When stewardess Cathy Skinner got a devastating phone call that her step-father had passed away while she was on charter, one of the first people to comfort her was Captain Sandy Yawn. Sandy revealed why she felt so much empathy for her crew member during Below Deck Mediterranean Season 10 Episode 14.
“So, both my parents died. I was on charter. I know how that feels,” Sandy told Cathy. “It’s hard. This is a hard business. And I’m really sorry.”
Sandy’s father passed away in 2006, and her mother in 2009, according to The New York Times. Sandy opened up about the circumstances of their deaths to producers during the Dec. 29 episode.
“I was in the Barcelona boat show when my mother passed away from heart failure,” she explained. “My father passed away of a heart attack when I was at sea. Both of my parents died suddenly. So, I know what Cathy’s going through.”
Captain Sandy Yawn and the Below Deck Med crew react after Cathy Skinner’s loved one dies
Captain Sandy knew Cathy had a difficult decision ahead of her: whether to finish out the charter season or head home.
“I’m here to support her in any decision she makes,” Sandy said in the Dec. 29 episode. “If she wants to go home, we’ll buy her plane ticket. We’ll get her home. If she wants to stay, she’s more than welcome to stay. We will support her through this.”
The other M/Y Bravado crew members sympathized with the impossible situation Cathy was in. “Being on a boat when something happens is the worst thing in the world—that you can’t even be at home,” stew Kizzi Kitchener said to deckhands Joe Bradley and Max Salvador.
Chief stew Aesha Scott also pointed out the toll it takes on a person to find out catastrophic news while in front of charter guests. “You know, it’s tricky, because we are human beings. Things happen to us. But these people are paying a lot of money to have a good time,” Aesha explained to producers. “So, I’m trying to put my best stew face on. Keep this charter going. So then Cathy has the space to process and grieve.”
Aesha even sent Cathy to bed early so she wouldn’t be up late in front of the guests, telling her to “take care of yourself.”
“There’s no way if I’d just got the news that she got, I would be out here serving people with a smile on my face. She is incredible,” Aesha said in her confessional.
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But Cathy was determined to keep working, despite the circumstances. As guests returned from an excursion, she joked to Sandy she was putting on her “stew face,” and added, “Lucky I’ve got some Botox.”
When bosun Nathan Gallagher asked Cathy if she was staying for the rest of the charter season, she replied, “Of course, I’m not a quitter.”
She opened up about her decision to producers. “No matter what happens in life, you put one foot in front of the other, and take it minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day. You go into survival mode. And you continue doing the job because it is not finished.”
Also helping Cathy get through the difficult time: her boatmance, Max.
“For someone so closed off, I have no choice but to be completely vulnerable,” she confessed. “And having Max helping me to be open and cry and get it all out… Without him, I don’t think I’d be able to carry on the way that I am.”
Captain Sandy Yawn shares how her parents’ deaths impacted her own health journey
Sandy previously opened up about the profound impact her parents’ deaths had on her lifestyle. “I eat more oatmeal — anything with a heart on it, I eat it, you know, in the store,” she said in a 2021 interview with TODAY. “If it says ‘heart health,’ I believe it. … I eat like that. I don’t have high cholesterol, I don’t have any blockage in my veins at all.”
Sandy also makes time to work out during the busy charter season—made a bit easier by all of the stairs aboard Bravado, as well as the open sea. She told TODAY she uses an exercise ball in her room on board the yacht and also does pushups and situps.
“Honestly, you’re exhausted at the end of the day,” she said. “It is not easy to exercise. A lot of these boats have gyms, if you have the energy to go in one, and swimming, jumping in the water, and doing a lap. If it’s just 30 minutes a day, I’ll do it. I do it in my room, or I go swim.”
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But Sandy’s motivations also stem from another health scare of her own: She had a heart attack when she was 49 years old. She explained to TODAY that she experienced spontaneous coronary artery dissection, which is a tear in the coronary artery wall.
“I kept saying, ‘I don’t want to die. I don’t want to die,’ and I’ll never forget, you’re supposed to have instant relief if they put a stent in, but they couldn’t put a stent in because I had a tear. So I didn’t have instant relief. I was in pain. I stayed in the hospital four days,” Sandy shared.
Sandy, who was also diagnosed with high blood pressure after her heart attack, urges people to take care of themselves and educate themselves.
“Learn the signs. Learn your numbers, your blood pressure. Learn those numbers, and do the self-checks,” she said. “And if you have a feeling … and it doesn’t feel right—it’s off—listen to that, and just go to the hospital.”
ICYMI, Below Deck Med alum Hannah Ferrier revealed where she stands with Captain Sandy today.
