I’ve got an absolutely rad show for you all today — my guest features sailor, machine restorer, and adventurer Brandon Fetterman of the popular YouTube sailing channel Restro Thunder Road! In our conversation, Brandon and I take a look back to how he fell in love with the water while growing up, and then ultimately discovered his passion for sailing. We also dig into how he set his sights on adventuring with small, trailerable sailboats, specifically, Thunder Road, his 1964 O’Day Mariner. Brandon also shares an in-depth experience of participating in the Texas 200 RAID/mess-about the past four years and how this summer, in 2026, he’ll be undertaking the event as a solo sailor for the very first time!

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

LINKS:

Restro Thunder Road on YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@restrothunderroad

Restro Thunder Road on Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/svthunderroad

Restro Thunder Road on Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/restrothunderroad/

Sailing Zingaro on YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@BeTheCaptain

Ziggy Lavengood on YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@ZiggyLavengood

Texas 200 | https://texas200.com/home

O’day Mariner | https://goodoldboat.com/saildata/boat/mariner-oday-mariner/ and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mariner_19

Mariner Class Association | https://www.usmariner.org

Jerome Rand of Sailing Into Oblivion | https://www.sailingintooblivion.com

Skipper D Adventures | https://www.youtube.com/@SkipperDAdventures

Florida 120 | https://www.facebook.com/groups/fl120/

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 got another spectacular interview for you today featuring my guest, Susan Marie Conrad, a solo paddler/kayaker, adventurer, speaker, and author. Susan shares how she fell in love with the sport of sea kayaking despite growing up with parents who forbade her to be anywhere near a body of water. We also cover key kayaking basics, for example, the different kinds of kayaks and what each is designed for as well as best practices to dive into the world of paddling/kayaking. Our conversation then shifts to Susan’s memoir, INSIDE: One Woman’s Journey Through the Inside Passage, which chronicles her 2010 66 day, 1200 mile solo paddle in her 18 ft sea kayak up the coastal waters of Washington state, British Columbia, Canada, and the Alaskan panhandle — a water route collectively known as the Inside Passage. Twelve years after her 2010 adventure, at the tender age of 62, Susan repeated the voyage! Stay tuned to learn more about Susan’s adventures out on the water and how they’ve shaped her life! Now, onto the show!

Special notes from Susan: I'd love to offer listeners a 30% discount on Wildly Inside: A Visual Journey Through the Inside Passage. Please select the "buy from Author" option (vs Amazon or a bookstore) and use the coupon code PODCAST30 on my website.

Raft up with Chelle at https://passagesfromtheheart.wordpress.com

LINKS:

Susan Marie Conrad | https://www.susanmarieconrad.com

Susan Marie Conrad on Facebook | Susan Marie Conrad on Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/susanmarieconrad/

Susan's Inside Passage Expedition Gear List | https://www.susanmarieconrad.com/_files/ugd/d25451_6e4b90a346054e4596d6d33fb2d4f2a7.pdf

Books about the Inside Passage, by Susan | https://www.susanmarieconrad.com/books

Alone in the Passage: An Explorer's Guide to Sea Kayaking the Inside Passage by Denis Dwyer | https://www.amazon.com/Alone-Passage-Explorers-Kayaking-Inside/dp/1482586452

Paddling North by Audrey Sutherland | https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/670707/paddling-north-by-audrey-sutherland/

West coast kayak coaching | https://www.bodyboatblade.com/

British Columbia kayak coaching | https://skils.ca/

Wisconsin kayak "everything" | https://www.rutabagashop.com/

American Canoe Association (a wealth of info on ALL paddlesports) | https://americancanoe.org/

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.

Imagine setting out to learn to sail and then less than two years later, you’re gearing up to sail solo in the Florida 120 aboard a 14’ open boat! That’s exactly what Darren, aka Skipper D of Skipper D Adventures, has set out to do! In this episode, we travel back in time to September 2024 when Skipper D embarks upon a course of study with the American Sailing Association and he shares how he discovered an amazing and supportive sailing community. With 261 hours of sail time, a total of 835 nm sailed (with 436 of those being coastal and ocean nm), with five American Sailing Association certifications as well as an ASA docking endorsement, Skipper D has built up a substantial sailing resume in less than two years time after setting out to learn to sail. Skipper D has enjoyed sailing on both larger and smaller vessels and when it came time to find his match for sharing adventures out on the water, he surprised himself by deciding to purchase a 14’ Com-Pac Picnic Cat boat. The Com-Pac Picnic Cat boat is gaff-rigged and though perhaps small, the boat is built with big adventures in mind! Skipper D has been documenting his journey with his incredible YouTube channel called Skipper D Adventures — be sure to check it out as well as his website, www. skipperd.com.

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

LINKS:

Skipper D Adventures Website | https://www.skipperd.com

Skipper D Adventures on YouTube | https://www.youtube.com/@SkipperDAdventures

Restro Thunder Road | https://www.youtube.com/@restrothunderroad

Ziggy Lavengood | https://www.youtube.com/@ZiggyLavengood

Roger Barnes | https://www.youtube.com/@RogerRoving

American Sailing Association | https://americansailing.com/

Com-Pac Picnic Cat | https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/picnic-cat-com-pac/

CPYOA Forum | https://cpyoa.com/forum/

Picnic Cat PDF Capsize thread (read reply #1) | https://cpyoa.com/forum/index.php?topic=12942.0

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.