boat yacht crash

2 tragic Florida boat crashes, 2 vastly different charges

• David Goodhue Miami Herald (TNS)

Both boats were packed with passengers. Both struck fixed channel markers at high speed. Both collisions left one person dead and others injured. And both were investigated by Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission officers.

Two shattering boat crashes, more than a year and 100 miles apart in South Florida, share compelling similarities. But the resulting investigations produced dramatically different criminal charges.

A Key West boat mechanic named Daniel Ross, at the wheel in a  nighttime collision in October  that killed a 46-year-old woman, now faces a homicide charge that could put him behind bars for 15 years. In the other case, a horrific 2022 crash near the exclusive Ocean Reef Club that left one teenage girl dead and another severely injured, prominent Miami real estate broker George Pino  has  pleaded not guilty  to two misdemeanors. The maximum penalty, if convicted, is 60 days.

The felony charge filed earlier this month against Ross has raised new questions about the FWC’s handling of Pino’s case and marine crash investigations, including the diligence of officers when it comes to pursuing the potentially critical contributing factor of alcohol.

Neither man was tested on the scene for impairment, testing that could support, or rule out, additional DUI charges. Ross later provided blood in a hospital but, according to a law enforcement source, the test was botched. Pino simply declined breath and blood tests after his boat sideswiped a marker in deep south Biscayne Bay not far from Ocean Reef, killing Luciana “Lucy” Fernandez, 17, and injuring 10 others, including now-19-year-old Katerina Puig, who remains permanently disabled.

READ MORE: A 17-year-old Miami girl dies after Florida Keys boat crash; 10 others hurt

Fernandez’s parents, Andres and Melissa Fernandez, released a statement to the Miami Herald saying the Key West felony charge has only added to their anger over what they consider soft law enforcement treatment of Pino, a wealthy and well-connected businessman. Even without DUI tests, the FWC and Monroe County prosecutors agreed to charge Ross with a crime that comes with the possibility of significant prison time.

“Learning about this case …, once again, calls into question the investigation conducted by the FWC, as well as the conclusions reached by [Miami-Dade County State Attorney] Katherine Fernandez-Rundle’s office with respect to the senseless boating accident which claimed the life of our teenage daughter, Lucy.”

Ira Leesfield, a Miami attorney specializing in civil maritime law, said he found it unusual for Pino not to be pushed by investigators to submit a blood sample following such a serious crash. But he said it’s not uncommon for individual officers to make differing judgment calls in the chaos of marine crash scenes — decisions that can wind up making or breaking criminal cases.

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“You’re just going to find inconsistencies on the law enforcement side, I’m sorry to tell you,” Leesfield said. “I think the words random, or arbitrary, or inconsistent may apply to some of this, I’m sorry to tell you that.”

Leadership at FWC, which is charged with investigating the vast majority of boat crashes around the state, has repeatedly denied any preferential treatment for Pino and defended its officers and the investigation, insisting that the law limits the ability of officers to demand DUI tests.

Rob Klepper, an FWC spokesperson, also pushed back at trying to read anything into the contrasting severity of charges in the two cases.

“Every single vessel accident is unique and can’t be compared one to one,’’ he said in an interview with the Miami Herald. “You can’t compare boat crashes.”

A tale of two crashes

Boat crashes are everyday events in Florida. With some 1 million registered vessels, the state typically leads the nation in both accidents and deaths — 723 and 63 respectively in 2002, according to the latest FWC annual accident report. Monroe County, which covers the FlorIda Keys, and Miami-Dade usually top the Florida list.

Striking a fixed object like a channel marker in the open water is also surprisingly common, the second-most frequent accident cause in both Miami-Dade and Monroe, according to FWC data, right behind collisions with other boats.

But there were some key differences in the two fatal South Florida crashes, one of them literally night and day.

According to a final FWC report released this month, Ross, 53, and a crew of six were returning in the dark from a memorial service at a sandbar aboard his 22-foot Ranger. One passenger, 46-year-old Misty Wildmon, was sitting on the left gunwale, the edge of the fishing boat’s hull, as it cruised through Safe Harbor Channel at around 25 to 30 mph.

At 8:20 p.m, on an October Friday, the boat hit Daybeacon 5 – the only one of the four markers along the channel without a light. The steel post struck Wildmon “with extreme force,” FWC investigator Glen Way wrote in a Feb. 2 affidavit. She fell backwards, hitting the cover of the Evinrude engine, then dropped into the dark waters.

As Ross stopped the boat, passengers tended to Wildmon’s mother, who suffered minor injuries. Almost a minute went by, according to the FWC report, before anyone realized Wildmon had been ejected. After a search that took about four minutes, they found Wildmon floating face down. They brought her on board, began CPR and called 911, Way wrote.

Ross reached Robbie’s Marina on Stock Island within minutes and paramedics took Wildmon to the Lower Keys Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead at 9:37 p.m.

The crash got little public attention, unlike the one more than a year earlier near Ocean Reef.

It was Labor Day weekend 2002 and Pino, 53, and his wife Cecilia had spent Sunday at Elliott Key celebrating the 18th birthday of their daughter. also named Cecilia, with a dozen of her friends from  Our Lady of Lourdes Academy in Southwest Miami-Dade and Carrollton School of the Sacred Heart in Coconut Grove.

The sun was still out as Pino headed back south toward a family place in Ocean Reef, steering his 29-foot Robalo center console down a channel through shallow grass flats known as Cutter Bank. At about 6:30 p.m. the boat struck the very last marker in the channel, No. 15. The FWC later determined the boat was moving at about 50 mph and the violent impact shredded the hull and flipped the vessel.

The rescue response was immediate, starting with nearby private boaters and drawing in a variety of law enforcement agencies. Eleven injured passengers were pulled from the water, four airlifted to the hospital. Fernandez, 17, a senior at Lourdes, died the next day.  Puig, a popular star soccer player at Lourdes,  survived but with severe brain damage.

The alcohol question

In both investigations, FWC officers questioned passengers about drinking aboard the boats.

In the Key West crash, Way, the FWC investigator, wrote that all six passengers had admitted to drinking but his report never made clear if he tested Ross to see if he was intoxicated. A law enforcement source told the Herald that no field sobriety test had been done but Ross did later agree to having blood drawn in a hospital.

That sample, however, would prove problematic because improper equipment was used, the source said. “It’s not legally admissible.”

In the Pino case, officers also didn’t conduct a field sobriety test at the crash scene or hours later on Elliott Key where officers interviewed passengers and Pino, all who had just been pulled from the bay after a harrowing wreck. The agency said it had no probable cause to do so because the businessman, though shaken, did not seem impaired.

But body camera footage later released by the FWC captures an officer repeatedly asking Pino if wants to submit blood – while also stressing that it was not something he had to do. At one point, Pino denies the request, “No. I had two beers.”

The role of alcohol became a much bigger question the next day when officers hauled the capsized boat back to shore. They found 61 empty alcohol bottles and cans stashed on the boat, along with a half-empty booze bottle and a spent bottle of champagne. By that time, it was too late for testing.

READ MORE: 61 booze containers on crashed boat in Keys — and parents outraged over minor charges

In their now-settled March 17 lawsuit , Rudolfo and Kathya Puig, the parents of Katerina, later accused the Pinos of supplying the teens with alcohol that day, an accusation, through their attorneys, the couple denied. Terms of the confidential settlement have not been released.

In the FWC’s final August 2023 report — the document Miami-Dade prosecutors would use to determine formal charges — investigator William Thompson wrote “alcohol was not considered to be a contributing factor to this accident.” He also wrote that Pino cited the lack of his attorney being present for not agreeing to submit a blood sample to test for alcohol after the crash, a statement not captured on any body cam footage.

