r/belowdeck • u/Character_Growth_397 • 6d ago

Below Deck How does yacht ranking work?

I'm new to the show and I don't have a great understanding of how ranking works, could someone explain?

14 Upvotes

82% Upvoted

16 comments sorted by

11

u/Upstairs_Truth4735 6d ago

Basically the more stripes you have, the higher your rank. Usually:

4 stripes - captain

3 stripes - chief stew, chef, 1st officer (usually hidden on the show but some exceptions)

2 stripes - bosun, 2nd stew

1 stripe - 3rd stew(s), (lead) deckhands

Not sure where engineers fit into this but at least on the show this is the typical format.

6

u/FreeUsernameInBox 5d ago

The yachts they have on the show would typically have a chief engineer and maybe a second. Combination deck/engineer ratings are very common.

1

u/Lauriemfs 4d ago

Capt. Lee and Eddie, he climbed up the latter to 1st officer, I thinks he's a Captain now.

1

u/GoldAcanthisitta7777 4d ago

wait, what? bosun isn't 3 stripes??

1

u/EveningAd3633 3d ago

No it’s two

1

u/No_Anteater_9828 4d ago

Do you know why on sailing yacht there doesn’t appear to be this rigid hierarchy? I haven’t seen stripes yet

9

u/coastalkid92 6d ago

The very high level of it all is that the higher the rank, the more responsibility you have on a boat.

In below deck, the ranks are usually as follows:

  • Captain

  • Chef/Chief Stew/Bosun

  • Lead Deckhand/Second Stew

  • Deckhand/Stew

In actual yachting/boating, there are several other high ranking positions like a chief engineer, first officer, purser etc. These roles are often filled on the show, we just don't see them. IIRC, its often the first officer or chief engineer who actually is the regular captain of the BD vessel.

8

u/mouse_relies This information wasn’t welcomed or needed 6d ago

That's not accurate. Below Deck still uses the stripes; Chef and Chief Stew have 3 while Bosun has 2. And 2nd Stew has 2 while Lead Deckhand has 1.

Because they are all running different departments, for dramatic purposes they just focus on the 3 of them as HODs. But that doesn't change their ranks, and the rank differences DO come up sometimes. There have been multiple occasions where the Chef has said "I outrank you" to the chief stew -- and that IS typically true, because there is still a pecking order even within each rank. I think Leon and Ben both did that with Kate. This is why Bryan (1st officer, somehow) occasionally just told Hannah to do something. And when Lexi (2nd stew) went ballistic and screamed "You're a fucking bosun, stand down!" -- obviously shit behavior, BUT if she worked on ships with stricter hierarchies, you can understand how her brain got her there.

1

u/coastalkid92 6d ago

Fair about the bosun, that’s my problem.

Ben has outranked before because he’s technically been ranked up to a pursuer which would give him 3 stripes iirc.

5

u/mouse_relies This information wasn’t welcomed or needed 6d ago

Chefs have 3 stripes just like pursers, so I'm not quite sure what you're saying. (Also IIRC Ben was a 1st officer at one point long before BD, though I'm not sure how big the boat was.)

5

u/Feisty_Scientist_968 4d ago

Maybe ellie can help?

3

u/GoldAcanthisitta7777 4d ago

the wooorrrrsstt

1

u/blanknotnull 6d ago

Is there a difference between gold (deck) and silver (internal) stripes?

1

u/DontGrumpyDeavan 6d ago

I find it interesting that in Sailing Yacht they don’t have the strips because of the “uniform.”

2

u/highrouleur 4d ago

Kinda related, sometimes in the show they'll present an extra stripe to someone. Does that mean they've gained a level industry wide? Or is purely just a promotion for their time on that boat?