There’s a first time for everything, and Captain Kerry Titheradge made the bold decision to carry out his inaugural “[Mediterranean] moor” docking as captain of St. David during Below Deck Season 12. It came as the crew and charter guests headed for the Port de Gustavia in Saint Barthélemy during Episode 14.
“The biggest two things that all captains fear in the Caribbean [are] going through that bridge, and tying up in St. Barts,” Kerry declared, referring to both pulling off a “Med moor” and the journey through the dangerous drawbridge in Sint Maarten shown throughout Season 12.
As St. David entered the Port de Gustavia, the charter guests gathered on the deck to watch the tense moments.
“This is f—king impossible,” charter guest Eric said of the docking, as another added: “Dude, I’d be so freaked out.”
As Kerry and the crew manuevered the yacht, one guest remarked nervously, “We’re drifting! We’re drifting the wrong way!” Another declared: “This is a 9-1-1 situation.”
The crew frantically worked to pull the anchor and tie off the lines without hitting any other boats, and the guests were beyond impressed, with one commenting, “Holy s—t” and another adding, “It’s close as s—t.”
Captain Kerry Titheradge and the Below Deck crew work to pull off a “Med moor”
The St. David deck crew are no strangers to working in adverse conditions. From the beginning of the charter season, they’ve navigated a challenging, narrow bridge in and out of the dock in Sint Maarteen. Still, Kerry confessed he was “extremely nervous” to attempt a “Med moor.”
“I’ve never, as a captain, been in this port,” he added in the Sept. 1 episode. “And the crew are going to be tired. And if they’re off their game, it can severely impact what I can do. If things don’t go exactly as planned, we’re gonna be in trouble.”
Kerry explained how a “Med Moor” is different than the usual docking.
“In St. Bart’s, all mooring is what’s called ‘Med moor’ style,” he said. “It’s where you put out two anchors, and you back into the dock. There’s a lot of vessels in there, all jam-packed. There’s lines in the water I could run over. There’s a lot at stake if this ‘Med moor’ doesn’t go right.”
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Kerry wasn’t the only nervous crew member on board. Deckhand Kyle Stillie confessed it was also his first “Med moor” and added, “I’m f—king s—ting myself. F—k.”
“This is always scary,” lead deckhand Jess Theron confessed. “This is like the ultimate test of ‘Can we work together?’ This is what we’ve been leading up to this whole season.”
Bosun Hugo Ortega admitted that not only was it “more of a safety risk” than a normal docking, but pointed out, “there’s a lot more pressure on Kerry.”
And deckhand Damo Yorg joked: “I’m just glad that I’m a deckhand in charge of anchor and not a captain in charge of a ship.”
Despite the nerves, the St. David’s “Med moor” docking was a success, prompting Kerry to tell his crew he was so happy he was “like a f—king dog with two tails.”
“I plan for the worst. Hope for the best. And it went very, very well,” Kerry confessed. “That’s a huge challenge. And an achievement.”
The St. David crew’s yacht mishaps on Below Deck Season 12
The “Med moor” docking was a bright spot in a season of mistakes for the crew on the St. David. The most recent came from Jess, who dropped the anchor into the water at the wrong time in Episode 13.
“That’s a mistake we can’t make again,” Kerry warned her. “You caught it quick, which was good. But that could have really f—ked us up, alright? So just double check everything.”
The crew nearly crashed into the very bridge Kerry worried about during Episode 9, due to guests who wandered on the deck while the St. David was leaving the port.
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“Guests always want to interact with the [captain] or the crew when you’re maneuvering,” Hugo explained at the time. “It’s super common and it’s super frustrating. Of course they’re drunk. They’re asking a lot of questions. They’re in the way. They’re in [Kerry’s] visibility. Like, everything’s going wrong. It’s a really stressful situation.”
That situation prompted Kerry to tell Hugo and chief stew Fraser Olender: “I am f—king livid, alright?”
Bosun Caio Poltronieri was also fired back in Episode 5 after a series of mistakes on deck, and replaced by Hugo.
“I’ve really wanted you to succeed here,” Kerry told Caio at the time. “The thing is is we keep having these little errors that keep adding up. Each time I think that we got to a place of no more errors, we get another error, and the problem with that [is] I’m losing confidence in you.”
Kyle also found himself involved in drama surrounding his actions with a charter guest. Catch up on why he cried to a producer and feared his friendship with Fraser “ruined.”