FWC defends Pino investigation

The  agency has repeatedly defended its investigation. Rodney Barreto, a Miami businessman who chairs the FWC commissioner, wrote in an email to the Herald last year that officers pursued all legal options to collect evidence.

He said the investigator in charge that day was “a certified drug recognition expert and stated in the report that he saw no signs of impairment and neither did any of the other officers at the scene.”

“The law does not enable our officers to compel a blood draw or breath test without probable cause,’ he said. “No one admitted in interviews to consuming alcohol.”

But body cam footage did catch Pino admitting to “two beers” and another passenger told investigators she saw Pino have one alcoholic beverage, according to the FWC’s report. It also remains unclear if FWC officers or their commanders ever discussed seeking a search warrant to force blood sampling. That option is routinely pursued in fatal car accidents by land-based law enforcement agencies, which often have judges on-call to quickly issue such orders — if agencies successfully argue they have probable cause to do so.

READ MORE: Police say alcohol played no role in fatal boat crash, but bodycam video raises questions

Jorge Silva, a Miami personal injury attorney who has represented victims in several high-profile boat accident cases, said it was unusual for police not to draw a blood sample to test for alcohol in any boat accident that results in death or serious injury.

He said he could not comment on the specifics of each case, saying he’s not “intimately familiar” with them and echoing FWC spokesman Klepper that “every case needs to be analyzed on a very fact specific basis.”

“However, I can tell you that when serious injuries occur or a fatality, blood alcohol levels should always be secured,” Silva told the Herald.

FWC accident data from 2022, the latest available, shows investigations rarely find alcohol use as a primary factor in marine accidents. In Monroe, two of 92 reported accidents were blamed on alcohol. Operator inexperience was the top cause at 16. In 90 accidents in Miami-Dade that year, the FWC found alcohol the primary cause in none of them.

Statewide, the agency did find alcohol use to blame in seven of 63 fatal crashes that year.

Two crashes, vastly different charges

It took four months for the FWC to wrap up its investigation of Ross, who repairs boat props for a living. The agency came down hard.

Way, the FWC investigator, wrote that Ross had been reckless in a number of ways: he had no lookout with a spotlight to locate the marker, he was going full speed with a crew that had been drinking and the victim had been sitting in an unsafe area. The FWC also said Ross, who told investigators he was an experienced mariner who had navigated Safe Harbor Channel many times, was also “complacent” and did not rely enough on his GPS to guide him.

All those errors led to Wildmon’s death, concluded Way, who recommended to the Monroe State Attorney’s Office that Ross be charged with felony vessel homicide and reckless boating. The former carries a maximum prison sentence of 15 years if convicted. The latter is a first-degree misdemeanor that carries a maximum sentence of a year in jail.

Ross, who had not been arraigned as of Friday, was released from Monroe County jail after posting a $100,000 bond. When reached by phone last week, he declined to comment, saying he had not spoken with his attorney. He declined to give his attorney’s name, and an attorney is not listed in court records.

The FWC investigation into Pino — president of Doral-based State Street Reality and fixture of Miami’s business and social scene over nearly three decades — took nearly a year. Miami-Dade State Attorney  Fernandez Rundle’s office then announced the charges.  Three counts of misdemeanor careless boating. Careless is a lesser charge than reckless and typically applies to an operator who has been inattentive at the wheel.

Based on the conclusions of the FWC report, Rundle’s office said that was the maximum they could charge Pino under Florida law. Some legal experts agreed, telling the The Herald last year that less serious charges aren’t unusual in such cases, given the facts laid out in the FWC report.

Pino’s attorneys Andrew Mescolotto and Howard Srebnick did not return emailed requests for comment on the Key West case. But in August after the FWC final report was released, Pino issued a statement expressing sorrow for the victims

“George and Cecilia Pino are devastated by the passing of Lucy and the serious injuries to Katy and others,” Mescolotto wrote. “The Pinos have already pledged their life savings to compensate and provide medical support for everyone affected by this horrible accident. They continue to pray every day for each person and family that was involved.”

The statement also highlighted the findings that alcohol was not a factor and reiterated a statement Pino told officers — that a larger oncoming boat caused him to lose control of his vessel. FWC investigators, however, stressed in their report that no witnesses, including all who were on Pino’s vessel, saw another boat in the channel in the moments leading up to the crash.

The Fernandezes still believe Pino’s connections and influence helped sway the investigation — and they say the Key West case isn’t the only example. In January, a  Miami boater was sentenced to four years  in federal court for his role in the deaths of two people in a Bimini boating crash. The investigation did not involve the FWC but the prison time still resonated with them,

In an email to the Herald, they wrote: “We now have no other choice but to conclude that Mr. Pino has been, and continues to be, treated differently.”

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Superyacht crash video shows 77m Go colliding with Caribbean dock

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Footage has emerged of a 235ft superyacht crashing into a luxury Caribbean yacht club’s pier, causing visible damage to both the yacht and the dock.

Onlookers were shocked last week (February 24) when a 235ft (77m) superyacht collided with the dock of Sint Maarten Yacht Club in the Caribbean.

Video footage of the incident shows the extent of the damage – while the pier took the brunt of it, the superyacht’s steel hull didn’t come off unscathed.

Computer malfunction was to blame for the sickening superyacht crash, according to local publication The Daily Herald , which adds that no-one was injured as a result.

Article continues below…

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Footage has emerged of a burning superyacht that caught fire on Tuesday in the US Virgin Islands

The incident took place at around 1015 local time and the newspaper added that an insurer had already been to assess the extent of the damage by the end of the day.

If you think you’re having a bad day at work, spare a thought for the captain and crew who had to explain this situation to their yacht’s owner.

Launched by Turkish yard Turquoise Yachts in 2018, Go features a helipad, gym, jacuzzi, beach club, sauna and hospital as well as a master suite and eight guest cabins styled by London-based studio H2 Yacht Design.

She is run by a crew of up to 18 and her twin 2,575hp Caterpillar 3516C engines give her an estimated top speed of 17 knots.

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1 dead, 1 injured after 30-foot boat collides with Fisher Island ferry

Portmiami channel closed to cruise traffic for nearly 12 hours due to investigation.

Trent Kelly , Reporter

Bridgette Matter , Reporter

MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – A man has died following a boat crash involving a Fisher Island ferry that occurred early Sunday morning.

The deadly boat collision in the waters near PortMiami also sent a second person to the hospital in serious condition.

According to City of Miami Fire Rescue personnel, the crash happened just before 3:40 a.m. when a 30-foot boat collided into a Fisher Island car ferry in the Government Cut channel.

Workers onboard the ferry were able to pull one man out of the water and paramedics rushed him to Jackson Memorial Hospital’s Ryder Trauma Center in Miami.

But while being transported, they say the man mentioned his friend was also on-board the boat and was now missing.

That led crews to call in a dive team, which immediately launched a search-and-rescue operation.

That search ended minutes later when a second man was recovered and pronounced dead at the scene.

No workers onboard the ferry were hurt.

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission is now in charge of figuring out what led up to the collision and why.

Due to the investigation and the attempt to recover the sunken boat from the crash, three cruise ships that were scheduled to dock at PortMiami on Sunday morning were unable to do so.

Those ships are the Carnival Celebration, the MSC Seascape and the Norwegian Escape.

The channel reopened at approximately 2:45 p.m., allowing cruise ship traffic to resume following the recovery of the sunken boat.

pic.twitter.com/b7CkyZZBen — PortMiami (@PortMiami) June 25, 2023

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About the Authors:

Trent kelly.

