captain
1st Officer
2nd Officer/OOW
Bosun/Mate
Deckhand
Chief Engineer
2nd Engineer
Chief Stew
3 Stews
Chef
Sous Chef

Now, obviously everyone does it differently, but there are common patterns on Charters. That boat is normally run with a crew of 12.

And that was when the boat was shorter.

very nice...........

I just love that you're also watching that closely. It's hard to look away, although I'm guessing you, like me, filter out as much of the reality drama as possible to watch the stuff we really care about. FWIW, Capt Sandy tells me next season in the Med will be much more interesting to Yacht owners and less about the drama. We shall see.

Now they've had their first major incident with a man overboard. Deck hand slipped while underway and got his foot caught in the tow line of the tender. They haven't shown the resolution yet, but my understanding is he nearly drowned and was actually saved by one of the camera crew. He was immediately taken to the hospital and is ankle was badly injured. In fact, they thought they might have to amputate. A reminder of what can happen.

We watch it strictly for laughs. However, even in so doing there are bits of truth here and there that filter through. While we say we'd never hire such crew, those who have served extensive time on such charter yachts will tell you that they've seen ones like nearly all those on the show, just not all at the same time. TV does have to cram it in. Also, they've all dealt with worse charter guests and even guests who didn't tip or tipped very little.

As to more interesting to yacht owners, not betting on it. A lot more fans of drama out there than yacht owners.

J,
Sounds like you worked for JM in your younger years.
Small world as the owner of MY Seanna has one of his "investments properties" up for sale that's one or two lots south of the Gallant Lady docks on the Hillsboro Mile. Concierge Auctions had the 60,000 + sq. ft. "Playa Vista Isle" listed for auction last month, asking price was a mere $159 million making it one if not the most expensive houses for sale in the U.S. The owners personal assistant was the project lead on the refit of MY Seanna @ Rybovich while simultaneously leading the house project so hats off to him for his multi tasking abilities. BTW, J. rarely do I come across an older vessel that's been through a major refit that's extended to the crews mess or quarters with the exception of new mattresses regardless of the vessels pedigree. Seems like its a low priority on the list for designers and owners most times . The crews mess and cabins on the old "Charade" ex "BG" or "Valor" are the same as they were when aboard in '91 The White washed oak veneers in the crews cabins looked to be worn completely through in most places but the Mstr. S/R has a $10,000 articulated commode that malfunctions on a regular basis. The nasty sweat stained pillows on the crew bunks were a nice bit of reality TV though for a charter boat. Interesting fact for the 1990 De Vries Feadship Charade. She was the first Feadship class approved to have electric steering only in the bridge. No hydraulic/ mechanical, nor a proper wheel on the bridge but just electric with redundant circuits. The only "wheel" on the boat was located in the emergency steering station aft in the steering flat in the lazarette.

I watched a couple of episodes for the first time in years and it s actually a pretty good comedy show... like a sitcom without the canned laugh. Some of the plots are pretty silly like guests being dropped off and left on their own without towels or drinks, or landing on a beach with surge...i hope the "charterers" got a good discount for putting up with such inexcusable charter mistakes.

As to the MOB...i cant help believe this was staged... we dont tow a center console but i have never seen the tender being dropped from alongside with the boat still moving. I always see a crew driving it till it s hooked and the crew transfer.

The MOB was most definitely not staged. It apparently shook everyone up tremendously and the aftermath for the crew member was horrific. I don't know his condition now. All it takes is one lapse in safety practices. One seemly innocuous retying of a tender. One slip. The crew member was seriously hurt and his life was saved not by another crew member but by a member of the camera crew.

I've heard the charterers pay about half price for the charters but are asked to still base their tips off the full charter price.

One thing that has been consistent is bosuns lacking experience. On this one the bosun was terminated prior to this charter. Typically at least one deck hand and one stew has no experience on a boat this size or type. Kate and Hannah are both lightening rods and I wouldn't have either working for me, but Captain Lee and Kate have worked together a long time and there are a lot of chief stews out there as bad as Hannah.

When I was running RENA, I often dropped the tender off the hip.