S9.E12: The Perfect Storm

[ZettaK]

The boat faces a catastrophic storm that exposes a major leak, putting the deck crew on high alert; tensions rise as the stews voice their frustrations over a deckhand; the interior crew's plans are thwarted, leading to chaos and challenges onboard.

[Meowwww]

Why are they all protecting Bri?  She’s not learning, she doesn’t care.  

Edited August 20 by Meowwww

[FlyingEgret]

Sandy read that 30" of rain was forecast with the storm. Wouldn't there be a travel advisory telling people to not go to wineries? Or shouldn't  Captain Safety have thought to keep her guests away from flooded streets??

[nokat]

3 hours ago, FlyingEgret said:

Sandy read that 30" of rain was forecast with the storm. Wouldn't there be a travel advisory telling people to not go to wineries? Or shouldn't  Captain Safety have thought to keep her guests away from flooded streets??

I'm laughing too much at Captain Safety. I did like seeing the actual competent people come out when the yacht was leaking.

[Chatty Cake]

3 hours ago, nokat said:

I'm laughing too much at Captain Safety. I did like seeing the actual competent people come out when the yacht was leaking.

The competent people are like the adults on Sesame Street.

[snarts]

Man, I've seen some bad pieces before but the 60+ year old charter guest with the brassy highlighter orange feathered 'do might take the cake.

Gael & Nathan are cute together. 

Blah blah blah, it's raining, can't leave the dock. Someone should've checked the weather forecast before deciding on a winery visit 20 kilometers away.

[Mindthinkr]

Even before the guests boarded they could see that it was raining. I’m sure they were made aware that a medicane was on the way as certainly wherever they were staying at had to have been preparing. At the least the local (usually BBC News America when abroad is available in English) television stations would have been putting out weather reports. I understand how disappointing that it must have been for them, but I would have said to my fellow travelers “Hey, we might not get very far..,should we get some cards, a game or something to pass the time?”  I also thought the yachts tour should have made them aware of how to quickly locate their life vests. Have we ever seen that? Seems to be Boating 101. 

[Baltimore Betty]

It was stupid to get in the van and try to go to the winery, I put that on Aesha.

Bri's laundry room was a wreck, I cannot believe after all the laundry issues and her almost being fired would leave that room anything less than orderly and not thinking the capt. would see it when it was a mess.

I noticed the area in front of the laundry looked like an area where the crew would have meals but instead it was piled high with towels and sheets, they have a linen closet, how is Aesha okay with Bri piling all the linens there?

Bri in the bathroom with Joe, oy vey I was really hoping she wouldn't do it with him, they way he just thought it was his for the taking was ick but her letting him get in the stall was stupid, of course Ellie will find out about that. Also, sex in a public bathroom, classy.

I had such hope for Ellie and Bri realizing that Joe was basically using them both but Bri pulling that bathroom stall crap, that was a shite move. Her BS with Joe's eyes, I just can't. Bri is really unteachable in so many ways.

The guest with that odd hair, I kept trying to get a good look at it but he wasn't on camera long enough for me to take it in, the color, the texture, I just couldn't figure out what I was looking at.

Iian is forever awkward, 

Gael likes Nathan in spite of his monk haircut but jumping from bed A to bed B is hard to do, she should back off a bit.  Also, he plans an indoor rock climbing date when they are in Greece where sight seeing or having coffee at a cafe to experience Greece but no, rock climbing is what he came up with, oy. I noticed he asked Sandy permission to leave the boat for the date but did he ask Iian?

Jono tells us he used to compete in horse shows, it literally has nothing to do with cooking, he just wanted us to know he is so multi talented.

Ellie dresses in skimpy outfits every night out but we never see other guys (not crew) hitting on her which I find interesting.

 

 

 

 

[Zaffy]

"Daniel" Storm (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_Daniel) that happened on early  September 2023, was the deadliest ever recorded  in the Mediterranean. In Greece we had 17 deaths...but in Libya they had around 11000 and thousands more still missing😢.
There was a enormous catastrophe in Central Greece with a cost of at least 2 billions of euros and huge areas were flooded.
This weather was so extreme that scientists could not believe the initial predictions. Still, there were warnings by the National Meteorological Service, so I want to believe that Aesha did not started a shore excursion for a destination 20Kms away, but they were just driving around the Marina and all this was scripted. Cause otherwise, they were ALL idiots and the guests should sue their bums! 

the photo was taken at the very center of Athens 😮

Edited August 20 by Zaffy

[ZettaK]

1 hour ago, Zaffy said:

"Daniel" Storm (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Storm_Daniel) that happened on early  September 2023, was the deadliest ever recorded  in the Mediterranean. In Greece we had 17 deaths...but in Libya they had around 11000 and thousands more still missing😢.
There was a enormous catastrophe in Central Greece with a cost of at least 2 billions of euros and huge areas were flooded.
This weather was so extreme that scientists could not believe the initial predictions. Still, there were warnings by the National Meteorological Service, so I want to believe that Aesha did not started a shore excursion for a destination 20Kms away, but they were just driving around the Marina and all this was scripted. Cause otherwise, they were ALL idiots and the guests should sue their bums! 

the photo was taken at the very center of Athens 😮

I knew the last couple of charters were later because the sun didn't look that strong. It starts raining in September in Greece (it almost never does in the summer), but this storm was something else. And I hope, as well that the excursion to the winery was scripted because Sandy knew about the storm, and its strength. It was a cyclone, which is the equivalent of a hurricane. 