Trent Kelly is an award-winning multimedia journalist who joined the Local 10 News team in June 2018. Trent is no stranger to Florida. Born in Tampa, he attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he graduated with honors from the UF College of Journalism and Communications.

Bridgette Matter

Bridgette Matter joined the Local 10 News team as a reporter in July 2021. Before moving to South Florida, she began her career in South Bend, Indiana and spent six years in Jacksonville as a reporter and weekend anchor.

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Video: Man Accused of Stealing Yacht, Crashing Into Others in Newport Beach Harbor

Wild video shows a man crashing the yacht into others in the harbor., by heather navarro and [unpublished]vikki vargas • published march 10, 2022 • updated on march 11, 2022 at 6:30 am.

A man was accused of stealing a pricey yacht in Newport Beach and crashing it into several others before being taken into custody Thursday.

Police said Joel Siam was arrested on suspicion of grand theft of a boat and possession of a stolen boat, and held on $3,000,000 bail.

Newport Beach police said sometime Thursday morning, a man was seen vandalizing a yacht near Balboa Bay Resort at 1200 West Coast Highway. 

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Police said the man crossed the highway and commandeered a yacht in one of the slips.

Sheriff’s deputies say the 60-foot yacht was taken from a dock where it had been undergoing maintenance, so the keys were inside.

He drove the boat around the harbor and hit a couple other yachts in the process, wild video shows. 

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One woman sitting aboard a sailboat was injured in the crash.

It didn't stop there. The yacht could be seen doing donuts in the water, then speeding forward.

"When I looked out, the power boat really going fast. I thought it was a runaway engine -- that's what happens you can't stop the engine," witness Sandi Morgan said,

The demolition derby on the water ended when the boat finally smashed into one more vessel, and then a sea wall.

"The poor owner of this boat it hit just had the boat restored, so they’re a little upset at moment," witness Kai Macartney said.

The owner of the yacht was seen surveying the damage midday afterward. 

The bow sustained the most damage, aerial footage showed. 

The owner of the stolen boat was too upset to go on camera but did tell NBCLA it was purchased new in August to be used for a charter business, and that half a bottle of tequila from inside was now gone.

The man was taken into custody by Harbor Patrol.

NBCLA captured video of the suspect in a life jacket being put into a patrol car.

Police initially called because the San Diego man was accused of trying to steal a Rolls Royce along Pacific Coast Highway, then he jumped in the boat.

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Video shows stolen 60-foot yacht crashing into boats in wild chase across California harbor: "Everything came crashing in on me"

March 11, 2022 / 9:31 AM EST / CBS/AP

A man who stole a 60-foot yacht was arrested Thursday after a 10-minute chase that ended with him hitting two other boats and a seawall in Newport Beach harbor, police said. The wild scene was all captured on video, CBS Los Angeles reports.

A report of someone vandalizing a yacht led police to the Pacific Coast Highway shortly after 10 a.m. but when officers arrived they said the suspect jumped into the boat and took off, authorities said.

Dylan Eckardt took video of the boat colliding with a docked sailboat, knocking down its mast.

Debora Dolly was aboard the sailboat when it was struck.

"The entire starboard side came crashing in on me and it didn't stop. It came once, twice, three times," she told CBS Los Angeles. "So the whole boat, the poles, the steel,  the enclosure, everything came crashing in on me."

Dolly said she hit her head but otherwise was fine.

After hitting the sailboat, the boat backed up, circled and, pursued by the Orange County Sheriff's Department Harbor Patrol, continued through the harbor until it hit another parked vessel then slammed into a wall beside a bridge.

"The sounds of him hitting that wall brought everyone out of their houses," witness Kai McCartney told CBS Los Angeles.

Joel Siam, 38, of San Diego was arrested on suspicion of grand theft of a boat and possession of a stolen boat and was jailed on $3 million bail, authorities said.

It wasn't immediately clear whether he had an attorney to speak on his behalf.

The yacht was in a dock for maintenance and the keys were inside when it was taken, sheriff's deputies said.

The owner of the stolen boat told the station that it was bought new in August and was to be used for a charter business. The owner also said a half-bottle of tequila from inside the yacht was now gone.

CBS Los Angeles reported that one of the boats damaged in the incident was a 1960 Tolleycraft. The owner had just gotten delivered on Saturday — he hadn't even gotten a chance to take it out yet.

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Video shows stolen yacht crashing into multiple other boats in California

A boat thief swiped a yacht in Southern California on Thursday, authorities said, then collided with multiple other boats in the harbor.

Joel Siam, 38, was booked on suspicion of grand theft of a boat and possession of a stolen boat and was being being held on $3 million bail, Orange County jail records showed on Friday.

Dispatchers on Thursday had originally been notified at 9:21 a.m. PST about an act of vandalism along the docks near 1200 W. Coast Highway before another call came, reporting a stolen boat a half-mile away, Newport Beach police spokeswoman Heather Rangel said.

"It was determined that the suspect was the same person for each incident," Rangel said. "The suspect stole the boat and proceeded to leave the area when he collided with multiple boats in the bay."

The suspect, from San Diego, was captured by the Orange County Sheriff's Harbor Patrol, police said.

Siam struck at least three vessels and investigators didn't have an immediate price tag on the damage, sheriff's spokeswoman Carrie Braun said Friday.

It wasn’t immediately clear what the suspect’s motive might have been.

“We do not believe the suspect knew the boat owner,” of the craft he allegedly stole, Braun added.

As Siam first started operating the luxury vessel, it caught the attention of real estate broker Dylan Eckardt, who was at his new office right on the docks.

“That was crazy,” Eckardt told NBC News on Friday. “I was on the phone and I heard the boat back out and when the boat backed out I started videoing.”

Eckardt, who grew upon the far east end of Long Island, initially believed there was a mechanical problem with the yacht.

“I grew up on Montauk, I know a lot about boats and I was like, ‘What the hell was going on?’ I thought the engine was stuck, like the throttle (was stuck),” he said. “Then I saw the guy up top taking his shirt off, I knew there was a situation.”

Siam is due to appear in court on Monday, jail records showed. It wasn’t immediately clear if he had hired an attorney been assigned one by Friday, a spokeswoman for the Orange County DA said.

David K. Li is a senior breaking news reporter for NBC News Digital.

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Inside Below Deck Sailing Yacht ’s Crash, and the Dramatic Aftermath

By Julie Miller

Below Deck viewers have survived kitchen fires, nightmare charter guests , dramatic dismissals, drug scandals , and soured romantic relationships. But Monday’s episode of Below Deck Sailing Yacht, “Total Ship Show,” is unprecedented in franchise history, in terms of its sheer disaster quotient. Within the first five minutes of the episode, the Parsifal yacht crashes into a stone dock in high winds, destroying the end of the vessel and totaling Captain Glenn Shephard ’s already-dented ego. (Last week, Parsifal suffered a less serious collision. We hope the sailing yacht is not cursed.) The rest of the episode unravels like a high-paced thriller set aboard an out-of-control luxury yacht.

The villains: the shrill, gluten-free charter guests, who are too self-involved to notice the Parsifal ’s jacked transom door. The dramatic B-plot: the chef screwing up a five-course meal by serving steak after dessert. As if this were not enough action for a single episode, there is also an STD scare that forces an otherwise respectable woman to reckon with an indiscretion.

