Reality Drama on the high Seas

Roy Disney and Nainoa Thompson bring the worlds of hell-bent ocean yacht racing and ancient voyaging together — and Disney is shooting a film about the project, which incudes teen Mark Towill of Kahaluu

Wednesday - December 06, 2006
By Alice Keesing
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Roy Disney

sleeping for just a few hours at a time. It’s an exhausting but exhilarating experience.

For Jesse Fielding, the race is all about adventure.

“I wanted to the do the Transpac because in the last couple of years I’ve felt a need to get out, to break free and go, for adventure,” he says. “I don’t know if there’s any greater sense of adventure than this.”

For Towill, it’s also a voyage of self-discovery.

“I’ve always thought it would be an extremely powerful or life-changing experience to sail home and in some way replicate that (voyaging mission) of pulling the island out of the sea,” Towill says, referring to the way that Polynesian navigators see the canoe as stationary, then turn it in the direction of the destination and bring the island to the canoe.

The Morning Light crew members - whose average age will be 21.2 years when the race begins in July - are politely optimistic about their prospects. After all, they all point out, look at the team behind them. They’re being trained by Olympic gold medalist Robbie Haines and navigator Stan Honey, who is fresh from winning the Volvo Ocean Race. Disney himself has won the Transpac in record-setting time and, by the way, he’s returning from retirement to race again this year after someone beat that record.

Mark Towill (right) with (from left) Jesse Fielding from
Rhode Island ( in white) and Steve Manson from
Maryland

But it’s not all about the finish line. Disney is just as interested in the human drama that will surely unfold onboard the Morning Light. Ever since the nail-biting selection process, the team has been tagged by movie cameras. None of them is an actor, there is no script, and many of them admit to feeling rather self-conscious with the attention.

They come from all over the country and from all different backgrounds. And Disney is sitting back and watching them come together. And that may be the strongest thread between these two sailing worlds. Whether they’re racing fast boats or voyaging across the Pacific, they’re joined by a passion for the sea and the idea of people coming together, people striving, pushing, working to make things better.

Towill hopes that the time spent with the Hokulea will show the team how to come together.

“I hope it teaches us that we need to come together as more than just friends, as more than just crewmembers, but as a family so we can be successful,” he says.

And after spending two days on the double-hulled canoe, Kate Theisen says the crew gained a personal connection with the islands.

“By having this kind of connection, it’s like Hawaii becomes like home to us,” she says. “So when we’re racing, instead of it just being a race, it’s like we’re going home.”

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