Below Deck’s Captain Sandy, Leah Shafer’s Relationship Timeline

Finding The One! Below Deck Mediterranean‘s Captain Sandy Yawn has been open about her love story with girlfriend Leah Shafer.

The couple met in 2018 when the gospel singer reached out to the reality star on social media about her hit Bravo series.

“She sent me a nice message that said, ‘I came across your show, congratulations, many blessings,’” the captain recalled in an interview with The Cheat Sheet in 2019, noting that the term “many blessings” quickly caught her attention.

Ahead of her romance with the Below Deck star, Shafer was married to entertainer Ross Shafer for 20 years. They welcomed daughter Lauren before their split.

For Leah, making her relationship with Sandy public in 2019 felt like the perfect next step in their romance. “It was definitely unexpected,” she shared with the outlet at the time. “It just happened, when you meet another soul that you connect with at such a deep level, it is unexplainable and so beautiful.”

The pair continued to offer glimpses of their blossoming connection over the years. In honor of their anniversary, Sandy gushed about her partner, writing via Instagram in November 2020, “2 years ago I met this incredible soul, my true love. It’s so true couples that play together stay together. Yep this is Leah’s idea of fun, detoxing the skin with a charcoal mask!”

The Bravo star later hinted that she and Leah weren’t ruling out a walk down the aisle, telling Bravo in July 2021, “Yeah, you know, honestly, slow and steady wins the race. So, I do. I do [see marriage in the future]. I mean, who knows? Like, it’s only been two years. Just under two years, so let’s see.”

While things were smooth sailing for Sandy in her personal life, her career ups and downs were on full display on Below Deck Mediterranean. The TV personality, who joined the Below Deck spinoff in 2017, previously broke down her unique approach to running a boat.

“Sometimes you got to be in and get your hands dirty. That’s why I want [my team] to feel supported because I have a high expectation,” Sandy exclusively told Us Weekly in July 2022. “I go in with an attitude of, ‘It is new. We’re going to have a big learning curve.”

The Be the Calm Or Be the Storm author continued: “I love giving people new opportunities. So yes, of course, when you’re under stress, things aren’t really going your way because the crew maybe don’t have the experience they say they do. I would rather have past crew that have experience that have worked with me in a perfect setting. However, that would be [selfish] on my part because I’m not giving other people opportunities. Someone gave me an opportunity, so I like to mix the new with the old. A nice balance.”

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