Below Deck’s Captain Sandy opens up about how yachting helped her sobriety

Captain Sandy Yawn from the Below Deck franchise shared how her yachting career was helpful to her sobriety.

Captain Sandy Yawn is a veteran in the yachting industry who appeared on many Below Deck franchise shows, and she has been open about her sobriety journey.

In the Bravo web series At the Helm, Captain Sandy shared an inspiring story about how her yachting career started.

“I was 13 years old and I started washing boats, and then I had to get in trouble a lot, kind of got into the addiction thing. And after I got sober in 1989, my very first job in 1990 was on a boat,” Captain Sandy explained.

“And then from there, a guy gave me an opportunity, he saw that I really wanted to work in the industry, and I was a hard worker. And then he gave me the start, sent me to sea school.”

The Below Deck Mediterranean star worked her way up from scraping barnacles off the bottom of boats to becoming a captain.

Captain Sandy gave credit to the yachting industry for helping her remain sober and allowing her to create a legacy because of the show.

“I have a charity I started because of being on the TV show and the thousands of messages that we get, ‘How do I get in the industry?'” she said.

“Also, I was the kid that was on that merry-go-round of drugs and alcohol addiction. I wasn’t employable. The Maritime industry employed me, saved my life. And that’s really the legacy.”

Captain Sandy made history as the first female captain in the Below Deck franchise. She has continued to champion other crew members to succeed at their jobs, especially women.