Below Deck OG, Captain Lee Rosbach has weighed in on the forged documents controversy involving Below Deck Mediterranean's Captain Sandy Yawn's handling of her former sketchy bosun. At the start of Below Deck Mediterranean season 8, Captain Sandy's bosun was Ruan Irving. His time as bosun was short-lived after the yacht was audited by the port authority, who came to discover that Ruan's certifications weren't official. Ruan said he would have the original mailed to him. Sandy got a worse impression of Ruan after he couldn't correctly call distances during a test she ran.

Furthermore, it was brought to Sandy's attention by the port authorities that someone else's picture was on Ruan's Yachtmaster's license. When she sat Ruan down to confront him about the alleged forgery, she caught him tripping over his words and called him out on his suspect answers. Sandy asked Ruan to leave the yacht and replaced him with Luka Brunton, but the whole situation could have been avoided.

Captain Lee Says Sandy Should've Done A Double Take Of His Credentials

Now that Captain Lee no longer appears in the Below Deck franchise in his OG captain role, he has other things going on. Namely, he runs a podcast, Salty with Captain Lee, where he dishes on pop culture and reality TV "with his signature charm and no-nonsense wit." In his episode from October 4, 2023, Captain Lee shared his thoughts on the topic of Captain Sandy's handling of the whole Ruan forgery issue.

Captain Lee relayed that the discrepancy could have been sorted out prior to Ruan stepping on the boat with better vetting. He remarked that, ultimately, the captain must be aware of everything and everyone on their vessel. He questioned why Captain Sandy did not catch the problem herself. "Why didn’t she match that when looking at his credentials? I have no idea. I am looking at everyone’s credentials and I am scrutinizing anyone that gets on my boat. I am responsible and I take that seriously." Captain Lee did not hold back when it came to his digs toward Sandy in this case.

Captain Lee Says This Is Captain Sandy's Issue

OG Below Deck Captain Lee took his remarks a step further. While he said he did not think Captain Sandy intentionally overlooked Ruan's inappropriate credentials, he said she should be embarrassed for what occurred under her authority. "It is her issue. She gets whatever award she gets for missing [the issue]. It is the captain’s responsibility. To me, it would be so embarrassing to hand over documents that I hadn’t examined first."

Captain Lee took aim at Captain Sandy once again for her perceived negligence. "I am sorry she had to go through that but that is a lesson well learned. Trust but verify." Captain Lee was never publically put in a similar situation to Captain Sandy's, so it's easy for him to judge her. At each season's start, Captain Lee goes over the CVs of his crew with the department heads. While Captain Sandy has been known to do that on-screen, it is clear that Captain Lee has a point here, and Captain Sandy dropped the ball by not vetting her bosun herself and relying on production to do so.

Captain Lee and Captain Sandy Have Feuded In The Past

This is not Captain Sandy's first time under scrutiny from Captain Lee. During Below Deck season 10, Captain Sandy filled in for Captain Lee on short notice after Captain Lee had to leave and seek medical attention. During the few charters where Captain Sandy was the authority at the yacht's helm, she inherited a bevy of interpersonal problems between the crew members. Captain Sandy had to intervene amongst the crew several times, and she ended up making the decision to fire Camille Lamb for her attitude and ability to work well on the yacht.

Captain Sandy called Captain Lee to inform him she had fired Camille after she sent Camille packing. While Captain Lee was amenable to Captain Sandy's course of action over the phone, he had other feelings he shared via Twitter. He wrote, "So I found out after the fact that she fired one of my crew, not before. ok?" He further stated, "I agree. I didn't want her to ask permission, just wanted the update, that quick call you mentioned, good manners."

Captain Sandy's partner, Leah Shafer, got involved by clapping back at Captain Lee. "She has more than good manners and has been nothing but kind and supportive. Not sure why you are tweeting all of this. She left me and our home to come and take over until you were well." Captain Lee did not engage with Leah's sentiment, and Below Deck Mediterrnean's Captain Sandy didn't comment. However, this incident was the peak issue between the franchise captains in what has been years worth of judgments passed on one another's actions in running their vessels.

Below Deck Mediterranean airs Mondays on Bravo at 8 p.m. EST.

Source: Salty with Captain Lee