Why wasn't the leak fixed earlier, and they waited until it actually rained hard? They knew already about it, since the first episode. 

Bri had sex with Joe when she realized he was flirting and was in good terms again with Ellie. She has low self-esteem too, on top of being vindictive. 

Joe and Nathan covered up the laundry mistakes of Bri who didn't take advantage of the second chance she was given. The laundry room was a mess, and she couldn't accuse Ellie anymore for it.

Edited August 20 by ZettaK

[iMonrey]

4 hours ago, snarts said:

Man, I've seen some bad pieces before but the 60+ year old charter guest with the brassy highlighter orange feathered 'do might take the cake.

He looked like he was in disguise or something. Like somebody trying to go undercover in a bad romcom. Also, the primary is a dead ringer for Jennifer Coolidge. 

Nathan seems like an OK guy on the surface but the way he dude-bros around with Joe lowers my opinion of him. No, Joe is not a "hopeless romantic." He's an eff-boi plain and simple, there's nothing "romantic" about it, Nathan. Stop trying to justify "your boy's" awful behavior.

43 minutes ago, ZettaK said:

Why wasn't the leak fixed earlier, and they waited until it actually rained hard? They knew already about it, since the first episode. 

I can't figure this out either. Sandy pointed this out in the very first episode. This seemed to be a second leak, but if the first leak was fixed why hadn't they brought a fourth stew in by now? And if the first leak wasn't fixed, how were they doing all these charters when Sandy said they couldn't go out to sea if they were taking on water? 

[snarts]

To be fair, the laundry room almost always looks a mess between charters because that's when they wash all the bedding, towels, uniforms, etc. The table stacked with folded sheets & towels that kept showing for example, will all be gone once they finish cabins.

Bri sucks but to be fair we've not seen Aesha formally train or provide task lists. There was still an unlabeled crew shirt so I don't think it's fair to blame her for everything laundry related. 

I just want to know, is she getting fired or is Sandy really going to add a 4th stew this late in the season?

3 hours ago, Baltimore Betty said:

I noticed he asked Sandy permission to leave the boat for the date but did he ask Iian?

I thought we saw him ask Iain the night before while at the club and assumed he chose an indoor activity based on the weather. 

[65mickey]

I think Bri is a tad slow on the uptake. She just can't get with the program even after numerous instructions and corrections from Sandy. Her main focus is getting it on with Joe. And I agree that she must have low self esteem to have sex with Joe  whenever and wherever he feels like it even going so far as to doing it in a public restroom. Gross!

[Chatty Cake]

Did Bri and Joe actually do it?  I thought he put the brakes on and that’s why she got mad.  Either way she does seem like an idiot.

[Zaffy]

The leak is a tad confusing. If I understood well, it was  a broken pump that was removing the rain water, but the mechanic said that the leak was fixed.  Anyone plz got what happened to help me here?

 

[aghst]

17 hours ago, Meowwww said:

Why are they all protecting Bri?  She’s not learning, she doesn’t care.  

Now that the love triangle dram seems to be over, maybe they have less of the reason to keep her.

But I think they mentioned again this episode that this yacht was meant to have 4 stews total including Aesha.

14 hours ago, nokat said:

I'm laughing too much at Captain Safety. I did like seeing the actual competent people come out when the yacht was leaking.

Of course with the leaks in one of the cabins, that was one of the cover reasons they have been only at 3 stews today, one less than the previous season on this same yacht.

We speculated that they didn't plan another BDM season so quickly so they rushed the yacht into service for the shooting again, even though there may not have been enough time to do all the repairs and maintenance.

In general these "charters" on BD are only a day or two so they seem to travel at most 1 hour from port and find some picturesque anchorage.  But we've seen at times on the different shows that they are often close to coastal cities or at least roads, public beaches, parks etc.

So maybe that's how they rationalized using the yacht even if it wasn't in the greatest shape, because it was near a huge port and it would be going to nearby ports, so close to docking somewhere if they had problems.

And on this charter, the forecast was for a huge storm so Sandy didn't even leave port, but apparently the ship couldn't withstand the deluge.

At least only one of the crew cabins was affected, not any of the passenger cabins, though that would have been entertaining to see.

 

That really makes you wonder about the nature of these luxury "super yacht" charters.  These ships are capable of sailing between continents but when they're near these beautiful coastal areas with well-developed infrastructure, most of the time these rich people are near the ports, so that they have access to amenities.  Think of places like Monaco, where the marina is usually full of big yachts.  But the owners or guests of them must be spending a fair amount of time onshore instead of on board.  The whole coastal area between Nice and Monaco have these big yachts anchored like maybe a kilometer off the coast.  So they're always near the city but I guess people treat them like fancy hotels and restaurants with the best sea views, rather than ships which will actually take you from point A to B in luxury.

