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The Disney staff
then selected 15 finalists. They will fly to Hawaii in January for four months of intensive
training aboard the Transpac 52- design Morning Light. In April, final decisions on a crew of
12 and
alternates will be made for the race itself – a bienni2,225- mile July sprint which draws some
of the
world’s best skippers, crews and state-of-the-art sailboats.
At 22, van Os will
be the oldest member of the young crew. A San Diego native, he has spent most of his
life around sailboats. That’s not surprising. His grandfather won the Transpac in 1961. Piet started
racing
at age six and quickly progressed to national and international competitions. Although captain of his
high
school sailing team, he missed much of his senior year racing in Italy, New Zealand and Australia.
Cal Maritime sailing
instructor and coach “Charlie” Arms said van Os has put in a strong performance at
the Academy. “His strength in race tactics helped us capture the 2003 and 2005 Service Academy
Shields Cup trophy from such tough competitors as the Merchant Marine Academy at King’s Point and
the U.S. Naval Academy.”
Despite his time
on the water, van Os hasn’t neglected his education. As he enters his senior year, he is
already close to completing the credits he needs for graduation as a licensed deck officer -- with additional
certification as a qualified mechanical engineer (QMED) – one of the toughest academic tracks in
school.
van Os says he will work with his teachers to assure he can make up missed classes and assignments.
If
need be, he said, he is willing to delay his graduation a year to be part of what he understandably
calls the
opportunity of a lifetime.
“I’ll
be training with some of the top sailors and navigators in the world,” he noted. Team members will
be
cross-trained in all areas of racing and actual positions won’t be decided until late in training. “I applied as
skipper/navigator tactician. I am really looking forward to training with Stan Honey, winning
navigator of
the Volvo round-the- world ocean race and Robbie Haines, Olympic gold medalist – the sailing
director.”
Disney film crews
will be following van Os and other team members to collect background about each of
them, and to document their training and the race itself. That starts July 9th at Los Angeles
and ends about
eight days later in Honolulu. It is anticipated that the completed documentary will be released sometime
in
2008.
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TRANSPAC RACE STATUS
