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'Morning Light': Speed Racers On The Ocean Blue

Bob Mondello

After six months of intense training, a crew of collegiate sailors fling themselves across the Pacific in a 52-foot sloop christened the Morning Light . Abner Kingman/Disney Enterprises hide caption

After six months of intense training, a crew of collegiate sailors fling themselves across the Pacific in a 52-foot sloop christened the Morning Light .

Morning Light

• Director: Paul Crowder,                  Mark Monroe
• Genre: Documentary
• Running Time: 97 minutes

Rated PG: Mild language

Fifteen sailors — collegiate nonprofessionals all — compete in one of the world's most celebrated yacht races in the attractive if underwhelming Disney documentary Morning Light.

Through six months of what looks to be arduous but thoroughly enjoyable training in the Pacific, the crew prepares for the 2007 Transpac, a 2,225-mile race from California to Hawaii.

The back story: A decade earlier, Roy E. Disney's 73-foot maxi-ultralight, the Pyewacket, had won the race in a record seven days, 11 hours, 41 minutes.

So this time, the Disney corporate president sent cameras along to watch a 15-member team of 18-to-23-year-olds sail a newer boat, the even ultralighter 52-foot sloop Morning Light. They jointly whittle their number down to a crew of 11 (without noticeable acrimony), overcome fears (one of them can barely swim) and bond with one another in the manner of college students forced into close company in a dorm.

Whether that's enough to cause audiences to bond, too, is an open question. Bronzed and athletic, the crew doesn't qualify as Mousekesailors, exactly, but they're so squeaky-clean (there's no swearing like sailors on a Disney boat) that it's hard to even imagine the sort of flare-ups that lend reality TV its typical frisson.

The mild tribulations (the onboard food's not tasty) never lead anyone to mutiny, and the race itself, while hard-fought and wearing, takes place on the open seas. So for much of their weeklong voyage, our heroes' competitors are nowhere on the horizon.

Canvas billows, sunsets glow and there's eye-filling spectacle aplenty in the majesty of the swells. But the race gets off to an awkward start — the wind dies shortly after the teams lose sight of land, leaving everyone becalmed for the better part of a day — and co-directors Paul Crowder and Mark Monroe seem as relieved as the crew when the breeze picks up again. A day or two later, they manage to whip up some much-needed mid-voyage tension when a rival crew finally draws within camera range.

Mostly though, the film is more appealing for its scenery, which is as breathtakingly blue as you'd expect, than for its drama.

Web Resources

Morning Light team hits a home run

Published on January 30th, 2014 by Editor -->

Morning Light was a 2008 film, which chronicled a real-life crew training and competing in the 44th Transpacific Yacht Race aboard a TP52 aptly named, Morning Light. The project began with a nationwide recruiting campaign, which resulted in the selection of 15 young sailors between 18 and 23 years. They would be the focus.

“We’re not making a film about sailboat racing and we’re not making a film about a boat,” explained Executive producer Roy E. Disney. “It’s a story about a group of young adults sailing across an ocean, the obstacles they encounter and the bonds they form. It’s a story about becoming more than the sum of the parts.”

Seven years later, Morning Light crewmates Charlie Enright and Mark Towill will now be leading Team Alvimedica to compete in the 2014-15 Volvo Ocean Race. Here are comments from the film team…

Leslie DeMeuse, Executive Producer “We really wanted these kids to have the opportunity to move on to bigger and better things. The kids clearly had aspirations, and they were all very talented. Based on their applications, we knew they would carry on and apply this experience to future endeavors. That was our hope, as so many young people don’t get the opportunity to compete in a race like Transpac. I am really happy to see how they all have carried on; this news about Charlie and Mark is extremely rewarding.”

Robbie Haines, Sailing Team Manager “When the idea of the documentary was launched, Roy and Leslie empowered those of us involved to do what was needed so the kids would be fully prepared to sail across the Pacific Ocean. We brought in this dream team of coaches, and the kids were so receptive to the training. We had 15 kids, and now nearly all of them have gone on to bigger and better things in our sport. Certainly to have two of them go from the Morning Light experience to now running a Volvo Ocean Race program, well, it’s a home run. I am so proud of them. They have all made those of us involved in the Morning Light project very proud.”

Stan Honey, Head Sailing Coach It was clear then that a lot of them had their heart set on a career in sailing. I had just gotten done with the Volvo Ocean Race, so they were all eager to hear about it. Plus we had a number of coaches beside myself who had done the race, guys like Mike Sanderson, Mike Howard, and Jerry Kirby, so there were a lot of discussions about the race and about the skills needed. I am sure that Roy (Disney) would be exceedingly pleased by this news, but not at all surprised. He and Leslie really enjoyed the project. It was not hard to get swept up in the enthusiasm, and the kids were equally excited to have this rare opportunity to get to know a legend like Roy.