“It was almost like an embarrassment of riches,” said Below Deck executive producer Courtland Cox, of the chart-topping chaos in Croatia. “It’s amazing that this was all happening, but it’s also difficult to tell all of these stories in an interesting way within a limited amount of time per episode.” Some viewers complained that the season was starting off too smoothly, but Cox trusted the process and knew that such interesting cast members would yield climactic story lines. “With any great narrative structure, you want to have peaks and valleys that eventually crescendo into something interesting…. The yacht crashing, guests being crazy, and Jean-Luc [Cerza Lanaux] being worried about getting an STD, all that stuff is the seasoning.”

Ahead, Cox and Parsifal chief stew Daisy Kelliher take us behind the scenes of Monday’s bombshell episode to answer all of our burning questions—about everything from the crash to the onboard romances, including Dani’s pregnancy announcement.

Executive producer Cox was tucked away in a tiny control room on the Parsifal during both accidents, where he was able to watch what was happening from three different camera vantage points, and hear what was happening from the walkie-talkie dialogue on deck. Cox said that he knew that the Parsifal was going to hit the dock about five seconds before it happened—when first mate Gary King began calling out the shrinking measurements between the yacht and the dock, but the boat, because of the intense wind and swell, kept hurtling toward the dock at full speed. Because of a mechanical error that short-circuited the thrusters, Captain Glenn was not able to propel the vessel in the reverse direction.

As the ship sped toward the dock, the Below Deck producer juggled a contradictory range of concerns: the fear of a captive passenger aboard an out-of-control vessel; worry for his fellow shipmates; heartbreak for Captain Glenn, who was about to bite it in front of multiple cameras; and, conversely, the shark-like instincts of a reality-TV producer keen to capture the chaotic melee in all of its gruesome glory.

“The human part of me, my heart aches for Glenn,” Cox told Vanity Fair. Still, he continued, “My job is to capture what’s actually happening—so we told our camera operators, ‘Stay on Glenn.’ We don’t push right up in his face or get in his way, but the story in the moment was that Glenn hit the dock. How was he going to rectify the situation?”

In addition to seeing the crash, viewers also witness Captain Glenn’s spirit breaking close up—as the sweet Parsifal pilot realizes, in devastatingly real time, that he has not only incurred thousands of dollars in yacht damages, but has done so with a camera trained on him.

“I probably watched this episode 15 times in various incarnations, and every time I see Glenn’s face in the immediate aftermath of hitting that dock, I still get very emotional,” said Cox. “It’s a catastrophic moment for any yacht captain when you do damage to a boat. It’s the worst possible thing. And I also know that that’s compounded by a factor of a million because there are TV cameras on you.”

Cox has produced 16 seasons’ worth of Below Deck, and called the crash “the second-most intense moment ever on the series.” (The first-most intense was a near-death accident in 2018 during which deckhand Ashton Pienaar was pulled overboard after his ankle was caught in ropes.) “As a producer, it’s amazingly compelling. But as a person onboard, it’s terrifying…. But Glenn is a consummate professional. He didn’t try to deflect or make excuses or try to tap dance his way out of it. He went quickly into crisis mode, damage mode.”

Parsifal chief stew Daisy Kelliher said that watching the crash in the episode was worse than living it, “because I was downstairs when it happened. I have never seen a boat that crashed the dock or been in a boat that crashed the dock.”

By Savannah Walsh

By Chris Murphy

Speaking about Glenn, Kelliher said, “He was pretty upset at the time, but you quickly calm down. It was an accident, and the main thing is nobody got hurt. It’s like banging your car. You get the insurance sorted. You learn from it. And you move on.”

How quickly did the episode’s events happen in real life?

The unfolded over the course of about 72 hours, according to Cox. “The boat hits the dock, it looks terrible, and Glenn’s like, ‘Well, the guests are getting here in four hours.’… The crew did a great job at kind of compartmentalizing, and putting the dock behind us as these charter guests come on. And the story becomes about J.L.’ s anxiety about the STD, and [chef] Natasha’s anxiety about these guests having crazy demands that are emotionally taxing on the heels of a traumatic event…. It’s exhausting for them.”

What did producers make of another unprecedented plot twist: J.L.’s on-camera concerns about a potential sexually transmitted disease?

This twist surprised even Cox. “I’m a fossil who grew up in the ’70s and ’80s,” said Cox. “What was going through my head was, ‘There’s a very easy way he could have prevented this—by using some kind of protection. If you roll the dice, you kinda gotta accept what happens to you. I’m not a heartless monster TV producer. I don’t want anyone to ever suffer or go through something they have an existential crisis over. In that moment, you’re hoping that it’s at least one of the lesser STDs that is easily treated.”

When did producers discover that Dani was pregnant? (The cast member revealed her pregnancy on Instagram last month.)

“Dani brought it to our attention when we were pretty far into the postproduction process,” said Cox. “Even once Dani found out, I think she kind of wanted to sit with [the news] herself. Then she let us know and said, ‘Hey, just so you know, I’m pregnant.’ We said, ‘Okay, great.’ I left that up to her and how much information she wanted to give us. My first reaction was, ‘That’s fantastic. Congratulations.’ Because she made it clear throughout the season that she wanted a family. The rest of that is for Dani to figure out.”

“I really don’t ask Dani much about it,” added Kelliher in a separate phone call. “I’m very aware that that she probably feels like she’s explaining herself to a lot of people. So I try and respect her privacy. We’ve spoken a little about it, but I figure the less I know the better.”

Do Daisy and Natasha eventually get to a place of mutual understanding and respect?

“I didn’t mind her,” said Kelliher. “On the show it looks like we hated each other. We were very civil with each other, and would laugh and sit with each other. It wasn’t constant arguing—that only came when it was time to serve meals…. At that stage, I had kind of given up, because I had tried everything. She didn’t want my help. She didn’t want to communicate with me…. I’m asking you if you’re serving five courses, you’re telling me no. I could stand here and keep arguing, but I wasn’t going to win in this.… We have a good relationship now. I have respect for her. But that [tension] never changes.”

What is Daisy’s read on the love triangle tensions between Gary, Sydney, and Alli?

“I wish I had been there for some of the conversations [between the three of them], because I don’t think they would have escalated as much,” said Kelliher. “I do think Sydney was pretty intense. I knew she was upset and understood why she was upset. If you’re a girl, it’s embarrassing if somebody chooses someone over you…. But some of the things she said were quite mean to Ali, and I didn’t really like that. If I had been there, that wouldn’t have happened because I wouldn’t have allowed it.”

“I’ve definitely seen love triangles. I’ve been involved in love triangles. This was intense because it escalated so quickly. I didn’t really get it. I guess maybe we’re all intense people—maybe that’s why you do a TV show about yachting. But I did find the whole thing a bit weird from all sides. I was like, ‘We’ve known each other [for] like three weeks…and don’t even know each others’ last names.’ Settle down.”

Below Deck Sailing Yacht airs on Bravo at 9 p.m. ET/PT.

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After an $800k yacht pileup in Ballard Locks, a fleet of lawyers arrives

Jason Formo figures he’s been through the Hiram M. Chittenden Locks in Ballard at least a hundred times in his 43 years. But none of that prepared him for the chaos of late last May or the complicated legal fight just now getting underway. 

Shortly before noon on May 28, 2022, Formo and several family members were aboard his 53-foot motor yacht, Nor’Wester, in the larger of the two locks, waiting for the gate to open. 

It was a busy Memorial Day Saturday, and big boats like Formo’s were tied along the southeastern wall, with rows of smaller boats “rafted” off their starboard sides.

The gate had just started opening, Formo and other boaters say, when the Pamina, a 64-foot yacht directly ahead of Nor’Wester, gunned its engines and went hard in reverse. 

Amid the roar of diesels and the snapping of mooring lines, Pamina slammed into Nor’Wester “like a bulldozer,” striking with such force that Nor’Wester’s bow went over Pamina’s stern and into a rear cabin, Formo says. 

