Filmmaker and sailor Roy E. Disney, nephew of the famed Walt Disney, first took up sailing in his late 20s, but an experience on the open ocean when he was 45 changed his life. That's when he entered his first Los Angeles–to–Hawaii race, the Transpac. He expected similar epiphanies for 15 young sailors, ages 18 to 23, who participated in his latest film project, Walt Disney Pictures' "Morning Light,"which opens in theaters on Friday.
Hand–selected by Disney and a cadre of his world–class sailing buddies, the youth competed in last year's Transpac – more than 2,250 grueling miles of ocean between Los Angeles and Diamond Head, Hawaii – all the while Disney camera crews dogged their every move.
WALT DISNEY PICTURESFilming begins for the documentary "Morning Light."
"I wish I'd been their age when I first learned about sailboats,"Disney mused in footage shot for the film that aired on ESPN2 earlier this month. "It's gratifying"¦I can do this for them the way I wish someone had done for me."
Disney and his wife, Leslie DeMeuse–Disney, herself a sailing enthusiast and film producer, echoed that theme at a premiere held recently in Annapolis, Maryland: "We weren't trying to make a film about a boat or a race," Disney said. "We wanted to make a film about people"¦ seeing [the race] through the eyes of a group of young people who had never done it."
Demeuse–Disney sought to chronicle the youngsters facing their fears and, hopefully, rising to the challenge. "You're completely on your own out there," she said. "You can't call 911. You can't order pizza. You can't pout. You have to get along. It's a long way back to shore."
Ultimately, Disney's wish was that with a clean–cut Disney film that would appeal to the masses, he could demystify sailing for a larger audience, aiming for what he called a sort of "March of the Penguins" of sailing. He says he's always getting peppered with questions about what happens when the sails bob out of sight on the horizon. Ordinary folk ask, When do you sleep? What do you eat? Do you anchor?
WALT DISNEY PICTURESThe crew of "Morning Light" celebrates arriving in Hawaii after 10 grueling days at sea.
Disney, now in his late 70s, "de–retired" to make the movie, after a long sailing career that included 16 Transpac races in various incarnations of a sloop christened Pyewacket, culminating in a record–setting win in 1999. He is currently a consultant to the movie studio founded by his uncle and father, Roy O. Disney.
A THREE–YEAR PROCESS
Work on the project began more than three years ago when Robbie Haines, a 1984 Olympic gold medalist who directs many of Disney's large–scale sailing operations, began scouring boating Web sites and college sailing teams looking for applicants. More than 530 young people from around the world applied to be on the "Morning Light" crew, a number that was eventually winnowed to 30. That group competed for slots on the team during trials held at Rainbow Harbor in Long Beach, California, in August 2006. Most had sailing experience, but none had done any significant ocean racing.
As cameras rolled, Disney, DeMeuse–Disney and a panel of celebrity judges, including 2008 U.S. Olympian Andrew Campbell, watched the youth participate in basic sailing runs, a team–building workshop, and safety tests like treading water for five minutes while clothed. The latter figures into a poignant scene in the documentary: Steve Manson, 22, a student from inner–city Baltimore, was breathing hard and barely passed. He was told to go back home and learn how to swim. Manson eventually made the team as an alternate.
WALT DISNEY PICTURESThe crew of Morning Light, with skipper Jeremy Wilmot, a senior at St. Mary's College of Maryland, at the helm.
The remaining 14 team members and alternates selected were: Chris Branning, 21, of Sarasota, Florida; Graham Brant–Zawadzki, 22, of Newport Beach, California; Chris Clark, 21, of Old Greenwich, Connecticut; Charlie Enright, 22, of Bristol, Rhode Island; Jesse Fielding, 20, of North Kingstown, Rhode Island; Robbie Kane, 22, of Fairfield, Connecticut; Chris Schubert, 22, of Rye, New York; Kate Theisen, 20, of Socorro, New Mexico; Mark Towill, 18, of Kahalu'u, Hawaii; Genny Tulloch, 22, of Houston, Texas; Piet van Os, 23, of La Jolla, California; Chris Welch, 19, of Gross Pointe Park, Michigan; Kit Will, 22, of Milton, Massachusetts; and Jeremy Wilmot, 21, of Sydney, Australia.
Disney rented a house for the team on Oahu, whose wide glass windows and porches overlooked the ocean buoy they would cross when the race came to a close. It would be a palpable reminder of their goal. The young group spent several weeks there preparing for the July 2007 race, learning or relearning seamanship.
Camera crews documented their toughest moments, including one rough training passage from Hilo, Hawaii to Diamond Head, where several were audibly seasick. Once they jelled as a unit, however, the youth elected their own captain, who winnowed the field of 15 to the 11 who would sail on Morning Light. (Cameraman Rick Deppe, himself an accomplished sailor, took the 12th slot on the boat.)
WALT DISNEY PICTURESThe movie's executive producer, Roy E. Disney.
THE FINAL CREW
The youngsters chose Wilmot as their skipper. Wilmot, a mop–haired Australian described by one of his fellow crewmembers as "a bad–ass," is from a well–known Sydney sailing family comprised of several Olympians. His brother, Nathan, was a recent gold–medal Olympian in the 470 class in Beijing. "I went from being one of a crew to being told, "˜If anything breaks, it's your fault,' " Wilmot, currently a senior at St. Mary's College of Maryland, quipped at the Annapolis premiere. "At the end of the day, it all comes back to the skipper."
He said that selecting his crew was one of his hardest tasks. "How do you tell four of your best friends they're not allowed to come on the journey with you? It was incredibly hard. I couldn't sleep that night." The eventual team included, among others, Schubert, who graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy last year; van Os, a graduate of the California Maritime Academy; and Tulloch, a 2005 Harvard University graduate who was the only woman aboard. Manson and three others were alternates.
By the time the Transpac kicked off at Point Fermin lighthouse near Los Angeles in July last year, the "Morning Light" film crew was ready. Director Mark Monroe, known for his work on the documentary "Amazing Journey: The Story of The Who," outfitted the 52–foot sloop with still cameras. Deppe was under strict instructions only to film, not provide suggestion or aid to the young sailors. Helicopters and a camera crew in a catamaran chase boat once owned by billionaire explorer Steve Fossett also followed the sloop.
WALT DISNEY PICTURESMore than 500 sailors ages 18 to 23 from around the world applied to be crewmembers of Morning Light, but only 15 were chosen: 11 sailors, four alternates.
EMOTIONAL HIGHS AND LOWS
In the 10 long days that followed, Wilmot and his crew faced tough decisions, such as whether to take a southern or northern route to Hawaii (they ended up choosing a northern route that left them becalmed for more than a day). Another boat filled with experienced sailors, some of whom were professionals, played cat–and–mouse with them over several nautical miles in the Pacific. They were also forced to ration meals at the end of the journey because of delays. "It's an emotional roller coaster through and through, that's what this race is," Wilmot said in the film.
In keeping with Disney's hope that the movie would have crossover appeal to landlubbers as well as the sailing crowd, the movie also includes such scenes as how the sailors lived on the boat, rotating sleep times and "showering" off the side with cups of water.
By the time the Morning Light crew sailed triumphant past the finish line at the Diamond Head Lighthouse in Honolulu, taking third place, several members of the team had already vowed to become professional sailors, including Wilmot.
"I went back to St. Mary's, and everything's the same," he recalled in Annapolis. But in a way, everything's different. "It made me realize I can accomplish so much more than I ever thought."