Note : Roy Edward Disney (Jan. 10, 1930 – Dec. 16, 2009) was a longtime senior executive for The Walt Disney Company, which his father Roy Oliver Disney and his uncle Walt Disney founded.

Tags: Charlie Enright , Leslie DeMeuse , Mark Towill , Morning Light , Robbie Haines , Stan Honey , The Ocean Race

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Young sailors brave the open ocean in ‘Morning…

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Young sailors brave the open ocean in ‘morning light’.

THE CREW: These 15 young sailors set sail in the Transpacific Yacht Race in the Disney Motion Pictures' documentary "Morning Light."

AND THEY'RE OFF: Yachts departs Los Angeles at the beginning of the 44th Transpacific Yacht Race in a scene from "Morning Light."

OCEANIC CHALLENGE: A crew of 15 sailors spend 11 days racing across the Pacific in the documentary "Morning Light."

CREATOR: Roy E. Disney conceived the idea of a film about a crew of sailors with little racing experience testing themselves in the Transpacific Yacht Race.

"MORNING LIGHT": In Walt Disney Pictures' documentary, 15 young men and women embark on the adventure of a lifetime-racing a 52-foot sloop in the Transpac, the most revered open-ocean sailing competition.

"MORNING LIGHT": The film documents the adventures of a young crew of sailors as they compete in the 44th Transpacific Yacht Race.

THE CRAFT: The 52-foot sloop Morning Light is shown in 2006 at the Balboa Yacht Club in Newport Beach.

THE CREW: These 15 young sailors set sail in the Transpacific Yacht Race in the Disney Motion Pictures' documentary "Morning Light."

It was day three into the 2,500-mile race when the crew aboard the Morning Light caught a glimpse of another boat coming toward their vessel.

They were en route from Los Angeles to Hawaii – with nothing else in sight but the big, blue ocean – when the boat Samba Pa Ti came so close to their vessel at one point, they could have handed them a cup of coffee.

“We essentially had a drag race with them,” said Piet van Os, a sailor from La Jolla.

There was one big difference between the two competing boats, which sailed within eye sight for four days straight. One was filled with professional sailors. The other – aboard the 52-foot boat “Morning Light” – was crewed by about a dozen 20something sailors with little, if any, racing experience.

The dramatic moment in last year’s Transpacific Yacht Race was caught on film for a documentary called “Morning Light,” which premiered on the big screen this week in Hollywood and will be shown during a fundraiser at the Lido Theatre in Newport Beach on Oct. 15.

The development of the film started more than a year earlier, with a casting call to young sailing enthusiasts who wanted the chance to race across the ocean against some of the best sailors in the world.

The documentary was the brainchild Roy E. Disney, an avid sailor and former vice chairman of Walt Disney Co., who combined his loves of boating, youth sailing, and filmmaking for the project.

Disney – known in the boating world for decades of entering the Newport-to-Ensenada race and breaking records during the Transpac – started his career in the family biz in the film editing department. It was then Disney, nephew of Walt Disney, would listen to stories from a co-worker who would tell tall tales of the rough seas during the famed Transpac race.

In 1975, Disney struggled through his first Transpac race. Since then, he’s competed in 16 of the races, which are held every other year. He went into retirement before the last race in 2007 to focus on his vision for the “Morning Light” film.

Van Os remembers being off the coast of Chile on a sailing adventure when a friend sent him the casting call. He talked the boat captain into letting him use the Internet and sent in an application.

He had no interest in acting, or being famous. It was about the sailing. His grandfather had won the Transpac in 1961, and he grew up standing next to the trophy, dreaming of the day he’d be able to cross the ocean.

About 540 other sailors were selected, and eventually, that number was whittled down to 30 who competed in trials in Long Beach. Eventually, 15 were picked to train for six months in Hawaii before the race.

“I didn’t think I was going to get it,” said Van Os.

The film captures the entire process – from trials to finish – of the sailors picked from around the world. Being in front of the watchful eye of the camera 24 hours a day wasn’t easy, van Os said. He was camera shy for the first few days, but quickly got used to it, he said.

“It’s really weird to have a camera in your face the whole time,” he sad. “But you know what, they’re going to catch you at your worst times. You haven’t showered for 10 days. There’s no reason to hide from them.”

While the film follows the sailors while they take the 11-day journey across the ocean, the movie is more than just for boating enthusiasts.

“We didn’t try to make a movie just for sailing,” said Disney, via cell phone from Miami. “We wanted to make a movie for the rest of the world who don’t know much about it. You really go across the ocean with these kids, which most people don’t get to do.”

Disney is well known for his philanthropy for youth sailing programs, and his participation in the Transpac over the years has made the event what it is today, said Ric Sanders, boardmember of the Transpacific Yacht Club.

Disney said he wouldn’t describe the film as a “reality movie,” since that notion evokes the idea that someone gets voted off the boat.

“It really is a true story of these kids, who came together as strangers and wound up as a really cohesive team sailing a 52-foot, high-powered race boat across the ocean.”

