Someday I will quit all this and sail the world! Who hasn't weighed that dream, at least once in their lives? Responding to an ad calling for a sailing ship's crew, two landlocked brothers did just that, realizing long-held dreams of tall ships on the high seas.On November 25, 1997, the good ship Picton Castle sailed forth from the picturesque maritime village of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia, to circumnavigate the world in the wake of the ancients. On board were 14 professional crewmembers and 25 working amateurs, including Brad Jarrell, an Arizona cowboy, and his younger brother Todd, a Nashville advertising executive and musician.
Their amazing adventures would span 20 months and encompass five continents, three oceans, and 38 ports in 22 countries. Amid feasts, safaris, violent squalls, and shipwrecks they would encounter a Chilean Elvis impersonator, a Bora Bora tattoo artist, a TV-besotted village chief, bioluminescent dolphins, and more. Todd Jarrell would capture these adventures on audio and file them with NPR affiliate WPLN of Nashville while still at sea.
Slow Dance with the Planet is the compilation of Todd's recordings. It is a story of a wind ship and the sea, of individuals and friendships made in faraway places, of exhilaration, exasperation, exploration, and the sheer, unconstrained joy of living.