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Morning
Light PRESS RELEASE
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Feb.
23, 2007
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Let it blow - Morning
Light is ready
HONOLULU---The Morning Light team has scattered across
the country and the world after the second of four monthly
training sessions in Hawaii, but in a greater sense they're
closer together than ever and getting to feel at home on their
Transpac 52.
One of the 15 young members, Robbie Kane, 21, of Fairfield,
Conn., said, "I'm amazed how fast everyone is learning.
During the first session we were still not used to the boat or
a lot of breeze, but after this session and our first overnight
[sail] I can see how confident our team is. It's going to get
better and better, especially as we switch positions. That's
been a really good idea."
Other sessions are scheduled March 12-26 and April 12-26
to prepare them for the 44th Transpacific Yacht Race from
Los Angeles to Honolulu in July. The entire Morning Light
project---crew selection, training and the race---will be the
subject of a documentary film produced by Roy E. Disney
and Leslie DeMeuse of Pacific High Productions in
association with Disney Studios. It's scheduled for theater
release early next year.
Highlight of the second session was the 138-nautical mile
trip around nearby Molokai, mostly at night, with instructors
on board. The plan was for the sailors to do a similar jaunt
by themselves late in the session, but then the weather
piped up.
"There was a forecast to about 40 knots and 20-foot seas,"
Kane said. "We would have done it if it was one of the later
[monthly] sessions, but we couldn't afford to break anything
in the middle of the training schedule."
Even for the weekend Opening Day races run by the host
Waikiki Yacht Club Saturday and Hawaii Yacht Club Sunday
the wind outside Ala Wai Harbor was howling 35 to 40 knots
with gusts to 50. The Hawaii YC race was scheduled to go
upwind to Koko Head at the southeast corner of Oahu---the
opposite direction they'll be sailing to finish the Transpac in
July---but the fleet had difficulty even getting to Diamond
Head.
Through it all, the intrepid Morning Light film crew continued
shooting from a splashing and bashing chase boat. Like
some of the team members, even those who had sailed
offshore, they hadn't experienced conditions that severe.
Disney said, "We’re in a fairly steep learning curve
ourselves, about how best to capture these harrowing
moments on film for an audience."
Kane said, "Kate [Theisen] did her first race ever on
Saturday. Before this the fastest she'd ever gone was 10
knots, cruising with her parents.
"I've been in a few races that were pretty bad. The worst was
the last Vineyard race from Stamford, Conn. to a buoy in
Martha's Vineyard and back when we actually sailed through
a hurricane. That was on Blue Yankee, a Reichel/Pugh 66.
We had gusts of 60 the whole race and squalls. It was pretty
hairy. We went about 30 knots in 20-foot waves."
Kane will spend this training break racing---what else?---with
teammate Jeremy Wilmot in the latter's homeland of
Australia. Teammate Chris Branning is doing the current
race from Marina del Rey, Calif. to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico,
on David Janes's Scout Spirit, a Reichel/Pugh 77.
Branning said, joking, "It's nice to be on a boat without all
the cameras around."
Kane has no doubts that the team will be prepared to handle
whatever Transpac offers.
"We have perfect coaches, perfect sailing conditions and the
perfect boat, so it's bound to happen," he said.
No crew positions have been assigned, but Kane knows
where he's most at home.
"It's still open, but I'm a bowman," he said. "That's all I've
done since I was 12 years old. I'm most comfortable up on
the pointy end where it's wet and wild."
More information:
www.pacifichighproductions.com
www.transpacificyc.org
MEDIA CONTACTS
Rich Roberts
(310) 835-2526
cell (310) 766-6547
Michiko Wada
(808) 554-3328
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Robbie Kane at home
on the bow
Morning Light sailors help
Waikiki Yatch Club
celebrate their opening
Morning Light starts the
Hawaii Yacht Club's
Opening Day race
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The Morning Light team
(Ages at time of race)
CHRIS BRANNING, 21,
Sarasota, Fla., junior,
U.S. Merchant Marine Academy.
GRAHAM BRANT-ZAWADZKI, 22, Newport
Beach, Calif., senior, Stanford Univ.
CHRIS CLARK, 21, Old Greenwich, Conn.,
sailmaker, junior at Univ. of Mary Washington.
CHARLIE ENRIGHT, 22, Providence, R.I.,
racing coach, senior, Brown Univ.
JESSE FIELDING, 20, North Kingstown, R.I.,
boat worker, sailing teacher, student Univ. of
Rhode Island.
ROBBIE KANE, 22, Fairfield, Conn., racing
sailboat captain.
STEVE MANSON, 22, Baltimore, Md., sailing
instructor.
CHRIS SCHUBERT, 22, Rye, N.Y.,
Midshipman First Class, U.S. Naval Academy.
KATE THEISEN, 20, Socorro, N.M., planetary
scientist student, New Mexico Tech.
MARK TOWILL, 18, Kaneohe, Hawaii,
senior, Punahou High School.
GENNY TULLOCH, 22, Houston, Texas,
sailor.
PIET VAN OS, 23, La Jolla, Calif., senior,
California Maritime Academy.
CHRIS WELCH, 19, Grosse Pointe Park,
Mich., boat prep and deliveries, soph.,
Michigan State Univ.
KIT WILL, 22, Milton, Mass., senior,
Connecticut College.
JEREMY WILMOT, 21, Sydney, Australia,
sophomore, St. Mary's College of Maryland.
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TRANSPAC RACE STATUS
