At this point, we all know that yachting isn’t for the faint of heart, but for Below Deck star Ben Willoughby, Season 11 has been particularly difficult.
He came into the charter season as the lead deckhand, but when bosun Jared Woodin got fired by Captain Kerry Titheradge, Ben suddenly had to step up into the bosun role. Then, the interior crew ended up short-handed when Cat Baugh decided to exit. In Season 11, Episode Season 7, Ben accurately described the state of affairs as “full circus mode.”
With the circus behind him, Ben chatted with Us Weekly and reflected on his first docking experience as a bosun. Everyone lived, and the boat successfully made it into the dock. But in retrospect, Ben felt surprised by how they pulled it off.
A barely-legal first docking for Below Deck’s Ben
With the boat down two crew members, there was a ton of pressure on the last charter. After Jared got fired, the interior crew planned on picking up some of the slack. Cat’s exit threw a wrench in that plan. Ben recalled that when it was time to dock the boat after an especially long charter, everyone was feeling the pressure.
“This is the longest charter we had all season — four days long. We’re already a man down [with Jared], but it’s nothing that I think we can’t handle. It’s unheard of [though when we] first [are] coming off the dock,” Ben explained.
He continued, “You’ve got two deck members [on the boat] while Sunny [Marquis] is on the tender. You wouldn’t do that. I don’t even know if it’s legal, to be honest.”
Ready for the challenge
Although Ben’s first days as a bosun on St. David were a little rough and possibly illegal, he confessed that he was more than ready for the challenge. Before Season 11, he worked as a bosun on a different vessel. He said he felt pretty bummed that he didn’t get the job in the first place.
Ben explained, “So, when I was asked to come back, and I was actually taking a step down back to the lead deckhand, I was like, ‘Damn, I’ve got to bite my tongue a bit here and see what kind of circus this person’s running.’”
When reflecting on the tumultuous charter season, Ben said that it was initially “difficult” to go back into the lead deckhand role — especially with Jared as his superior. Ultimately, Ben was glad that Jared got to be the guinea pig for the bosun role. He got to see all of Jared’s failures as a big learning experience. When he stepped in to replace Jared, Ben said he knew exactly what not to do.
“I’m glad that he took the first run at it, so I could see how to do it and what Kerry was like and where he demanded things,” Ben explained. “Especially in the docking situations … I could tell that Jared was stumbling and fumbling. So I knew that that’s where I just had to be on my A-game.”
Below Deck Season 11 continues on Bravo, Monday nights at 9/8c.
TELL US – WERE YOU IMPRESSED WITH HOW BEN JUMPED INTO THE BOSUN ROLE? WHAT WERE YOUR THOUGHTS ON JARED’S EXIT?
