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Morning
Light
PRESS RELEASE
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Jan.
3, 2007
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Morning Light meets the boat and learns the ropes
HONOLULU---The Morning Light sailors who plan to be the
youngest crew ever to sail the Transpacific Yacht Race in July
will be introduced this week to a key element of their quest:
the boat.
In the first of four monthly training sessions in Hawaii, the 13
young men and two young women will spend the next 10 days
getting familiar with the Transpac 52 they'll race 2,225 nautical
miles from Los Angeles to Honolulu to culminate Roy Disney's
documentary film production.
The team has received the full aloha treatment in the 50th
state. Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann said, “We welcome
the Morning Light sailors back for training and we wish them
all good luck and god speed in this summer’s biennial
Transpac race. Honolulu welcomes Transpac every two years,
but the presence of the all- star team of young sailors who
make up the Morning Light crew--- including Mark Towill of
Kaneohe-- -makes this one special."
One of the team's first outings will be to see the Polynesian
sailing canoe Hokule'a off on its momentous 7,000-mile cruise
to Micronesia early Thursday morning. Master navigator
Nainoa Thompson schooled the team in the ancient
techniques of navigation during two days of sailing in
November. Photos of that Thanksgiving weekend experience
are available for download at www.papahui.com
“I was impressed by their eagerness to learn about Polynesian
sailing traditions and the many similarities with what they’re
doing today," Hannemann said. "We’re glad that this project is
being documented in a film that’s an integral part of the
project. Thanks to Roy Disney and the production crew, this
will help inform the rest of the world about not only Hawaii, but
also Polynesia, past and present.”
A press conference with Hannemann, Disney and the team is
scheduled for Thursday, Jan. 10, 10 a.m. at the Hawaii Prince
Hotel in Waikiki. Details and arrangements are available from
Morning Light's Honolulu media contact, Michiko Wada, at
(808) 554-3328 or yawalias@earthlink.net
At race time, the average age of the 15 sailors will be 21.2
years, a full year under the record.
But they'll be doing it alone with no ocean racing veterans on
board, and Disney--- who simultaneously will be sailing the
maxZ86 Pyewacket in his 16th Transpac--- is going to make
sure they are ready.
"Part of what we want to accomplish in this first session is the
safety- at- sea business of handling life rafts, man-overboard
drills, CPR and emergency medical procedure," Disney said.
"They're going to be internationally certified safety-at- sea
experts by the time they get through."
Only four days of sailing are scheduled this time, starting
Saturday. Otherwise, they'll be occupied learning the less
glamorous but critical procedures from a team led by Chuck
Hawley of West Marine, who has been conducting pre-race
seminars for Transpac and other ocean races for years.
Also, Stan Honey, who charted ABN AMRO's victorious
course in the recent Volvo Ocean Race, will be drilling them
on navigation, and Fuzz Foster of North Sails will teach them
how to patch up torn sails at sea.
Determination of crew positions will come later.
Disney said, "That's going to be an ongoing process. A few of
the kids kind of know where they're going to be [on the boat],
and there's a bunch who don’t who are pretty good at many
things. A lot of it is going to be determined by them as much
as by us."
Versatility was a consideration in the selection process at
Long Beach last August when the 30 candidates culled from
538 applicants were reduced to the 15 now in Hawaii.
"Absolutely," Disney said. "You want everybody to be able to
do be able to do everything, if possible. We've always worked
like that on my boats. But there's always going to be a bow
guy and a sewer guy. You hope everybody can steer and
everybody can trim and you hope half of them can navigate."
As Disney spoke on the phone from the Morning Light office
atop the Hawaii Prince, he interrupted himself to make a
sudden observation: "We have an incredible double rainbow
outside the window right now . . . just beautiful. It comes right
down to here. I hope it's a good omen."
More information: www.pacifichighproductions.com/and
www.transpacificyc.org
MEDIA CONTACTS
Rich Roberts
(310) 835-2526
richsail@earthlink.net
In Honolulu
Michiko Wada
(808) 554-3328
yawalias@earthlink.net
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Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann
The Transpac 52 Morning Light
is offloaded in Honolulu
Photo by Robbie Haines
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.
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
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JEREMY WILMOT, 21, Sydney,
Australia, sophomore,
St. Mary's College of Maryland.
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TRANSPAC RACE STATUS
