LONG BEACH, Calif.---While the vanguard starters in the 44th Transpacific Yacht Race to Hawaii groped their way through light winds on Day 2 Tuesday, those awaiting their turns in Rainbow Harbor were sizing up one another.

Transpac's youngest crew: Justin Doyle (top), Roscoe Fowler (c.) and (l-r) Cameron Biehl, Ted White, skipper Sean Doyle

Roy E. Disney's powered-up Pyewacket and his Morning Light team's Transpac 52 are literally in the center of attention, moored pointy bow to winged stern alongside Pine Avenue Pier. They'll both start Sunday with the fastest-rated boats, three days after Divisions 4 and 5 and the Santa Cruz 50s and 52s.

The 15 Morning Light sailors were selected from 538 applicants with a deliberate accent on youth and diversity and the ultimate goal of creating a documentary film scheduled for theater release next year. They'll be introduced Wednesday night at a dinner in Club Transpac benefiting Partners of Parks and the Long Beach Yacht Club Sailing Foundation. Tickets may still be available at (562) 495-2472. Club Transpac is a tented compound adjacent to Gladstone's Restaurant in Rainbow Harbor in downtown Long Beach.

Although spanning the ages of 18 to 23, Morning Light won't be the youngest team ever to sail Transpac. After this race that distinction will probably belong to five young men from Hawaii and Southern California who will start the race Thursday on a smaller 1D35 once called Two Guys On the Edge when Dan Doyle and Bruce Burgess sailed it doublehanded in previous Transpacs. Now it's called On the Edge of Destiny.

The skipper will be Sean Doyle, 19, Dan's eldest son, with his other son Justin as navigator. Roscoe Fowler, 20, of Honolulu also will be on the crew, with Cameron Biehl, 19, of San Diego and Ted White, 23, of Santa Barbara, as watch captains. Average age: 19.8 years, about a year younger than Morning Light.

Morning Light makes impression

"All five of us applied for the Disney thing," Sean Doyle said, "but I was planning on doing the race before that, maybe chartering my dad's old boat from the guy who bought it."

Instead, Dan Doyle turned the boat over to the kids to serve on the Hawaii volunteer committee. But the primary aim wasn't to out-youth Morning Light, Sean Doyle said.

"It was like, I'm not gonna go sail the race with a bunch of 30-year-olds when these are all my friends. I know a couple of the people on the [Morning Light] boat and Cameron knows a couple, too. We're not trying to beat them—or maybe we are," he added with a smile and a shrug.

So how does a teenager feel leading such a young team on one of the world's great ocean races? Well, he and his brother did last year's Pacific Cup from San Francisco to Kaneohe on Oahu with their dad, and he says he isn't intimidated.

Morning Light lines up with Pyewacket

"Not at all. People think it’s a big deal, but I've been sailing in gnarly winds all my life. It's way more fun for me. I hope it blows 50 knots."

Sean Doyle thinks their effort may set an inspiring example for other young sailors, as the Morning Light project already has.

Last month the Morning Light team spent time with 200 youth sailors from the Reno area and Northern California at a Sierra Nevada Community Sailing youth sailing program. Director Rog Jones wrote later:

"One of the kids who spent the day with the crew has been a bit of a problem. His really amazing epiphany occurred when he was on the way home with his parents. They told me he was unusually quiet and introspective until he said, 'Dad and Mom, I learned something today. I want to be like these guys. I know I've been a hard kid to raise and that I've caused you a lot of trouble. But I'm going to change. These guys really had to go through a lot to get where they are with sailing. I want to be like them and I'm going to shape up, starting right now. I want to apologize for all the misery I've caused and I promise from here on out, you'll see a different kid. I love you, Mom and Dad.' "

Jones said, "Reportedly, he's never said anything like that before. I've been around him for the past 10 days, and it's true, he has actually changed. And changed for the best. Two of the Morning Light crew promised him they'd be there to answer his e-mails and to help him deal with some of the things that seem to eat him up. They told him to get in touch when he needs to talk to somebody. If you've saved even one kid, you've changed the world."