The super yacht that sunk off the coast of Italy this week was not too far from Palermo, so they weren't even in some remote location where they couldn't get help.  In fact other nearby vessels helped rescue some of the people on board.  It's just the this water spout suddenly gripped the ship and capsized it.

That's probably a good thing, that these yachts aren't ferrying passengers for long trips, especially over open sea.  Especially with the crews on BD, maybe they're not best equipped to entrust your lives to them in an emergency.

Edited August 20 by aghst

[iMonrey]

2 hours ago, Chatty Cake said:

Did Bri and Joe actually do it?  I thought he put the brakes on and that’s why she got mad.  Either way she does seem like an idiot.

That was my take on it as well. Not to be too graphic but I think they did some hand stuff and Bri wanted to go further and Joe said no. They made a point of showing him wash his hands when he came out of the stall. 

[LotusFlower]

17 minutes ago, aghst said:

The super yacht that sunk off the coast of Italy this week was not too far from Palermo, so they weren't even in some remote location where they couldn't get help.  In fact other nearby vessels helped rescue some of the people on board.  It's just the this water spout suddenly gripped the ship and capsized it.

It’s so wild this episode aired at the same time as this tragedy in Sicily.  The latest report said that the yacht had 10 crew members: the captain was rescued, but the chef’s body was just found.  There was no mention of other crew members.  I wonder if any Below Deck cast, past or present, know the crew of this boat.  Such a weird and sad tragedy.

[Baltimore Betty]

I think it is interesting that we have been teased with a fourth stew joining the crew but with just a few charters left in the season and we still do not have the stew on board?

My DIL sent me a still shot of the preference meeting, Jono has a fountain pen, interesting choice. Did he think it would make him more interesting?

The leak(s) confused me and I do not want to rewatch just for that whole scene, there was a leaky hose, there was lots of rain and a leak in one of the crew quarters and the bosun locker, they were caused by two separate things, the storm and the hose? If the bosun locker was taking on water but Sandy said the door was closed, which side of the door were we looking at? So confused.

Why do they do the preference meeting so close in to the start of the that charter, they get up early and we often see 12 hours before the charter on the chyron but then they wait until a few hours before it starts, makes me think they order the supplies for said charter way before they want us to believe.

 

 

[ZettaK]

10 hours ago, snarts said:

To be fair, the laundry room almost always looks a mess between charters because that's when they wash all the bedding, towels, uniforms, etc. The table stacked with folded sheets & towels that kept showing for example, will all be gone once they finish cabins.

Bri sucks but to be fair we've not seen Aesha formally train or provide task lists. There was still an unlabeled crew shirt so I don't think it's fair to blame her for everything laundry related. 

I just want to know, is she getting fired or is Sandy really going to add a 4th stew this late in the season?

I thought we saw him ask Iain the night before while at the club and assumed he chose an indoor activity based on the weather. 

Another stew is coming (and she will hook up with Joe, as well). We saw her in previews many times. It's getting ridiculous. She will obviously appear at the very end of the season. But we don't know if anybody is going to be fired.  

They were two leaks. There was a new one in this episode.

Edited August 21 by ZettaK

[Zaffy]

There is a lovely fella in Reddit, a superyacht chief engineer, that answers questions. He said that a leak can be a serious problem and they should have fixed it before starting the charters.
Also said that any kind of issues can occur during the season, no matter if the  boat is certified or/and inspected.
So, their malfunctions from time to time could be indeed true. Which makes me wondering, if they indeed have a main engine issue, like they were supposed to face in a BDSY season, that is not fixable in time, do they cancel the season? What is their plan B? 

 

Edited August 21 by Zaffy

[nokat]

11 hours ago, iMonrey said:

That was my take on it as well. Not to be too graphic but I think they did some hand stuff and Bri wanted to go further and Joe said no. They made a point of showing him wash his hands when he came out of the stall. 

They showed him washing his hands, so a certain something happened. it didn't sound (hee) like it went farther.

[Hourglass77]

12 hours ago, iMonrey said:

That was my take on it as well. Not to be too graphic but I think they did some hand stuff and Bri wanted to go further and Joe said no. They made a point of showing him wash his hands when he came out of the stall. 

I noticed that he did not actually wash his hands, but rinsed them in water and rubbed his hands together. I didn’t know about the “hand stuff” that they might have done. I was grossed out enough just by him not washing his hands in a public bathroom. Double yuck! 🤢 🤢 

[iMonrey]

7 hours ago, Hourglass77 said:

I noticed that he did not actually wash his hands, but rinsed them in water and rubbed his hands together.

I hate to say it, but for most dudes, that's washing your hands. 😦

[Midwestern Lady]

I think Bri is a dim bulb and completely uncoachable.   That being said, I still think Ellie is a mean girl and added to the laundry chaos.  Not a fan at all.  I dislike both women now due to their continued stupid choices and game playing.  

[gaPeach]

What is it about Joe that makes those two so stupid?  And we are all just waiting for the 4th stew to come in and Joe jump her bones. 

[ZettaK]

I think both Bri and Ellie are unlikeable. As for Joe, I don't find him attractive, but this might be because of his personality.