By Mike Leidemann
Advertiser staff writer

At 17, Mark Towill has a lifetime's worth of ocean memories: sailing since he was a young boy, paddling the Kaiwi Channel and being a crew member on the Hawaiian sailing canoe Hokule'a.

Now, as he's preparing to start his senior year at Punahou School, Towill has a new adventure to look forward to: He has been selected as one of 15 crew members on a Roy Disney-sponsored yacht in next summer's Transpacific Yacht Race.

Towill found out last week that he was among those chosen from more than 500 worldwide applicants to take part in the Morning Light project, in which Disney has assembled the youngest and most diverse team ever to participate in the 2,225-mile race from Los Angeles to Honolulu.

"They were looking for a team that would work well together. I think my experience on the Hokule'a helped me stand out," said Towill, who will be the youngest member of the team.

The Morning Light project, a brainchild of the 76-year-old Disney who has had a lifelong passion for sailing, includes assembling the diverse crew and training them for the race. Disney, a billionaire nephew of studio legend Walt Disney, said he wanted to give a once- in-a-lifetime chance to ordinary sailors who otherwise would never be able to live together in Hawai'i for six months, train under the direction of Olympic gold medalist Robbie Haines, and finally compete in the yacht race.

Those chosen are varied, indeed. They include several working-class members, a New Mexico university student who grew up on boats as her family traveled the world, a 21-year- old man whose only water experience is working year-round at a Baltimore sailing center, and Towill, who remembers being taken out as a young boy of 6 or 7 on the Hokule'a by navigator Nainoa Thompson and credits junior sailing program at the Hawai'i and Kane'ohe yacht clubs with helping him develop his water skills.

Since those early days, he's been a canoe paddler, a kayaker and once built his own plywood boat. Earlier this summer, he was a crew member on the Hokule'a as it headed for Nihoa in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands, a trip that had to be cut short by the passing Hurricane Daniel.

Towill first heard about the Morning Light project from University of Hawai'i sailing coach Andy Johnson, who urged him to send in an application, which included a lengthy essay. Just a few days after he returned from the Hokule'a voyage, Towill and other finalists were summoned to Los Angeles for 10 days of competition that included everything from sailing to being led around a hotel blindfolded, learning to trust those they were with.

"A lot of what I learned on the Hokule'a will really help on the Morning Light. Racing is all about working together as an 'ohana," Towill said. "There are a lot of differences between the Hokule'a and the high-tech yachts, but a lot of the sailing basics are the same."