Behind him, in a very expensive illustration of Newton’s third law, Formo’s 53-foot motor yacht struck a 60-foot motor yacht, which struck a 59-foot motor yacht, which was pushed into the lock’s eastern gate, according to interviews and court filings.

Meanwhile, the smaller rafted vessels caromed off one another like “bumper boats,” as one yachting insider later put it. 

No serious injuries were reported, but a total of eight vessels were “ allided ,” to use the nautical term, causing upward of $800,000 in damage before Pamina’s captain, Brian Pickering of Seattle, managed to kill the engines.

In the relative calm that followed, Formo recalls Pickering apologizing profusely, but also “a fair amount of expletives” as other dazed sailors tried “to figure out what had happened.”

A year later, a small armada of boat owners, insurers, marine businesses and more than a dozen attorneys are trying to sort out that very question.

Admittedly, the lawsuit — essentially, a dispute among insurers over the bill for all that cracked fiberglass and teak — won’t be the weightiest matter heard in federal court in Seattle.

But it could be among the more complex, given the awkwardly large number of parties and the peculiarities of U.S. maritime law — to say nothing of the mechanics of what was arguably the biggest pileup in the history of Seattle yachting. 

A multivehicle crash is “something you see on a freeway, with cars, but not with vessels,” says Charles Moure, a Seattle maritime law attorney (and avid boater) who is following the Pamina case but is not involved. “You’re going to get into some complicated litigation.” 

Indeed, while a trial is more than a year off, court filings so far point to a dispute that has the same bumper-boat dynamics of the accident itself.

Start with the owners and insurers of the allided boats. 

Most have declined to discuss the case. But the four who’ve filed claims put fault largely on Pamina, a 40-ton, $700,000 luxury vessel, with three paneled staterooms, a full-size galley and more horsepower than a D10 Caterpillar bulldozer that is owned, through a limited liability corporation, by Pickering and his wife, Laurie Pickering, who was also aboard during the accident.

Pamina was operating “without sufficient competent crew,” states a Feb. 23 filing by Seattle resident Nicholas Leede, whose 39-foot sailboat suffered $62,117 in damage while rafted in the back row. 

Brian Pickering “was not at the helm” just before the crash, contends a Feb. 28 filing by Anahit Hovhannisyan, a Mercer Island resident whose 60-footer was two boats back from Pamina.

Hovhannisyan hasn’t yet specified repair costs, but does claim to have “suffered personal injury and mental distress” after being “narrowly missed by an airborne cleat that was detached in the incident.”

Formo has claimed $206,554 in damage, while a fourth owner, William Hansen, has claimed damage of $162,922 to his 59-footer.

The Pickerings and their insurer, meanwhile, lay out a very different narrative: Pamina, they say, went into reverse more or less on its own.

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According to filings, various control systems, including controls for Pamina’s engines and remote controls for its engines and bow thruster, “failed to operate properly.” 

In due course, the Pickerings and their insurer have filed claims against two controls manufacturers and two Seattle-area marine businesses that serviced Pamina shortly before the crash. 

Those “third-party defendants” aren’t sitting still, of course. 

Delta Marine Industries, a shipyard that worked on Pamina, alleges that any damage was “caused, contributed to or enhanced by [the Pickerings’] own comparative fault, gross negligence and/or reckless disregard of the consequences.”

Glendinning Products, a South Carolina-based controls maker, is more specific: “negligent and improper modifications” to controls equipment aboard Pamina “contravened manufacturer recommendations” and “rendered [Pamina] unseaworthy,” according to filings.

Untangling this game of three-dimensional legal hot potato will require extensive, expensive investigations. 

Sailors and other witnesses will be deposed. Damaged vessels will be inspected by forensic experts at rates of $500 and more. Thick reports will be written and exchanged among counsel. 

“It’s going to be a slog,” says Wayne Mitchell, a Seattle-area attorney representing Hovhannisyan and the LLC that owns her boat. 

In many multiparty negligence cases, if forensics makes it reasonably clear which parties are at fault — and which way a court would likely rule — insurers may push to settle rather than wage a costly, low-odds court battle.

“Insurance companies are very sophisticated entities,” says Moure. Using massive databases of similar litigation, insurers can calculate what any given case is worth and “are good at offering just enough money to make the plaintiff not want to run the risk of trial,” he says.

But Pamina has a few extra complications. 

The dispute falls under U.S. maritime law, which has unique things to say about who pays what in accidents. 

Under the Limitation of Liability Act of 1851, if the vessel owner can prove they didn’t know and shouldn’t have known about a hazard, their liability is capped at their vessel’s post-accident value, no matter how much damage was done.

If the Pickerings can show they weren’t aware of any problems with their yacht, the most their insurer pays is $550,000, or Pamina’s assessed value after subtracting its own damage of $150,000. 

Runaway yachts weren’t the problem the liability limit was meant to solve. Nineteenth century lawmakers were trying to protect America’s nascent shipping industry from potentially ruinous litigation at a time when accidents were common.

But liability limitation has become a standard defense even in cases with very little connection to shipping, including those involving houseboats, Jet Skis and cruise ships. (Titanic’s owners, infamously, used the law to avoid all but a tiny fraction of the claims against them.)

And while liability limitation strategies frequently fail, they can add still more layers of litigation to already complex cases.

All that counterclaiming and crossclaiming might be avoided by settling, but the large number of litigants and of lawyers — 15 at last count — still points to a protracted process, legal experts say.

“Even if we settle it, it’s going to take months,” says Mitchell. “And if we try it, it’s going to be over a year.”

Fifteen lawyers working a multiyacht pileup in the Locks sounds like the punchline to a joke about Ballard. Or at the very least, a metaphor for what the Seattle area is becoming in the third decade of the 21st century.

For now, though, there seems to no single, agreed-upon moral to the story — even within the local yachting community, where news of the pileup quickly made the rounds and where the incident remains a topic of conversation.

Some might see the crash as a cautionary tale about boating safety in the Puget Sound’s challenging waterways, not least the Ballard Locks, which even experienced sailors can find daunting.

Since 2020, Locks officials have recorded three collisions, even though pleasure craft traffic through the Locks is half of what it was in 2000, according to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, which operates the Locks. 

“I think sometimes people forget what a problematic environment [the Locks] can be if you’re not really on your toes,” says Gina Purdy, a longtime member of the Seattle Yacht Club.

Others note the trend toward larger vessels.

Between 2000 and 2020, the number of vessels 50 feet and longer in Washington state climbed by nearly 75%, according to an analysis of state boat registrations by Anacortes-based BST Associates, which consults on waterfront projects.  

“When I started, it was older people who had bigger, nicer boats, because they worked up ‘through the ranks,’” says Neal Booth, 63, president of the Boat Insurance Agency at Elliott Bay Marina and veteran of Seattle’s boating scene. 

Today, Booth says, “someone decides they want a 50-foot boat, they go buy a 50-foot boat.”

Some say those bigger boats reflect the area’s rising wealth, not least in booming sectors such as tech.

Others says it’s also due to advances in control technologies. Features like bow and stern thrusters, remote docking, joystick steering and GPS-powered “digital anchors” have made it easier for less-experienced sailors to handle larger vessels, says Byron Shirley, a broker at Denison Yachting in Seattle.

While many insurers still require boats of around 75 feet or more to be professionally captained, for anything less than that, there are far “fewer barriers to entry.”

He points to a hot new model: a 62-footer with a $2.4 million price and all the latest technology. “One or two people can run that boat,” Shirley says, but adds that he worries the new technologies might be giving some boaters “a false sense of confidence.”

