Morning Light

Morning Light is a 2008 film written and directed by Mark Monroe and executive produced by Roy E. Disney. The film was released on October 17, 2008 by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. The film chronicles a real-life crew training and competing in the 44th Transpacific Yacht Race aboard a TP52 class sailing yacht, Morning Light. Plot Morning Light is a documentary that follows the youngest crew (by average age) to compete in the Transpac. All crew members were between 18 and 23 at the time. The film follows the formation of the Morning Light sailing team, their six months of training in advance of the yacht race, and finally the weeklong Los Angeles to Honolulu race itself. The crew numbered 15 young sailors of varied experience: Chris Branning, Graham Brant-Zawadzki, Chris Clark, Charlie Enright, Jesse Fielding, Robbie Kane, Steve Manson, Chris Schubert, Kate Theisen, Mark Towill (at 18, the youngest crew member), Genny Tulloch, navigator Piet van Os, Chris Welch, Kit Will and the 21-year-old skipper, Jeremy Wilmot. Production Executive producer Roy Disney was a sailing enthusiast and Transpac competitor who held several sailing speed records including the Los Angeles to Honolulu monohull time record, which he set on his boat Pyewacket in July 1999. The concept for the film came from TP52 Class Association executive director Tom Pollack, who passed it on to former ESPN producer Leslie DeMeuse, who has worked with Disney on other sailing-related film projects.