For decades, Com-Pac Yachts provided sailors with a phenomenal line-up of sailing yachts — many of which were designed for trailer sailing. In this episode, I’m joined by veteran sailor and author Skipper Al Santini; Al has been sailing since 1973! Al has owned nine sailboats over his lifetime, but he particularly fell in love with Com-Pac sailboats and shares his thoughts — as well as some adventure sailing stories — about having owned both a Com-Pac Eclipse sloop and a Com-Pac Horizon Cat gaff-rigged sailboat. Skipper Al is also an accomplished author having published several technical books, and he’s also written a sailing fiction book series focusing on the adventures of his character, Captain Pete. This episode is packed with plenty of helpful Com-Pac golden nuggets, but it will also appeal to all sailors alike with Al sharing his wealth of knowledge and experience learned from years of adventuring out on the water!

PLEASE BE KIND -- I'm no expert -- I'm just a regular gal learning as I go! Also, I don't have a huge budget dedicated to equipment and/or other resources for recording audio -- but, I put lots of love and time into creating these podcasts in the hopes that sharing what I learn might help you!

Did you know that I blog regularly/create videos about adventures out on the water and other life-happenings? Come raft up with me at https://passagesfromtheheart.wordpress.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/@passagesfromtheheart

* PICTURES COURTESY OF SKIPPER AL SANTINI. *

LINKS:

Al Santini Keynote on YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_e2qRvjs00

Al Santini books | https://www.amazon.com/stores/Al-Santini/author/B001K8Z8JE?

Com-Pac Yacht Owners Association (CPYOA) | https://cpyoa.com/forum/

Com-Pac Eclipse | https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/com-pac-eclipse/

Com-Pac Horizon | https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/horizon-cat-20-com-pac/

Com-Pac Horizon Day Cat | https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/horizon-day-cat-20-com-pac/

Herreshoff America | https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/herreshoff-america/

Robert Hall YouTube channel for Com-Pac Horizon Day Cat | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AzWtGlsyv4

MUSIC CREDITS:

* Intro theme by Anthony Cuozzo of Double Down Sailing: / @quazzo

* Music used for welcome sequence in video is ‘Love in Mexico’ by Carmen María and Edu Espinal.

* Music used for outro in video is 'Silver Waves' by TrackTribe.

Get ready for a phenomenal ride in today’s episode — an in-depth follow-up interview with Skipper Josh Kali of the 2025 Mini Globe Race (MGR) — “the race for people with average means but above average ambitions,” as Skipper Josh likes to say! We sit down to hang-out while he’s waiting to start the next leg of the MGR out of Cape Town, South Africa, on Sunday, Dec. 28th, 2025. When I last chatted with Josh, he had recently completed the first leg of the MGR —from Antigua to Panama — and that was back in March of 2025. Since then, Josh and the rest of the MGR fleet have sailed all the way from Panama to French Polynesia, Tonga, Fiji, and then up through the Coral Sea and Torres Strait to Thursday Island, across the Indian Ocean to Cocos Keeling, to Rodrigues, to Mauritius, to Durban, East London, Port Elizabeth, Mossel Bay in South Africa, and then culminating with an epic rounding of both Cape Agulhas and the Cape of Good Hope to land in Cape Town, South Africa — a total, thus far, of 20,000 miles — all accomplished sailing aboard 5.8m homemade plywood sailboats! If you haven’t yet seen/heard it, check out the first interview I did with Skipper Josh back in March of 2025 on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFUu-YR_WZA or the audio version at https://rss.com/podcasts/passages-from-the-heart-podcast/2159142/.

PLEASE BE KIND -- I'm no expert -- I'm just a regular gal learning as I go! Also, I don't have a huge budget dedicated to equipment and/or other resources for recording video and audio -- but, I put lots of love and time into creating these podcasts in the hopes that sharing what I learn might help you!

Did you know that I blog regularly/create videos about adventures out on the water and other life-happenings? Come raft up with me at https://passagesfromtheheart.wordpress.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/@passagesfromtheheart

LINKS:

Josh Kali Ocean Racing | http://joshkalioceanracing.com

Mini Globe Race | https://minigloberace.com

MUSIC CREDITS:

*** Intro theme by Anthony Cuozzo of Double Down Sailing: / @quazzo

*** Music used for welcome sequence in video is ‘Love in Mexico’ by Carmen María and Edu Espinal.

*** Music used for outro in video is 'Silver Waves' by TrackTribe.

I’ve just celebrated the second-year anniversary of hosting my Passages From the Heart Podcast! With twenty-four episodes now under my belt, I couldn’t be more stoked to keep bringing you fresh content to fuel your passion for getting out on the water and chasing after your own dreams! In this special two-year anniversary podcast edition, I reunite with fellow sailor and good friend, Ken Johansen; Ken was the very first guest to be featured on my show. In this episode, Ken and I have a great time looking back in time to “where were then” with “where we are now” in our sailing journeys. But it’s all not just a trip down memory lane — we get into some awesome goodies about the various Com-Pac models we’ve owned and what each boat has taught us along the way. We also talk about aging as a sailor, transitioning to trailer-sailing instead of slipping/berthing our boats at a marina, and then delve into kitting out our boats for overnighting and camping adventures. This episode is packed with a little something — or a lot of things! — for every sailor to take away!

PLEASE BE KIND -- I'm no expert -- I'm just a regular gal learning as I go! Also, I don't have a huge budget dedicated to equipment and/or other resources for recording video and audio -- but, I put lots of love and time into creating these podcasts in the hopes that sharing what I learn might help you!

Did you know that I blog regularly/create videos about adventures out on the water and other life-happenings? Come raft up with me at https://passagesfromtheheart.wordpress.com/ and https://www.youtube.com/@passagesfromtheheart

LINKS:

Com-Pac 16 sailboat | https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/com-pac-16/

Com-Pac Legacy sailboat | https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/com-pac-legacy/

Com-Pac Sun Cat sailboat | https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/sun-cat-17-2-com-pac/

Com-Pac 23 sailboat | https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/com-pac-23-mk-iv/

Com-Pac 25 sailboat | https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/com-pac-25/

For Com-Pac parts - Fathom Metal Works | https://www.fathommetalworks.com/

Com-Pac Yacht Owners Association | https://cpyoa.com/forum/index.php

Lynn Sailboats | https://www.lynnsailboats.com/

2024 Com-Pac Legacy Sailboat Mini Tour | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vmytAmjp5X8

MUSIC CREDITS:

*** Intro theme by Anthony Cuozzo of Double Down Sailing: / @quazzo

*** Music used for welcome sequence in video is ‘Love in Mexico’ by Carmen María and Edu Espinal.

*** Music used for outro in video is 'Silver Waves' by TrackTribe.