 * * * *

As for allided boaters themselves, many seem to have migrated to the role of observers, as insurers and attorneys dig into the case. 

Several appear to have their boats repaired and back on the water. 

The Pamina has recently been through the Locks and has berthed at Fishermen’s Terminal, according to an online vessel tracking service, but its current location isn’t available.

Whatever meaning they’ve attached to the accident isn’t clear, since most still won’t publicly comment on the crash or the legal case. Formo, after an initial interview, hasn’t responded to additional queries.

Still, in his initial comments, Formo expressed a mix of feelings that might resonate with his fellow Locks occupants.

Yes, the accident was briefly terrifying and also costly: Though his boat is fixed, his insurance premiums have doubled “even though none of this was our fault,” he said.

Yet Formo, a financial adviser, was also quick to concede how much worse things could have been in the Locks last May.

Nobody was seriously hurt. And despite the extensive damage, everyone involved remained relatively polite and even understanding toward the Pickerings, who in turn “handled the situation with class.”

Formo also acknowledged how little he and his fellow yachters had to complain about in the first place, given what else was going on in the world.

“This was in the middle of the pandemic,” Formo said of the accident. “People were dying all over the place. We got a few scratches on our boat.”

The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only and do not reflect the opinions of The Seattle Times.

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Report finds inadequate lookout led to Utopia IV collision with tanker

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An accident report issued by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) has found that the collision between 63 metre superyacht Utopia IV and a gas tanker was caused by the crew not maintaining a lookout.

The two vessels collided on December 23, 2021, approximately 15 miles north-northwest of New Providence Island. Utopia IV was carrying seven charter guests and 12 crewmembers at the time and was making passage to Bimini Island when she hit the stern of the 49 metre steel tanker Tropic Breeze at 10pm. The force of the collision pierced the stern of the tanker, which caused it to sink to a depth of 2,000 metres and its crew to abandon ship.

The report details that Utopia IV was travelling at 20 knots when she struck Tropic Breeze. The captain was not in the wheelhouse when the incident occurred having left 12 minutes prior to check on the guests. According to the report, the bosun, who was left in the wheelhouse, was not certified as mate or captain and therefore was not allowed by regulations to perform watchstanding duties by himself. It is also understood that the bosun was multitasking and logging navigation data "and therefore was distracted from performing effective lookout duties", the report detailed. 

The tanker was travelling at a speed of five knots and carrying a cargo of marine gas oil and liquid petroleum gas. The captain of Tropic Breeze had also left the wheelhouse to use the restroom prior to the incident.

None of the watchstanders on Utopia IV or Tropic Breeze reported seeing the other vessel on radar, which is set to a three-mile radius, while visibility was understood to be "good" in spite of bow spray reported to have been collecting on the windshield of Utopia IV . The report determined that, given the relative speed of both vessels, it was likely that none of the watchstanders had looked at the radar in the 12 minutes before the collision or completed a visual assessment of the surroundings. 

CCTV in the galley of Utopia IV captured the moment of the collision. Equipment and several of the yacht's crew were thrown to the deck or into bulkheads; three crew sustained minor injuries. Utopia IV ’s captain was in the main dining area and was thrown into the forward bulkhead and door frame. 

The chief engineer of Tropic Breeze investigated the damage and discovered that the engine room was flooding rapidly. The captain made a VHF distress call and decided to abandon the vessel; a liferaft was launched. Meanwhile, Utopia IV ’s chief engineer restarted the yacht’s engines, which had shut down after the collision, and a distress call was made from the wheelhouse. The yacht attempted to rescue the crew from the tanker but sea swells prevented them from boarding. The tanker crew were eventually rescued by a passing motor yacht, Amara , which heard the distress calls and diverted its course to assist.

Utopia IV ’s chief stewardess told investigators she saw the Tropic Breeze ’s navigation lights illuminated following the collision. According to the Utopia IV’ s crew, the Utopia IV ’s lights were all on.

As well as damage to both vessels, 156,500 gallons of marine gas oil was lost with the tanker. The accident resulted in nearly $7.9 million in damages, the report revealed. 

As Utopia IV approached Tropic Breeze from directly astern, the yacht (as the overtaking vessel) was required by 72 COLREGS to give way to the tanker. However, as the watchstanders on both Utopia IV and Tropic Breeze failed to maintain a proper lookout, both were unable to identify the risk of collision and respond suitably. The report said: "Although the Utopia IV bore responsibility as the overtaking vessel to manoeuvre away from the tank vessel, once the yacht’s intentions were unclear and a close-quarters situation had developed, the tank vessel should have taken action." 

NTSB investigators concluded that the probable cause of the collision was Utopia IV ’s wheelhouse crew not maintaining a proper lookout and therefore not identifying the vessel they were overtaking, but with contribution from Tropic Breeze’s bridge team also not maintaining a proper lookout.

“A proper lookout by suitably trained crewmembers is required by the Convention on the International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea, 1972 and is essential in determining the risk of collision,” the report said. “The effective use of all available resources by a bridge team, including visual scanning, radars, electronic charts, and an automatic identification system, increases collective situational awareness and contributes to a safe navigation watch. Operators and crews should ensure that vessel bridge teams are staffed with certificated/credentialed mariners who are familiar with all bridge navigation equipment and able to independently take immediate action.” ​

The owners of the vessel had previously said in a statement that they were "terribly saddened" by the incident.

The full accident report can be found here .

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Fatal boat crash launched woman into trees and threw man into water, Florida cops say

A body pulled from trees was among two discovered after a 21-foot boat crashed near southwest Florida’s Little Hickory Bay, according to investigators.

It happened around 3 p.m. Friday, March 15, not far from North Naples, about a 160-mile drive south from Tampa, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission said in a news release.

“The vessel, carrying two occupants, was traveling north, passing red channel marker 14, when it’s starboard side ran into the mangrove trees, ejecting both passengers,” FWC officials said.

“The unmanned vessel remained in gear until it crashed into the mangrove shoreline, coming to a stop.”

Judy Eaton, 71, of Bonita Springs “was recovered from the mangrove trees where she was pronounced deceased,” officials said.

John Moulder, 71, of Naples, was airlifted by EMS to Gulf Coast Medical Center in Ft. Myers, “where he later died from his injuries,” officials said.

The cause of the crash remains under investigation, but alcohol may have been a factor, investigators said in the report.

Boaters who use the area regularly told WBBH the couple died at a turn known to be dangerous, but signs marking the hazard vanished during Hurricane Ian , which struck southwest Florida in September 2022.

“Sadly, I was not surprised,” boater Kevin Price told the station. “I had a conversation with another friend recently about this turn specifically, and some of the close calls I’ve seen at this spot.”

Mysterious traveling buoy in Florida river raises concerns. What is it attached to?

Two girls found drifting alone in boat after adults vanished in Florida lake, cops say

Boat crashes into Florida bridge, leaving 10 people struggling in river, rescuers say

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2 dead, juvenile rescued in san joaquin county boat accident.

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A San Joaquin County boating accident on Saturday left two people dead, according to the sheriff's office. A juvenile was rescued.

Just before 5 p.m. the solo accident was reported just north of Tower Park Marina, the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Office said.

Three people were pulled out of the water, according to the sheriff's office. One of them, a juvenile survived, but an adult had suffered severe injuries and was pronounced dead at the scene, and another was later pulled from the water deceased.

The two deceased have been identified by the sheriff's office as 41-year-old Quang Lu from Elk Grove and 21-year-old Navin Lu from Oakland.

What led up to the accident is unknown at this time.

This is a developing story. Stay with KCRA 3 for the latest.

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Two people dead after boating crash in north naples.

