Sandra Dolores Yawn has been locked up, left for lifeless on a Florida freeway and chased by way of the Purple Sea by pirates.
In the summertime of 2018, Leah Rae Shafer reached out on Fb to ship Ms. Yawn her blessings. Not as a result of she thought Ms. Yawn, who goes by Captain Sandy, wanted her nicely needs, however as a result of she had began watching “Under Deck Mediterranean” on Bravo.
The present follows a crew tasked with catering to a revolving cadre of visitors who’ve chartered a superyacht. Ms. Yawn, a star of the sequence, is on the helm. Ms. Shafer had written to congratulate her on the present’s success. There was another excuse, too. “I believed she was sizzling,” she mentioned.
Ms. Yawn, 59, has been a yacht captain for greater than 30 years. Her foray into tv, which began in 2017, was not precisely foreordained. Till her mid-20s, “I used to be a multitude,” Ms. Yawn mentioned. “I used to be at all times in hassle. I received kicked out of eleventh grade. I didn’t go to varsity.” At 13, firstly of an adolescence spent between Dundee, Fla., the place her father lived, and Bradenton, Fla., the place her mom lived, she began ingesting. By 17, “I used to be getting arrested so many occasions I couldn’t even rely what number of,” she mentioned. Normally a dad or mum bailed her out. Her father’s refusal to take action after one drunken incident landed her an evening in jail.
In 1989, when she was 25, the revolving door of South Florida therapy facilities she had been pushing by way of stop spinning when a counselor instructed her she couldn’t return. “She mentioned, ‘Sandy, as quickly as you get some cash in your pocket you’re going to start out ingesting once more,’” Ms. Yawn mentioned.
Fearing actual jail time, she joined Alcoholics Nameless. To start out paying off the 1000’s of {dollars} she owed in authorized charges and dependancy therapy middle payments, she received a job washing boats in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. By 30, she had earned her captain’s license from Maritime Skilled Coaching, a faculty in Fort Lauderdale for mariners and yachting professionals.
Rehab — she nonetheless has an A.A. sponsor and attends conferences at any time when potential — helped her pin down the roots of her teenage rebel. “I believe an enormous a part of my ingesting was that I couldn’t settle for my sexuality,” she mentioned. “After I received sober is after I accepted that, oh my gosh, I really choose ladies.”
For Ms. Shafer, that stage of acceptance took for much longer. It additionally value her a profession as a gospel singer.
Ms. Shafer, 50, is the entrepreneur behind a skincare line, Pores and skin by Leah, and a jewellery enterprise began with a pal, Cuff Me. When she messaged Ms. Yawn to congratulate her on the success of “Under Deck Mediterranean” in 2018, she and her husband of 20 years, then dwelling with their teenage daughter in Denver, had been going by way of a divorce. The connection had gone stale years earlier, Ms. Shafer mentioned, however concern and uncertainty prevented her from leaving.
“I had the safety of not worrying financially, as a result of he took care of every part,” she mentioned. Her gospel profession at a nondenominational church had taken off when she was nonetheless in highschool in Hesperia, Calif. However that was principally a labor of affection.
“I toured and went to varsity on the similar time,” mentioned Ms. Shafer, who graduated from California State College, Northridge, with a bachelor’s diploma in liberal arts.
By her 30s, she was recording albums, touring megachurches and singing at main Christian conferences. A flirtation with secular efficiency within the 2000s landed her on the 2003-04 revival of “Star Search” and later a recurring function on NBC’s “The Singing Bee.”
However “I cherished God and I cherished inspiring folks, and the platform I used to be given was on the stage of church buildings,” she mentioned. The one downside: “There was actually no cash in that.”
Earlier than their divorce was closing in 2019, she and her husband tried remedy and prayed collectively. Lastly, in 2018, “I simply jumped,” she mentioned. “I took a leap of religion. I needed freedom.”
She discovered it financially first. Pores and skin by Leah Studio, her Lone Tree, Colo. facial salon that she based in 2017, was profitable instantly, she mentioned. When she first noticed Ms. Yawn on TV, she was settling into life as an entrepreneur. She didn’t anticipate to get a response to her Fb message. However when she received one three months later, in October 2018, it got here with an invite.
Along with her job as a TV star, Ms. Yawn had began touring with “I Consider,” a sequence of motivational talks she created to encourage ladies in management positions. When she lastly learn Ms. Shafer’s message — 1000’s had been piling up, she mentioned, however one thing drew her to Ms. Shafer’s — she was out there for an entertainer for the talks.
In her message, Ms. Shafer had included a video of herself singing the nationwide anthem at a 2014 Denver Broncos recreation. As soon as Ms. Yawn clicked the hyperlink, she replied instantly. “She gave me her telephone quantity and mentioned, ‘I heard you sing,’” Ms. Shafer mentioned. “‘Let’s meet up and discuss how we will do one thing collectively.’”
The 2 continued to speak on the telephone and over electronic mail. Ms. Yawn was then dwelling in Los Angeles. Ms. Shafer had been planning a Disneyland trip along with her daughter, Lauren, in November, a visit that gave her an excuse to fulfill Ms. Yawn in individual.
Each say they fell in love seconds after Ms. Shafer pulled into Ms. Yawn’s driveway in mid-November 2018. “I provided to park her automotive for her, and that’s after we hugged,” Ms. Yawn mentioned. “I felt this vitality I had by no means felt. I knew I had to concentrate to that.”
