You might recognize Wes O’Dell from season 9 of Below Deck. But the St. Thomas man has found that his true on-the-water passion involves something with sails. Growing up, Wes O’Dell spent summers helping his dad run his sailing yacht charter business. “My mom and dad met down here in St. Thomas in the ‘80s,” O’Dell said. “Dad had a small C&C sailboat that he ran day sails off of.” The family lived in St. Thomas for years, but after Hurricane Marilyn hit the Virgin Islands in 1995, they moved to St. Augustine, Florida. His parents divorced and O’Dell stayed in St. Augustine with his mother, while his dad remarried and returned to St. Thomas to resurrect his charter sailing business. O’Dell went to school in St. Augustine while working summers alongside his dad. “I’d be down here, working on the boat in the summers, serving drinks, doing day sails and snorkeling,” he said. While being his dad’s first mate was fun, O’Dell wasn’t convinced he wanted to pursue a career in yachting. “I wanted to be a pilot,” he said. He considered going into the Navy. But that training would take years, whereas he could achieve the same thrill on the water from a sailing yacht. So after he graduated from high school, O’Dell returned to St. Thomas to work part-time with his dad, but he also worked on other vessels. “I worked on those giant catamarans,” he said. “By the time I was 23 I got control of my first sailboat, which was a 65-foot boat that could take about 49 passengers out for day sails. “After that we had Hurricane Irma and Maria in 2017, which destroyed the boat I captained. Destroyed my father’s boat. Basically like 90% of the boats down here.” Unwilling to give up sailing, O’Dell rebounded by resurrecting a 53-foot Gallant built in 1968 by Southern Ocean Shipyard, which he named Nightwind 2 after his father’s boat. “It’s a very special type of boat,” O’Dell said. “Only 22 of them were ever built, 14 of them still exist and eight of the 14 being operational. And out of those eight, four of them are like me, they still sail, but you won’t see them at boat shows because somebody doesn’t have that endless amount of money to put into them.” O’Dell purchased the sailing vessel after it had sustained damage from a hurricane. Despite the damage, O’Dell knew the boat was special. “This boat got its fame back in ‘71, ‘72 by Naomi James, the first woman to circumnavigate the world by herself,” O’Dell said. “This particular style of boat was built to do transatlantic open ocean water sailing races. She’s very fast (yet) comfortable, but because she’s older … it can sleep 12, but it only has two cabins, one head, or bath and shower and the rest is all dedicated to storage. So people back then used it to store a lot of food and things instead of using that space for living space.” O’Dell’s dad decided to retire after the hurricanes destroyed Nightwind. But now O’Dell runs his own charter company and business is booming. He’s found that sweet spot of chartering shorter day cruises and his guests love every minute. He has a slew of 5-star ratings on TripAdvisor and his guests often make repeat sails. “I do day sails, like six hours sails around St. Thomas and St. John,” he said. “Lunch provided, open bar, snorkel gear provided sitting accommodations are very spacious, up on deck. Sunset sails. Private events.” It’s obvious O’Dell’s guests have a blast from just from a quick glance at Nightwind 2’s Instagram page. Plus reviews rave about their experience. “Open bar with excellent rum punch is served all day along with a fabulous chicken and pasta salad lunch that is much appreciated after the hard work of a morning snorkel at one of Saint John’s great beach locations,” a recent Trip Advisor reviewer gushed. “This is followed by more sailing and a second stop with Captain Wesley‘s knowledge always bringing us to the best snorkeling areas. Wesley and his first mate are always friendly, and willing to share their wealth of knowledge of this beautiful part of God’s creation.” O’Dell has found that sailing and creating experiences like that are his passion. He did a stint as a superyacht deckhand on Below Deck Season 9, but found the work to be tedious and boring. “There was no room for growth,” he said. “And there was nothing that gave me that ‘Oh cool, yeah this will be exciting’ feeling.” He joked, “After a while I was like, ‘I don’t know what I’m doing on this yacht!’” O’Dell was grateful to experience deck work on a superyacht, but it just didn’t compare the exhilaration of heeling over. So he’s sticking with sailing. His charter business typically requires only a few crew members, but staffing has been tough due the nature of the business. Long-term, O’Dell is planning to open opportunities in yachting to the kids in St. Thomas. He’s currently working with the Boy Scouts of America to help with seamanship, and he looks forward to offering a similar program to public school kids. The program is still in the works, but he envisions an apprenticeship-type arrangement. “I’ll start with the public schools here, and work with them in the summertime so I can get kids who really want to do it and are serious about it,” he said. O’Dell wants to introduce kids to the basics of sailing and offer support when it comes to gaining certifications. “It could be working on the boat for a certain amount of time and as a reward for sticking by as a crew member, I’ll pay for your captain’s license or for other stuff,” he said. “Also, they get to work too.” Triton’s new charter issue is now out! Click here to read it!