Steering The Current

Lee Rosbach has become a household name these days.

Virtually everyone is aware that this genial, resourceful, and very decisive man is “Captain Lee” — the white-bearded captain of the yacht cruises featured on Bravo’s top-rated reality television series “Below Deck.”

What most viewers don’t realize is that Captain Lee, 71, is not a professional actor – he’s an experienced Fort Lauderdale-based charter captain. He is also author of “Running Against the Tide: True Tales from the Stud of the Sea,” husband of Mary Anne, father of five children, and a man born very far from the ocean – in Saginaw, Mich., to be exact. 

That geography may explain why Rosbach didn’t experience sea life early on. In fact, it wasn’t until he was in his 30s managing a restaurant in the Turks and Caicos Islands that he first served as mate on a sailboat delivery to St. Martin to earn extra money.  

“I was seasick and I stayed awake almost all the time. But I loved it all. Being out on the ocean. The solitude. The navigation,” he recalls.

He also learned a lot: “Murphy’s law seems to be the primary law in yachting. You will pull up to a dock you’ve been to 100 times before and one of your engines dies. You have to find another way to do it.”

When he turned 35, he took time off to get his captain’s license and left the restaurant business to pursue his newfound passion. 

As he built his career, he moved from Naples, Fla., to Fort Lauderdale, considered the yachting capital of the world, where he commanded mega yachts such as the 162’ Mustang Sally and 120’ Sovereign.

This led, eventually, to the opportunity to captain the luxury charter yachts featured in “Below Deck.”  It turned out that his skills, credentials and calm, but forthright, personality perfectly matched the needs of the series with its constantly changing cast of crew members and affluent guest parties. 

“There was no script and that took a little getting used to. But I didn’t have to change. I was myself. I just went about my job and the cameras just kept rolling,” he says.

But success hasn’t deterred Rosbach from land-based commitments. Recently, he became a board member of the Children’s Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Fort Lauderdale, an organization which helps pay for children’s medical treatments. 

Why do that? “Because they are kids,” Rosbach explains. “And they need help. Does anyone need more of a reason than that? If not me, then who? If not now, then when?”