The average age of the crew was 21, “which is sort of right at the place where they are being a kid one day, and an adult the next,” Disney said. “I think it gave them a kind of poise and self-assurance that they had accomplished something really meaningful, and they got to work together as a team.”

The bonding among the crew is what makes the movie what it is, von Os said. It wasn’t always pretty – they ate freeze-dried food for days, lacked showers, fought fatigue, and slept in very, very tight quarters.

“It’s about the team coming together. We could have done the same premise on any sport,” he said. “And the training was unreal, it was a fast track to ocean sailing.”

For Disney, he got the chance to get a glimpse into what the young sailors will be bringing to the sailing world.

“You profit by every experience you have in your life,” he said. “Just getting to know these kids and falling hopelessly in love with the next generation, it gives you faith in the possibilities of people.”

Contact the writer: [email protected] or 714-445-6678

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Morning Light

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Watch Morning Light with a subscription on Disney+, rent on Fandango at Home, or buy on Fandango at Home.

What to Know

Breathtaking scenery aside, Morning Light is geared more for the sailing enthusiasts than for the average viewers.

Critics Reviews

Audience reviews, cast & crew.

Mark Monroe

Chris Branning

Graham Brant-Zawadzki

Chris Clark

Roy E. Disney

Charlie Enright

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Morning Light

• Experience an inspiring true-life adventure aboard the high-tech sloop MORNING LIGHT. Fifteen rookie sailors have one goal in mind -- to be part of her crew, racing in the most revered sailing competition on Earth, the Transpac Yacht Race.
• Fifteen young sailors... six months of intense training... one chance at the brass ring. This documentary tells the story of a group of intrepid and determined young men and women, on the cusp of adulthood, as they embark on life's first great adventure. Racing a high-performance 52-foot sloop in the TRANSPAC, the most revered of open-ocean sailing competitions, the crew of "Morning Light" matches wits and skills in a dramatic 2300 mile showdown against top professionals. From their earliest training sessions in Hawaii conducted by world-class teachers through their test of endurance on the high seas, they form an unbreakable bond in the process of becoming a singular team that is greater than the sum of its parts. — Walt Disney Pictures
• This wonderful boat designed and captained by Roy Disney is "Pyewacket. "Pyewacket, launched in 2004, is a MaxZ86 class custom-built, carbon fiber racing yacht with a mast towering 120 feet and a revolutionary canting keel, which moves from one side of the boat to the other for greater speed. When Pyewacket was built, it was the largest boat to feature a canting keel. It remains one of only a half-dozen like it in the world, Avery said. It was named after a witch's cat in "Bell, Book and Candle." "These boats are something special -- going into that new evolutionary class," said Rich Roberts, sailing columnist for the Log, a boating and fishing newspaper. "They can sail faster than the wind in very light wind or moderate wind.... It requires a little bit more sailing skill. You can't just put a bunch of weekend sailors on this boat and expect to do much." Author's note ***I had the privilege of bringing her to a dock at the Aloha Tower Marketplace in downtown Honolulu Harbor. She was the largest of the racing sloops in the Transpac race and could not be docked at either the Hawai'i or Waikiki Yacht Clubs. So we brought her around to where they bring the big ocean liners such as the QE2 or Queen Mary II of the Canard line. She is an utterly magnificent boat!

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MORNING LIGHT Boat for Sale

42' selene | 2013 | $569,000.

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• Morning Light

Last updated Oct 11, 2024

Morning Light Boat | 42' Selene 2013

                                                                         ****  Price Reduced!  ****

Don't miss this great opportunity for light used, late model Selene 42 Europa. She is a "turn-key" trawler that is ready to take you cruising this summer.

"Morning Light" has been thoughtfully cared for by the owners and features a full Raymarine Electronics Package with Axiom Displays, NAIAD Stabilization, Bow & Stern Thrusters and much more!

Denison Yachting is pleased to assist you in the purchase of this vessel. This boat is centrally listed by Pacific Northwest Yachts.

Denison Yacht Sales offers the details of this yacht in good faith but can’t guarantee the accuracy of this information nor warrant the condition of this boat for sale. This yacht for sale is offered subject to prior sale, price change, or withdrawal from that yacht market without notice. She is offered as a convenience by this yacht broker to its clients and is not intended to convey direct representation of a specific yacht for sale.

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Morning Light HIGHLIGHTS

• Yacht Details: 42' Selene 2013
• Location: Anacortes, WA
• Engines: Cummins
• Last Updated: Oct 11, 2024
• Asking Price: $569,000
• Maximum Speed: 10 kn
• Max Draft: 4' 8''

Morning Light additional information

• Cruising Speed: 8 kn
• Beam: 14' 6''
• Hull Material: Fiberglass
• Displacement: 41,000 lb
• Fuel Tank: 2 x 370|gallon
• Fresh Water: 1 x 180|gallon
• Holding: 1 x 55|gallon

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