Please select your home edition
Edition
Switch One Design

44th Transpacific Yacht Race - Day 18

by Rich Roberts 27 Jul 2007 08:10 BST
Morning Light approaches the Transpac finish line against a spectacular sunrise © Rich Roberts

Samba Pa Ti wins, but what a morning show it was

And so Hollywood came to Hawaii, or so it seemed Thursday as Roy E. Disney's Morning Light project reached its climax when the Transpac 52 of the same name sailed by its crew of sailors ages 18 to 23 finished the 44th Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii.

The year-long documentary from crew selection through the race is scheduled to hit the big screen next spring, but who will believe the ending was for real? Sunrise was at 6:03 a.m. and Morning Light finished at 6:09 a.m. against a flaming orange backdrop of the eastern sky on a nautical set that even Tinsel Town wouldn't believe.

"Honest, only God could do this at the finish," Disney said. "He clearly understood the title of the movie."

It hardly seemed to matter that another TP52, John Kilroy Jr.'s Samba Pa Ti, had finished in the dark more than four hours earlier to leapfrog Brack Duker's Santa Cruz 70 Holua, the Division 2 frontrunner, for first place in the division, leaving Morning Light in third.

The younger sailors felt no disappointment---"None whatsoever," said Charlie Enright, 22, of Providence, R.I.---and were happy just to have been in the hunt almost to the end.

Piet van Os, 23, of La Jolla, Calif., who teamed with Chris Branning, 21, of Sarasota, Fla., as navigators, said, Van Os, "The fact that we feel good is an understatement."

At Friday night's awards dinner they will share the podium with two strong teams of professionals, including world-class navigators Mark Rudiger on Holua and Nick White, who made the gutsy call that brought Samba Pa Ti a roundabout win. Holua finished less than an hour behind Morning Light, which owed it about 3 1/2 hours in handicap time.

Other finishers Thursday included, alphabetically, Denali, Enchilado, Hugo Boss II, Narrow Escape, Pegasus 101, Relentless, Skylark, Tabasco, Tango and Westerly. Twenty of the 732 starters remained at see as this was written. Five had dropped out.

Kilroy explained Samba Pa Ti's sudden detour: "We went on the great navigator Nick White’s Pacific tour. Since our boat is optimized for higher speeds, we had to find wind. The wind was too light for our boat. Even still, it was fun to be out of the office.”

White, a New Zealander with a strong ocean racing résumé, said, “We were sailing our own race. I saw the pressure and knew it was time to go. Some thought we went too far south, but it looks like it worked out."

Van Os said, "I was trying to think why they did it. We thought it was a flyer. We didn't think it was going to work. We saw it but it looked too risky. But their boat reaches better than ours, so if I was in that position again I'd make the same call we made."

Morning Light was accompanied over the 2,225 nautical miles by Cheyenne, a 125-foot power catamaran---formerly Steve Fossett's sailing PlayStation---carrying a production team.

Kilroy said, “We were all impressed with the kids on Morning Light. Obviously they are talented and were well trained... [although] it was actually quite distracting at times having such a large escort vessel around. In an ocean race you’re used to being out there alone. We were glad when we turned down.”

The Morning Light sailors enjoyed the mid-Pacific competition while it lasted.

Mark Towill, a native Hawaiian, said, "One morning we woke up and they were two lengths behind us. It's a crew full of professionals who have gone around the world and stuff."

The Morning Light team averaged 21.2 years in age, which put them in step with the local On the Edge of Destiny team of five young men averaging 19.8 years that placed third in Division 5 a day earlier as the youngest team ever to sail Transpac.

The Morning Light skipper was Jeremy Wilmot, a 21-year-old Australian who was elected to the position by his American peers.

"That was the longest, hardest, struggling, stressful thing I've ever done in my life," Wilmot said. "But at the end of the day I loved it."

Morning Light made an unusual zigzag move of its own when after passing the Koko Head peninsula near Diamond Head it turned into shore, then jibed and sailed back out before jibing again to finish. A cynic might have thought the youngsters were playing to the two helicopters and various photo craft recording their every move for the documentary.

Wilmot explained, with Aussie humor, "We thought we'd get killed by the production team if we ruled out finishing with a spinnaker."

Van Os said, actually, that "we learned when we were training here for four months that usually you get good puffs coming down that valley, but they weren't there so we went back out."

Robbie Haines, Disney's longtime Pyewacket sailing manager who doubled as Morning Light's head coach, said, "They practiced that."

Jesse Fielding, 20, of North Kingston, R.I., said, "Awesome trip. The team we formed over the last six months came together, and we're going to stay together."

Genny Tulloch, 22, of Houston, the only woman on the boat, said, "For me, being an ocean racer is a whole new world to me. I grew up in dinghies. It's a different language. I didn't even know what a '[spinnaker] peel' meant. Hopefully, I can be a role model to show anyone can do it."

