The newest franchise of Bravo’s popular Below Deck franchise has just been christened on Peacock! Below Deck Down Under introduces viewers to the crew of the superyacht M/Y Thalassa, sailing the waters of the Great Barrier Reef in northeastern Australia.
The crew includes a familiar face for Below Deck fans, chief stew Aesha Scott. However, all the initial buzz seems to surround M/Y Thalassa’s hunky skipper, Captain Jason Chambers! Unfortunately for the newly christened Bravolebrity, this won’t be the first time he has received international media attention.
Captain Jason Chambers Yacht Crash
Jason Chambers was the captain of the 45.6-meter superyacht Moatize when it crashed into a Queensland marina in 2019, narrowly missing a restaurant trawler. Videos of the frightening crash went viral, and Jason spoke with an Australian news outlet to explain what happened.
“We came in and did a tight turn, which we have to do, and our starboard gear was stuck ahead when I selected to go astern,” Captain Jason explained to 7News Sydney soon after the accident. (Video embedded below.) “We could have taken out one of the other vessels, a [Timber?] schooner there, which had personnel on there, so the damage could have been a catastrophe.”
More from Captain Jason on his actions after the malfunction:
We used about thrust to come over into a clear vision, went astern to exit the marina, but it was still going ahead at all times. We took control in the wheelhouse to try and see if it was a technical fault on the controls, still going ahead again. We did what we’re…trained to in collisions. So, we shut down all engines, dropped an anchor, and thank God we selected a nice spot where there was no personnel.
You had a restaurant on the right hand side, you had a lot of people onlooking straight ahead, I had a gap with a lot of small vessels on my starboard side, so that was my best solution is come over where there was no personnel.
Captain Jason said the yacht completed all of its sea trials in Brisbane just prior to the crash. “These things happen,” he added.
When asked about the amount of damage to Moatize, Captain Jason said his focus was elsewhere. “I’m not even worried about the money, to be quite honest…We’re just making sure that everyone here is still functioning — the businesses — and there’s no one here that’s put out, and there’s no injuries. That’s the only concern.”
In summary, the vessel had a malfunction and Captain Jason Chambers avoided any significant damage or injuries with his actions.
Superyacht Moatize Crash Videos
I’ve collected some videos of the Moatize crash and embedded them below. The first is a news report that includes multiple angles, and is by far the best as far as getting an accurate perspective of what happened. The last video is the interview with Captain Jason just after the crash.
You can catch Captain Jason probably not crashing M/Y Thalassa by checking out Below Deck Down Under, now streaming on Peacock!
Asa Hawks is a writer and editor for Starcasm. You can contact Asa via Twitter, Facebook, or email at starcasmtips(at)yahoo.com
