|
|
|
|
|
|
Morning
Light
PRESS RELEASE
|
|
Feb.
7, 2007
|
Morning Light sailors: off they go, all alone
HONOLULU---The Morning Light team is about to take
another
leap forward: the nautical equivalent of handing the kids the
keys to the car.
During their second monthly training session Feb. 8-20 starting
Thursday in preparation for next summer's Transpacific Yacht
Race, the 15 young men and women will sail their Transpac 52
on two 138-nautical mile overnight voyages around neighboring
Molokai Island. Starting from their base of operations at the
Waikiki Yacht Club, the young sailors will be under the
supervision of sailing manager Robbie Haines and preeminent
navigator Stan Honey for the first trip Feb. 13- 14 but will be on
their own for the second Feb. 19-20.
Between the treks, a shoreside highlight of this second of four
training sessions will be the Opening Day ceremonies of the
Waikiki Yacht Club Saturday, Feb. 17, where the Morning Light
team will meet and socialize with their hosts led by WYC
Commodore Mark Hazlett.
Stan Thornton, chairman of the Opening Day committee, said,
"Morning Light also will be participating in the Opening Day
blessing of the fleet, the cruise to HNL Harbor and the regatta
following. Our membership will not only be able to meet and
get to know these fine young sailors but race against them as
well."
Although some of the sailors have done other overnight ocean
races, for the rest these will be their first taste of a rotating
watch system of sailing, eating and sleeping in a competitive
mode.
Jesse Fielding, 20, of North Kingstown, R.I. said, "I'm really
excited. We need to find our limits. The next big step for sailing
a Transpac is to go out and see if we can sail . . . at night . . .
offshore . . . by ourselves."
The twin goals of the Morning Light project are to prepare and
send a youthful team from diverse backgrounds in a major
ocean race and to produce a documentary film of the entire
experience. The film is being produced by Roy E. Disney's
Pacific High Productions in association with Disney Studios
and is scheduled for theater release early next year.
The sailors' every physical, mental and emotional moves are
being recorded along the way. Mark Monroe, the director/writer,
works without a script and with no preconceived ending. His
crew shadows the team on land and sea without interfering with
their activities.
"These training sessions are also for the production crew to
figure out logistically how to go about this," Monroe said.
"We're in training, too."
Haines, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist, scheduled the overnight
sails, feeling it was time for the team to experience racing
around the clock, as they will in the Transpac for eight or nine
days. He believes they'll be ready after intense training under
Honey, boat captain Dave Tank, first mate Jimmy Slaughter
and himself.
"When we started this project we had no idea what kind of kids
they'd be," Haines said, "but there's not a bad apple in the
whole group. They have so much enthusiasm and they're so
eager to learn that it's very satisfying for all of us."
Positions are yet to be determined.
Fielding said, "The position swapping we did in that first
session gave us a chance to look at the whole boat. Some
people are leaning one way because they have a prior set of
skills, but in all my experience on the 52 I've been everywhere,
and I'm not really sure where I'd like to be. It's such a great
bunch of people I'd be happy just to do anything for 'em."
There is no acting---at least none of which Monroe is aware.
"They can't help being aware of the cameras because we're
around all the time," he said, "but there's not much posing. The
most we've done is ask them to, say, go around the other side
of the luggage carrier so there's better light, but we won't tell
'em what to do on the boat. Whatever they do, we just try to
capture it."
Monroe, 38, also worked on several of the "Beyond the Glory"
documentary television productions for Fox Sports.
"In some aspects this is similar because of the comments
these kids have," Monroe said. "They are young athletes, and
they firmly believe they're going to win this race.
"Everyone says---and it's a bit of a cliché---that it's a 'coming of
age' story, and in essence that's what we're trying to do. To be
on a sailboat and sail 24 hours a day across a massive ocean
is going to change you, whether you're 15 or 50. To the extent
that we know what’s going to happen at
the end of this story,
that's it. We'll talk to them afterwards and see if they look
different and sound different. But right now they're extremely
confident in their abilities on a boat."
More information:
www.pacifichighproductions.com
www.transpacificyc.org
MEDIA CONTACTS
Rich Roberts
(310) 835-2526
Michiko Wada
(808) 554-3328
|
|
|
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.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
TRANSPAC RACE STATUS
