NewsThe world beyond sailing is counting down to the Oct. 17 launch of the film documentary Morning Light in 55 theaters from the U.S. east coast to Honolulu, following special premiere benefit and charity screenings in various locations starting Thursday, Oct. 2. List of theater openings
The high-definition film presents a real-life, unscripted account of the year-long recruitment, tryout selection and training of young sailors ages 15 to 23 to sail a high-performance Transpac 52 called Morning Light in last year's Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii. From the 538 who applied, 15 were trained and 11 sailed and placed third overall in Division 2 (second among TP52s) against boats with professional sailors among their crews. Trailer video (2 minutes 20 seconds)
One of the sailors, Jesse Fielding, then 20, of Kingston, R.I., said, "People in Rhode Island are very excited, as you can imagine, with all the hometown heroes in the film. For example, my mom has 50 German exchange students in the state and they want to make an outing of it, and home yacht clubs want to see it as a group, and family is flying in to see it as well. So you get the idea."
The special screenings will include an Oct. 15 showing for 600 guests at the Lido Theatre in Newport Beach, Calif. to raise funds for an expanded Transpac Exhibit at the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum and to underscore a new partnership with the museum as a base for the Transpacific Yacht Club.
The event will be preceded by a food and wine festival and followed by a question and answer session with the film's producers, Roy Disney and Leslie DeMeuse-Disney, with members of the Morning Light team. Ticket and more information
Other special screenings are tentatively scheduled in Miami Oct. 2, Toronto Oct. 4, Annapolis and Vancouver, B.C., Oct. 9, Baltimore Oct. 10, Seattle Oct. 13, San Diego Oct. 14, Honolulu and Santa Cruz, Calif., Oct. 16, and Kingston, Ontario, Oct. 23. More are being planned.
The formal world premiere for invited guests will be Oct. 7 at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood.
Also, EPSN2 will broadcast film of the Morning Light tryouts Thursday Oct. 8, at 8 p.m. Eastern time, 5pm Pacific and 2 p.m. Hawaii, and again on Friday, Oct. 9, at 9 p.m. Pacific and 6 p.m. Hawaii.
Transpac NOR for 2009: Power up but pay for it
The Notice of Race for 2009 is posted, and the most significant new wrinkle to the rules for next summer's 45th Transpacific Yacht Race is to allow any boat to use power and stored energy instead of old-fashioned manpower---but don't fire your grinders just yet.
Rule 2.4 reads: "Yachts may apply for a waiver of RRS 52 . . . [but] Full information on all forms of stored energy for sail hoisting, trimming and adjusting shall be submitted with the final rating data. The US Sailing Offshore office will estimate the benefit of these features and adjust the TPYC [handicap] ratings accordingly. In addition, TPYC may take into consideration Rule 52 waiver when assigning boats to divisions…"
Transpac Commodore Dale Nordin noted that the point of the painstaking details in the evolving rules is to continue to provide every boat, including the Aloha types, a realistic opportunity to win the King Kalakaua Trophy and its take-home counterpart, the Governor of Hawaii sailing canoe, for first overall on corrected handicap time.
Nordin said, "With more than 70 boats in the last two races, our fleets are more diverse than ever, but we want to give everyone---large or small, old or new, high tech or basic, amateur or professional---a fair chance to win. For more than a hundred years, that's been the Transpac tradition."
Exceptions to the new rule would be Aloha class boats that may use power winches without penalty. Rule 1.1 describes Aloha class boats as "heavy traditional cruising-type yachts with a Southern California PHRF off wind course rating greater than minus-90."
The rule would apply to the growing group of 100-footers now stalking the world's waters for race records, not to mention Barn Doors---the traditional Transpac prize for the monohull with the fastest elapsed time. The Transpac board of directors last April voted to raise the race's LOA (length overall) limit to 30.48 meters (100 feet) for fastest elapsed time and race record contenders, without a rating limit.
The minimum LOA has been raised from 26 to 30 feet, the minimum rated speed to that of a Catalina 36 with spinnaker, 155% jib and a solid three-bladed propeller.
The early entry deadline is Feb. 27, 2009, after which entry fees rise by $150 to $500, depending on size. US Sailing members get a $50 discount.
As before, 30 per cent of a boat's crew, including the owner or charterer, and both members of a double-handed crew must have attended a US Sailing-sanctioned Safety at Sea seminar within the last five years. Seminars currently scheduled are Jan. 17 at Orange Coast College and June 28, the day before the first start, at Long Beach in or near Rainbow Harbor, the mainland staging area for the race.
COMMODORE
Dale Nordin
ENTRY CHAIRMAN
Mike Nash
949.574.2772
cell 714.501.3494
MEDIA CONTACT
Rich Roberts
310.835.2526
cell 310.766.6547
richsail@earthlink.net