'Morning Light' Comes to Sydney

4:05 AM Tue 10 Mar 2009 GMT

'Morning Light crew; skipper Jeremy Wilmot at left. - Transpac 2007' Rich Roberts &copy Click Here to view large photo

Australia has finally been graced with the screening of Roy Disney's Morning Light film. With a special Preview screening held on Monday night, ninth March, some lucky family and friends of Sydneysiders, Jeremy Wilmot and Director of Photography, Josef Nalevansky, were the first to see the film before it opens in cinemas on March 14th (www.morninglightmovie.com.au).

The Morning Light project was originally an idea put to Roy Disney by Tom Pollack, the President of the TP52 association. In an effort to promote the class the idea was to put together the youngest crew to ever compete in the Transpac Race. Unfortunately, there was another team in the 2007 Transpac race, On the Edge of Destiny that just beat the Morning Light team to that status. Despite this, the story of these young aspiring yachtsmen and women and their nautical journey became more important than being the youngest crew.

From 538 applicants from all over the world, 30 were selected and put to the test in Long Beach, California, on four Catalina 37s, to be judged and ultimately chosen to be one of the fifteen to comprise the Morning Light crew. The team was not only chosen on the basis of experience and sailing ability, but also character and the dynamics to create an engaging film, and that they did.

With a brief description of the 2225 nautical mile Transpacific Race and the selection process of the team, the films opening moves swiftly to the scene of Honolulu, where the team spent the bulk of their 6 months of preparation. These 15 young sailors were brought together as a team through gruelling training sessions to prepare them physically, mentally and in all skills required to sail this open water classic on their own. Navigational lectures, safety at sea courses, training sessions with some of the best coaches in ocean racing, and some mock overnight trips all contributed to turning this bunch of 20 something year olds into a cohesive, competitive, confident and supportive team. Only 11 of this team of 15 would actually contest the Transpac race, and this decision process was left to the kids themselves.

From a unanimous decision to select our token Aussie, Jeremy Wilmot, as the Skipper for the team, he then began selecting his team. Bringing them in one at a time, involving each new team member in the selection process, the final 11 were chosen. Those not included in the team would be alternates, and still needed to be ready to sail at any time. There was one little drama, as is the way in Hollywood, with a change to the crew made a few weeks later, substituting Graham Brant-Zawadzki for Kit Will. Obviously, a very tough decision made by the Skipper, which played out, as the team referred to it, 'like breaking up with a girlfriend', but with dignity on behalf of Graham, and no slaps to Jeremy's relief. Now a team and with the same goal it was on with the race!

July 15th 2007, unusually light air for the start only indicating what was to come. The big decision of North over South around the Pacific high was the gamble of the race for Morning Light, with much questioning to follow by other crewmembers. Consequently, becoming stuck in a millpond for a day was not the ideal outcome. Amazingly, this did not destroy their position with closest rival, Samba Pa Ti. In fact by day six the two were match racing each other in the middle of the Pacific. Not your typical Transpac conditions to say the least.

The team maintains a bit of a comedy routine throughout the journey, with some great one-liners and a quick 'Top Gun' quote thrown in for good measure. The editing in the film is exceptional in this respect and really maintains your attention the whole way through. A little Disney 'magic' also makes an appearance with a shooting star dashing across the screen in one of the night scenes.

The long, slow race continues with the dance between the two TP52's still going, and despite the food provisions diminished and still days of sailing ahead of them, yet the kids kept the funnies coming. A personal favourite is the attempt to enhance the flavour of the freeze-dried food by adding tic-tacs for the aftertaste. The facial expressions are priceless. The banter between the only female on board amongst 10 boys also brings some interesting discussions, but what else is there to discuss when in the middle of the ocean?

By day eleven you really start to feel for this crew. They are sleep deprived, starving, aching and still watching every move their competitor makes. They were in it to win it. The sight of land lifts their spirits considerably and the end is near. On day twelve, in true Disney style the team makes their final sprint for the Diamond Head buoy finish line with spinnaker hoisted, cameras ready and the sun cued, with a backdrop ending, as Roy describes, 'that only God could do'. Not even Tinsel Town would believe this one wasn't staged.

The crew of Morning Light had come to the end of their journey of a lifetime. They received a hero's welcome in Honolulu with celebrations all-round. However, the emotion was a bit much for a certain Aussie when the time came to say goodbye to the boat and the cameras for the last time. With a few tears, our Jeremy summed it up as 'the longest, hardest, struggling, stressful thing I've ever done in my life, but at the end of the day I loved it'. And so did we.

This is not just a sailing film, but also a depiction of a true adventure. There was laughter and tears, and experiences for these young sailing aspirants that will never be surpassed. You don't have to understand sailing to enjoy it either. I only hope this film inspires others to take on the wonder of sailing and other similar projects to propel our sport of sailing further.