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A boating incident in North Naples left one woman dead and sent a man to the hospital with serious injuries on Friday afternoon.

According to the North Collier Fire District, two people were ejected from a boat in Little Hickory Bay.

A man was transported to a local hospital with serious injuries. A woman has died.

The Collier County Sheriff's received a medical emergency call to Little Hickory Bay between channel markers 16 and 18 at 3:03 p.m.

The Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is the primary investigator of the incident.

UPDATE -- Saturday, March 16:

FWC announced that John C. Moulder, 71, of Naples, and Judy M. Eaton, also 71, of Bonita Springs, were ejected from the boat after crashing into mangroves.

Eaton was pronounced dead after being recovered from the trees by EMS.

Moulder later died in the hospital from his injuries.

“Sadly, I was not surprised. In fact, I had a conversation with another friend recently about this turn specifically, and some of the close calls I've seen at this spot,” boater Kevin Price said.

Price said the corner where the accident happened is very dangerous, especially if you’re going fast.

“There are two blind curves here, and it used to be a no-wake zone, so some boats go through slow, but a lot of boats just really come through here real quickly,” Price explained.

Boaters said the area used to be a no wake zone but believe Hurricane Ian washed away the signs marking it.

“Whether it was some of the pickings and the signs came down during the storm or I've heard had something to do with permits,” Price said.

We’ve reached out to FWC, as they’re investigating, to find out if the area is a no-wake zone and if the signs will be posted in the hope of preventing future tragedies.

Count on NBC2 to provide further updates as we receive more information.

Below Deck Loses 2 Crewmembers After a Firing and a Dramatic Season 11 Departure

Below deck 's capt. kerry titheradge fired the first season 11 yachtie during the bravo series' march 18 episode, but that wasn't the only shocking departure. find out who else left the yacht..

The  St. David  is down not one, but two crewmembers.

During Below Deck 's March 18 episode, Captain Kerry Titheradge  fired the first season 11 yachtie when he let Bosun Jared Woodin go for unprofessional behavior, the last straw being an inebriated Jared barging into Stew Barbie Pascual 's cabin the night prior and yelling at Deckhand Kyle Stillie for leaving a mess of loose tobacco on the deck after a night of partying. 

"This is the second time you've gone on the piss and you've had bad behavior," Kerry told his subordinate. "You're in a leadership role. You can't be acting like that. You gotta be above the fray. The way that you're treating these guy is not acceptable."

But it wasn't just the alcohol that was the problem, as Kerry noted Jared's mental state wasn't where it needed to be. "You've got s--t going on, man," he shared. "You're your own worst enemy right now. You need to depart the vessel."

However, Jared agreed his head wasn't in the right place and accepted his termination graciously.

"This ain't the right place for me at the right time," Jared replied, to which Kerry responded, "I don't blame you for that. Take this time and work on yourself. Me keeping you here is a disservice to you."

Before departing the super-yacht, Jared reflected in a confessional, "I thought I was in a good headspace coming into this. I'm really not. And as much as I'd like to be I'm just lying to myself."

But Jared wasn't the only teammate to set sail during the latest episode. Stew Cat Baugh willingly left the ship after admittedly struggling with the job all season long.

"I really wanna push through for you guys," Cat, in tears, told Chief Stew Fraser Olender after receiving a very distressing call from a friend back home in America. "I'm just losing my mind right now."

And Fraser totally understood his crewmember's needs.

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"If you're in a very unhappy place," he told her, "I'd rather you put your health and your mental health before that and we get you the help you need as soon as we can."

In a confessional, Fraser elaborated, "I don't know what is going on, but you can look into someone's eyes sometimes and see that there is no more that they can give. They are going through enough to be incapable and I need to do what's right for her. "

See how the crew copes with the unexpected departures when Below Deck airs Mondays at 9 p.m. on Bravo. And keep reading to look back at the most shocking Below Deck firings ever.

If there's one thing to learn from Camille Lamb 's Below Deck firing, it's to not slack off on the job. That's exactly why the season 10 stew was let go by substitute Captain Sandy Yawn , as Chief Stew Fraser Olender continued to criticize Camille's behavior on board.

From being caught drinking while preparing for a new charter to partying at late hours and more, Fraser informed Captain Sandy that he had reached his "last straw."

"She's the common denominator in all of this," said Captain Sandy. "Great girl, great personality, but at the same time, we have to do what's best for the boat."

Below Deck Adventure 's Kyle Dickard was let go just three episodes into the reality franchise's latest series—which premiered in November 2022. After picking fights with his fellow deckhand Nathan Morley —as well as kissing crew mates in front of guests—Kyle was offered by Captain Kerry Titheradge the opportunity to resign so that his firing would not end up on his personal record.

Kyle took the Captain up on his offer and left the boat after just one charter.

Captain Sandy let bosun Raygan Tyler go during season seven of Below Deck Mediterranean ,  not only for causing the boat to  take a small hit while docking, but also for not stepping up to the plate as a leader.

But Captain Sandy didn't want her firing to discourage the bosun, as she told Raygan, "If I had the time and I wasn't running a boat this size, I would train you. I would teach you."

In addition to onboard romances and failing to follow directions , one of the biggest reasons behind stew Elizabeth Frankini 's Below Deck firing was her infamous laundry room accident , during which made a toxic mess when combining bleach and laundry soap.

"Unfortunately, I didn't know that was so toxic and I feel so bad about it," she told E! News of the incident in December 2020 . "You know, I do feel really bad, especially 'cause Francesca [ Rubi ] did say, 'Take it outside.'"

The bosun and stew were both fired by Captain Jason Chambers for inappropriate behavior after a night of partying with their fellow yachties.

Luke Jones was let go after getting into Stew Margot Sisson 's bed naked while she was drunk and unconscious. Laura Bileskaine also made unwanted advances on Deckhand Adam Kodra despite him telling her he was not interested in hooking up.

Jason made it known that consent was a must, and sent both crewmembers packing.

Tensions between stew Lexi Wilson and Chef Mathew Shea came to a head during an explosive dinner fight on season six of Below Deck Mediterranean , during which Lexi told Matt that his parents "should've aborted you." That was the last straw for Captain Sandy, who fired her not long after the incident.

Deckhand Tom Pearson said "bon voyage" to Below Deck Sailing Yacht after getting let go by Captain Glenn Shephard . Tom hit his last strike with the Captain after failing to report that the boat's anchor was dragging during heavy winds one night, causing a potential safety risk for everyone on board.

"It had to be done. It was such a grievous thing that he dropped the ball there, he had to go, and we had to just be man down and live with it, you know?" Captain Glenn said of the decision  on Watch What Happens Live. "So, obviously, you don't want to do that, but yeah, it had to happen."

Some people are picky eaters, but Below Deck Down Under' s Ryan McKeown was quite the picky chef, as he would judge guests'  food requests  and fail to take  criticism from Captain Jason Chambers , as well.

Perhaps Ryan's Below Deck exit is one of the franchise's most memorable, as he mooned Jason and viewers on his way off the boat.

Below Deck Down Under stew Magda Ziomek 's firing was another case of slacking on the job. After constantly being on her phone texting or video chatting with her boyfriend, Chief Stew Aesha Scott decided to replace Magda before the end of the charter season.

Below Deck Mediterranean 's Peter Hunziker was fired from the series in June 2020 after he shared an offensive post on social media.

"Peter Hunziker of Below Deck Mediterranean has been terminated for his racist post," Bravo wrote in a statement at the time. "Bravo and 51 Minds are editing the show to minimize his appearance for subsequent episodes."