Haines: "It's way beyond my expectations how well they did [and] how well they got along."

Disney: "It's not about how they did. It changed people's lives. They've all gone through a life-changing transition."

That's a wrap.

Quotes of the day

Mark Rudiger, navigator, Holua: “We looked to the north for some wind. After it left, we came down with the rest of the Santa Cruz boats. Our boat was fast the last 24 hours. When the wind gets up, we’re quick. It’s built tight for heavy wind, but we have a couple of huge kites for light air. It’s the whole package.”

Philippe Kahn/owner and co-skipper, Pegasus: “This is my 10th time racing to Hawaii. This was a fantastic race, absolutely beautiful. More than I hoped for. The last day the wind picked up and we made good time. [Doublehanded co-skipper] Richard [Clarke] did a fantastic job. I couldn’t have done it without him.”

Andy Tourell, skipper, Hugo Boss II: “This was a different race. Interesting days. We tried to sail our own race and dived south to play the angles. Five days into the race the wind dropped and there wasn’t anything we could do.”

Bill Durant, co-skipper, Relentless: “By the end of the third day we had no wind so we started going south. This whole race was a light air trip for us.”

On the Edge of Destiny owner Dan Doyle: "You've got these kids and the Morning Light kids, and when that film hits the theaters next year you'll have a lot of kids getting excited about sailing."

The Transpacific Yacht Club has joined with Casio Computer Co., Ltd., in a sponsorship agreement to make the company's Oceanus watch the official timekeeper of the 44th biennial race. The Oceanus is a solar-powered chronograph watch with a time signal-calibration function developed by making full use of Casio's advanced electronic technologies.

Transpac supporters also include the Long Beach Sea Festival 2007, Gladstone's Restaurant, Ayres Hotels and L. Gaylord Sportswear.

Related Articles

Transpac fleet at 55 entries
As 2022 draws to a close The first starts of the 2023 Transpac are just around the corner, and the wide range of our 55 registered entries prove that there is no one right boat for this classic 2225-mile ocean race. Posted on 30 Dec 2022
Who will be the 45th entry in the 2023 Transpac?
The entry list is growing steadily in the 52nd running of the biennial Los Angeles to Honolulu race The entry list is growing steadily in the 52nd running of the biennial Los Angeles to Honolulu race, known to all as the Transpac. Posted on 9 Nov 2022
Historic offshore yacht marks 40th entry
Solomon Ka'ne's Leglus is the 40th entry to next year's Transpac Solomon Ka'ne's Leglus, a 1986-built Ohashi 52, is the 40th entry to next year's 52nd edition of the 2225-mile Los Angeles-Honolulu Transpac Race. Posted on 28 Oct 2022
Entries open for Transpac 2023
First entry is Fast Exit II for the Los Angeles to Honolulu race The Transpacific Yacht Club is pleased to announce that the entry process is now open for the 2023 edition of the Los Angeles to Honolulu Transpacific Yacht Race. Posted on 27 May 2022
Transpac 2023 - Save the dates
The longest and oldest among the world's classic ocean races The Board of Directors of the Transpacific Yacht Club are pleased to announce that start dates are now chosen for the 52nd biennial running of the Los Angeles to Honolulu Transpacific Yacht Race, better known as the Transpac. Posted on 26 Feb 2022
Jesse Osborn is Rudiger Award winner
Osborn wins Mark Rudiger Award After careful review of the materials submitted to support his application, a review panel from the Transpacific Yacht Club have determined that Jesse Osborn wins the Mark S. Rudiger Celestial Navigation Trophy for the recently completed 2021 Transpac. Posted on 22 Aug 2021
Final awards at 51st edition of Transpac
The podium finishers in Divisions 7 and 8 were given their awards today Transpacific YC Commodore Jim Eddy led the crowd of Transpac sailors and their friends and family with this traditional greeting that has so many meanings in Hawaiian: Hello, Welcome, Goodbye, or as an expression of love and affection. Posted on 28 Jul 2021
Transpac Trophy haul for Warrior Won
TPYC also recognizes the historic importance of navigators in this race An enduring service provided by the Transpacific Yacht Club is maintaining one of the largest and most impressive perpetual trophy collections in the ocean racing world. Posted on 28 Jul 2021
Division 1 and 2 winners crowned at Transpac
Record runs coming into the docks are starting to sound routine By now the stories of massive waves, sustained high speeds, and record runs coming into the docks at this year's Transpac are starting to sound routine. Posted on 26 Jul 2021
Waves of teams are finishing strong in Transpac
Waves of competitors coming across the finish line at Diamond Head Having start dates staggered this year over five days and near-perfect strong breeze over the 2225-mile course has resulted in the first big wave of competitors coming across the finish line at Diamond Head today in the 51st edition of Transpac. Posted on 25 Jul 2021