Who Is Barnaby Birkbeck? Below Deck Sailing Yacht's New Deckhand Has Worked for Some Familiar Faces
Deckhand Kelsie Goglia has a very Kelsie first interaction with the Parsifal III's newest crew member.
After Captain Glenn Shephard let Tom Pearson go following the Parsifal III running aground earlier this season of Below Deck Sailing Yacht, the crew has been down a deckhand for practically two charters. Luckily, a new deckhand will finally arrive in the May 9 episode, and we've got your first look at the yachtie.
Barnaby Birkbeck climbs aboard the Parsifal III in the above preview, and his time on the yacht is already off to a hilarious start, thanks to deckhand Kelsie Goglia.
While this is only the second superyacht Barnaby has ever worked on, he does have quite a lot of sailing experience under his belt. "I grew up in Singapore, and I started sailing when I was 11. Dad bought a boat. Eventually, we were racing it, and we realized, 'Wow, we're actually quite good at this.' And then suddenly, we were winning Singapore national championships," Barnaby shares in an interview in the video. "We were happy with that, so we went for it and got a fast racing boat, and went off and sailed it as fast and as hard as I can, and I love it!"
Originally hailing from Brighton, England, Barnaby is definitely a man of the world. "I was in Greece when I got the call. I was on a private island there teaching some Greek billionaires how to, like, eFoil and wakeboard, and that kind of thing. I'm a water sports instructor, really," he tells Kelsie while working on deck in the clip. "I guess it's kind of similar to this, just without the water sports."
In fact, Barnaby has had some pretty high-profile clientele in the past. "When I was 18, I had a very lucky break with going to Necker Island and teaching kitesurfing to the rich and famous. That's on my CV, like, Barack Obama, Richard Branson, boom, let's go, let's go, let's go," he says in an interview in the video. "When you work on superyachts or you work on private islands, you know what kind of lifestyle [clients] have, and that's annoying because I want it so badly."
So, how does the Parsifal III crew feel about their new deckhand so far? The yachties don't hold back their reactions in the sneak peek, above.
Watch new episodes of Below Deck Sailing Yacht Mondays at 8/7c and streaming on Peacock.