Chief Stew Hannah Ferrier was let go by Captain Sandy on Below Deck Mediterranean after boson Malia White discovered her co-star possessed undeclared Valium and a vape pen, the former of which Hannah claimed was for her anxiety.

"If I could do it all over again, I would've just declared them as soon as I came on board," Hannah stated in an August 2020 interview with E! News. "It was definitely not something that was intentional. I wasn't trying to hide anything.

Below Deck Mediterranean 's Delaney Evans left just as quickly as she arrived. After initially being brought on during season six to help out Chief Stew Katie Flood , Katie determined that Delaney was doing more harm than good, choosing to let her go after just one charter.

"I think she was overwhelmed with the situation, and I think that, you know, in her mind, the best solution to the situation was just to go back to what they had before," Delaney told Bravo Insider of Katie's decision. "I think she was just overwhelmed with everything that was going on and all the feedback she was getting."

Deckhand Shane Coopersmith was a bit in over his head on season eight of Below Deck , as he was let go for failing to know basic skills, reporting late for duty and taking naps on the job.

Chaos in the kitchen led to Captain Lee Rosbach letting Chef Leon Walker go on season three of Below Deck . After an oven fire broke out , Lee placed the blame on Chief Stew Kate Chastain but was ultimately the one sent home.

Like several of the franchise's stars, Below Deck 's Chris Brown  was fired  during season five for failing to fully perform his duties. After being let go by Captain Lee, Chris shared some parting words as he left the boat, stating , "Who gives a s--t?"

Chef Mila Kolomeitseva was fired by Captain Sandy on season four of Below Deck Mediterranean after failing to use her cooking skills to produce top-quality food for guests—including some not-so-nice nachos .

"Of course it makes me feel awful," Mila said of her departure . "People like me who have big egos sometimes have to be put down to earth a little bit. But it makes me feel like I want to work even harder."

Sometimes people just don't work well together. That's exactly why Captain Lee fired Chandler Brooks during season six of Below Deck , telling the boson, "I don't think it's a good fit."

(E! and Bravo are both part of the NBCUniversal family)

Willy Wonka-Inspired Organizer Says His “Life Is Ruined” After Event

Meagan good confirms boyfriend jonathan majors is the one.

Green Point beach near Yamba littered with debris after abandoned boat runs aground

A remote beach near Yamba on the New South Wales north coast is littered with debris and diesel after a boat ran aground and was smashed to pieces in the surf overnight.

Witnesses said the boat was abandoned by its occupants as they were attempting to cross the Clarence River bar around lunchtime on Monday. 

NSW Road and Maritime said the occupants were evacuated from the vessel by a NSW Marine Rescue crew.

Angourie resident Oli Coe said he later saw the vessel adrift about 2 kilometres offshore.

He watched the boat throughout the day and at one point saw another vessel alongside it.

He said someone boarded vessel and put out its anchor.

"As the wind got up through the rest of the afternoon, we watched the boat drifting and dragging on its anchor and eventually it just dragged way too far and ended up on the beach," Mr Coe said.

At one stage Mr Coe and two friends used jetskis to get out to the boat to see if they could do anything to help.

He said he could not understand why it was not salvaged before it ran aground near Green Point.

"There was definitely some damage to the boat but it was in perfectly good condition [before that]," Mr Coe said.

Clean-up concerns

Locals spent Tuesday morning on the beach, dragging piles of debris above the high tide mark in a bid to ensure it is not taken back out to sea with the next high tide on Tuesday evening. 

Angourie resident Kim Wood said the usually pristine beach at Green Point looked like a "rubbish dump".

"I'm looking at kilometres of debris," she said.

"There is timber, there is oil cans, jerry cans full of diesel, so much plastic, and everything is soaked in diesel.

"You can still see all debris in the ocean."

Ms Wood said the area was home to a wide range of birdlife including oyster catchers and curlews.

Too dangerous to tow

NSW Maritime said the boat was deemed too dangerous for authorities to board or tow.

Senior boating safety officer Bret Ryan said authorities needed to put safety first.

"Marine Rescue revisited the boat several times on Monday, and eventually the Water Police came from Coffs Harbour," Mr Ryan said.

"They came to the same conclusion that it was too dangerous."

"At that point the vessel was secure and the hope was it would remain in that position but unfortunately that didn't happen."

Mr Ryan said the main hazard on the beach was from any sharp objects that might remain buried in the sand.

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The Gala Opening Ceremony of the 5th Moscow Boat Show held on March 20

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Written by Zuzana Bednarova

The Gala Opening Ceremony of the 5th International exhibition Moscow Boat Show was held on March 20 in the lobby of the first pavilion Crocus Expo IEC. The trade fair has demonstrated once again to be the largest project in Russia exhibiting the best products in the yachting segment.

5th Moscow Boat Show

The Moscow Boat Show is the own Crocus Expo IEC project and is supported by Aston Martin Moscow, Burevestnik Group logistics department and the Yachting specialized magazine.

The exposition space increased up to 30 000 sq m and was accommodated in all 4 exhibition halls of the fairgrounds! 280 Russian (Arkhangelsk, Vyborg, Kazan, Kaluga, Republic of Karelia, Moscow and Moscow region, Nizhny Novgorod, Novorossiysk, Novosibirsk, Rostov-on-Don, Samara, St. Petersburg, Sverdlovsk region, Sochi, Chelyabinsk, Tyumen and Yaroslavl region) and foreign ( Denmark , Germany , Holland , Greece , Spain , Italy , Cyprus , China , Latvia , Poland , USA , Turkey , Ukraine, Finland , France , Montenegro and Croatia ) companies participated in the show.

Moscow Boat Show 2012

Arcady Zlotnikov, First Deputy Director Crocus Expo IEC, was traditionally the first to take the floor at the official opening ceremony. He greeted warmly exhibitors, guests and visitors of Moscow Boat Show. Nikolay Krjuchek, Deputy Chief of the State Inspection on Small size Vessels (GIMS) of the Ministry for Emergency Situations of Russia, Georguiy Shaiduko,Acting President of the Russian Yachting Federation (VFPS), Olympic champion in Atlanta, and Ekaterina Grishechkina, Director of exhibition Moscow Boat Show also spoke at the ceremony.

The high-ranking guests noted dynamic development of the branch which well reasons the intensive growth of the exposition and appearance of rather unique articles.

The official opening ceremony of the Moscow Boat Show

The visitors for the first time had an opportunity to purchase 19-meter boats, private submarines, Jetlev-Flyers from MS Watersports and also rare yachts and boats.

The questions-and-answers session was organized for the journalists after the ceremony. Mass media representatives could communicate directly with organizers of the exhibition and top officials of the Russian yachting.

Please contact CharterWorld - the luxury yacht charter specialist - for more on superyacht news item "The Gala Opening Ceremony of the 5th Moscow Boat Show held on March 20".

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Ukraine drones hit Moscow, injuring at least one and suspending flights: Russian state media

Ukrainian drones attacked Moscow early on Sunday, injuring one, damaging buildings and suspending flights at Vnukovo airport, TASS news agency said, citing officials.

Russia's Defence Ministry said a Ukrainian drone was destroyed in the air over the Odintsovo district and two others crashed in Moscow, according to TASS.

One person was injured as a result of a blast in a building, TASS said, citing emergency services. The airport was closed for arrivals and departures, the agency said.

Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said earlier the facades of two office buildings had been slightly damaged but that there were no casualties, TASS reported.

The Ukraine government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Russia said on Monday it would retaliate harshly against Ukraine after two drones damaged buildings in Moscow, with one strike close to the building where the military holds briefings on what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine.

Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Mykhailo Fedorov said at the time there would be more drone strikes.