It was a life-changing hug for Ms. Shafer, too. “It was not a traditional feeling after I met Sandy,” she mentioned. “She wasn’t the strict captain you see on TV. She was simply so enjoyable and so lovely. That hug melted me.”
Over dinner at Catch, a Los Angeles seafood restaurant, they acknowledged their attraction. “I used to be actually sincere along with her,” Ms. Yawn mentioned. However Ms. Shafer wasn’t able to date a lady. “I knew I needed to be along with her,” she mentioned. “I used to be simply freaked out.”
By the top of the night, Ms. Yawn instructed her she ought to take her time. It had been two years since Ms. Yawn’s final relationship. “So at that time I used to be like, ‘Why rush it?’” she mentioned. “I used to be older and I’ve realized plenty of classes. One was, let issues occur naturally. Sluggish and regular wins the race.”
Six months later, the race was over. The ladies had been in a dedicated relationship, and Ms. Yawn had moved to a spot close to Ms. Shafer’s in Denver. It was easy crusing till the top of 2019, when information of the couple’s relationship began circulating in leisure media.
The general public outing ended Ms. Shafer’s gospel profession. “I knew the minute I got here out as being in love with a lady it could be over, and it was,” she mentioned. Her six CDs, offered in dozens of church bookstores, had been pulled from cabinets and shipped to her doorstep. Christian radio stations stopped taking part in her music.
“I had labored for 35 years,” she mentioned. “And it was over.”
Most painful of all had been feedback after her father’s dying from Covid in 2020. “Folks within the church instructed me he died due to my sins,” she mentioned. “However he had met and are available to simply accept Sandy earlier than he handed, and I thank God that occurred.” Now, “my household adores Sandy.”
Ms. Yawn misplaced each her dad and mom to coronary heart assaults earlier than she grew to become a TV star — her father in 2006, and her mom in 2009. In 2015, she was en path to the Miami Boat Present on her bike when she was hit by a automotive. The driving force left the scene. “I felt my mom’s presence whereas I used to be flipping by way of the air, and I felt peaceable,” she mentioned.
When she hit the pavement, she had a fractured pelvis and her foot “was on sideways,” she mentioned. By then, although, she was used to navigating life and dying eventualities, together with fires at sea and run-ins with pirates. She credit her fortitude and empathy, qualities highlighted on “Under Deck Mediterranean,” which she joined in 2017, to her sobriety. “I’ve received nothing to cover and every part to share,” she mentioned.
In 2022, Ms. Yawn and Ms. Shafer purchased a home collectively in Parker, Colo. In September 2023, whereas Ms. Yawn was filming in Greece, Ms. Shafer flew abroad to go to. Ms. Yawn proposed with a diamond engagement ring on the seashore, with violin gamers within the background.
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On Might 11, Ms. Shafer and Ms. Yawn had been married in Fort Lauderdale aboard She’s a ten Too, a superyacht lent to the couple by their pal Carolyn Aronson. Fifty-five visitors, the utmost allowed aboard the vessel, had been in attendance. Amongst them had been “Under Deck Mediterranean” castmates Aesha Scott, Kate Chastain and Dave White, identified to viewers as Chef Dave. (And sure, there have been cameras filming.)
Ms. Shafer, in a protracted white wedding ceremony robe by Leah Da Gloria, walked down the aisle along with her two brothers, Matthew Dale and Justin Dale, to an altar adorned with white roses and hydrangeas; her daughter, now 18, was her maid of honor.
Ms. Yawn, in a white Veronica Beard swimsuit, was escorted down the aisle by Mark Dunham, her brother-in-law. Michelle Dunham, Ms. Yawn’s sister, was her maid of honor. Most visitors had been barefoot, as is frequent on yachts. The brides and their wedding ceremony celebration had been granted an exception.
Nadine Rajabi, the showrunner of “Under Deck Mediterranean,” who’s ordained by the Common Life Church, married them on the yacht’s bridge aft deck, a job made tougher by the climate: wind brought on her microphone to chop out and blew the pages of her speech round. However nothing might disturb the main focus of the brides as they learn handwritten vows.
Ms. Shafer instructed Ms. Yawn that she had taught her to be extra optimistic, extra playful and “to leap.” Ms. Yawn instructed Ms. Shafer that she had given her persistence and beauty.
The captain had been hoping to make it by way of the ceremony freed from tears. However that, she mentioned shortly after they had been pronounced married, was unimaginable. “The minute I checked out Leah and began studying her all the explanations I fell in love along with her I began to cry,” she mentioned. “It’s so wonderful to search out this type of love in your lifetime.”
On This Day
When Might 11, 2024
The place Aboard the superyacht She’s a ten Too, in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Rescue Mission The couple selected “She’s a Girl” for his or her first dance throughout an onboard reception. Chef Dave ready brief ribs and a three-tiered, gluten-free vanilla, chocolate and strawberry cake that threatened to topple within the wind and warmth (temperatures had been within the 90s).
Cruising After the marriage, the brides took off for a five-day honeymoon to Little Palm Island on a yacht lent by Mr. Flynn. Ms. Yawn was on the helm, in fact.
Onward In June, Ms. Yawn and Ms. Shafer will transfer from Denver to Ponte Vedra, Fla., to be nearer to Ms. Dunham, who runs a non-public college for youngsters with autism, Jacksonville Faculty for Autism, in Jacksonville. On June 3, season 9 of “Under Deck Mediterranean” premieres on Bravo. And on July 1, Ms. Shafer will open a skincare studio in Ponte Vedra.
