Captain Sandy Yawn talks leadership, fame and life on 'Below Deck Mediterranean'

“That’s not part of the show,” says Capt. Sandra “Sandy” Yawn. “It’s called ‘Below Deck.’” The relations among the crew members — who live below — take priority.

While Captain Sandy looks like a strong authoritarian, she’s friendly off-camera. “We become like family members,” she says.

With “Below Deck Mediterranean” since 2017, Yawn says she’s good at picking up on tension, even though deckhands aren’t eager to share the twists and turns of their relationships. More importantly, “production doesn’t tell me anything. I find out naturally.”

Crew members are cast, which means experience can run the gamut.

“Everybody has to start somewhere," she said. "Someone’s gotta start at the bottom.”

Yawn did. She saw an ad in a newspaper and started by washing boats. “A guy offered me a full-time job,” and soon she was working her way up the boat ladder to become a superyacht captain.

While “Below Deck Mediterranean” is the most visible of her yachting gigs, she does captain others. Doing so with a camera crew in tow “is a little tricky,” but something she has grown to love.

Most guests, Yawn says, are easy to steer around the Mediterranean. “The boat’s essentially theirs, so they can do what they want — as long as they’re not messing with the crew or doing anything illegal. They’re the charter client and they own the boat for that period of time.”

Those years on the seas taught her plenty about leadership, which prompted her book, “Be Calm or Be the Storm: Leadership Lessons from a Woman at the Helm.” Released in 2024, the book has made her a popular draw on the speaking circuit.

Among the chief takeaways: A leader needs to have the right attitude.

“You can teach (crew members) anything. But if people have a chip on their shoulder and they think they know everything, they’re really not a fit. It’s a matter of finding that fine line. It’s about investing in your team and being there for them. It’s not about telling them how to do their job. It’s showing them how to do it.”

While there are plenty of jobs to make a charter run, some are better than others. For example, “the chef has a difficult job,” Yawn says, and sometimes can’t seem to please the guests.

However, they all deserve the tips they get at the end of each charter, she insists.

“We make it fair.” And, if a group doesn’t exactly come through, there’s still the check from Bravo. “Everybody gets paid. They’re actually doing a job.”

Yawn’s leadership skills have been helpful to her spouse, Leah, who is launching a skin care product line. “We have our life together, but we also have our own identities. She’s creating a product that she’s very passionate about that. She’s a medical aesthetician.”

Yawn, as a result, has great skin. “It’s about the products that we use.”

Celebrity, however, can come with a downside: Yawn often can’t go anywhere without being recognized. “In the beginning, it was a little tricky. But now I’m used to it.”

“Below Deck Mediterranean” airs on Bravo.