Meanwhile, out to sea, the early starters were showing tactical separation in light winds of 8 to 10 knots, some diving south, led by Frank Easterbrook's Ariadne, a Ladd 73 that is the fastest rated boat in the group, and others bearing west with Steve Brown's Brown Sugar, an Express 37, leading Steen Moller and Robert MacDonald's doublehanded X-Dream and Alyson and Cecil Rossi's Ho'okolohe, a Farr 58, by only a mile.

Michael Lawler's Traveler, an Aloha B competitor, returned to port a few hours after Monday's start when crew member Scott Schubert suffered a badly lacerated finger. Schubert received eight stitches and rejoined the team, which restarted at 6:50 p.m., almost six hours after the official start.

The Transpacific Yacht Club has joined with Casio Computer Co., Ltd., in a sponsorship agreement to make the company's Oceanus watch the official timekeeper of the 44th biennial race. The Oceanus is a solar-powered chronograph watch with a time signal-calibration function developed by making full use of Casio's advanced electronic technologies. News and product information: http://world.casio.com/

Transpac supporters also include the Long Beach Sea Festival 2007, Gladstone's Restaurant, Ayres Hotels and L. Gaylord Sportswear.

Transpac 2007 entries
(ORR rating allowances in days:hours:minutes:seconds based on handicap distance of 2,300 n.m.; subtract time allowance from actual elapsed time to determine corrected handicap time)

Division 1 (Starts July 15)

• Pyewacket (Reichel/Pugh 90), Roy E. Disney, Burbank, Calif. (minus-21 hours, 9 minutes, 13 seconds)
  
• Magnitude 80 (Andrews 80), Doug Baker, Long Beach, Calif. (00:4:32:33)
  
• Rosebud (STP 65), Roger Sturgeon, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. (1:04:09:36)
  
• Peligroso (Kernan 70), Mike Campbell/Dale Williams, Long Beach (1:05:17:12)
  
• Medicine Man (Andrews 63), Bob Lane, Long Beach (1:07:02:37)

Division 2 (Starts July 15)

• Hugo Boss (Volvo 60), Andy Tourell, Gosport, UK (1:23:10:32)
  
• DH-Pegasus 101 (Open 50), Philippe Kahn, Honolulu (2:00:47:54)
  
• Samba Pa Ti (Transpac 52), John Kilroy Jr., Los Angeles (2:04:02:17)
  
• Lucky (Transpac 52), Bryon Ehrhart, Chicago (2:05:26:28)
  
• Morning Light (Transpac 52), Jeremy Wilmot, Honolulu (2:05:27:19)
  
• Westerly (Santa Cruz 70), Thomas and Timothy Hogan, Newport Beach (2:06:06:45)
  
• Skylark (Santa Cruz 70), Doug Ayres, Newport Beach, Calif. (2:06:24:05)
  
• Holua (Santa Cruz 70), Brack Duker, Pasadena, Calif. (2:08:51:12)
  
• Trader (Transpac 52), Fred Detwiler, Pompano Beach, Fla. (2:09:31:32)
  
• Denali (Nelson/Marek 70), William McKinley, Grosse Pointe, Mich. (2:13:37:33)

Division 3 (Starts July 15)

• It's OK (Andrews 50), Tres Gordo Sailing, Glendora, Calif. (2:14:25:31)
  
• Cheetah (ULDB 70), Chris Slagerman, Los Angeles (2:18:18:28)
  
• Pendragon IV (Davidson 52), John MacLaurin, Encino, Calif. 2:197:54:52)
  
• Yumehyotan (Nelson/Marek 68), Yasuo Sano, Osaka, Japan (2:22:57:25)
  
• Ragtime (Spencer 65), Chris Welsh, Newport Beach 2:23:51:49)
  
• Bengal 7 (Ohashi 46), Yoshihiko Murase, Nagoya, Japan (3:03:43:16)
  
• Locomotion (Andrews 45), Ed Feo, Long Beach (3:03:56:13)

Division 4 (Starts July 12)

• Verizon Wireless (ex-Stealth Chicken; Perry 56), Timothy Beatty, Rancho Santa Fe, Calif. (3:08:33:34)
  
• Cipango (Andrews 56), Bob & Rob Barton, Santa Rosa, Calif. (3:16:51:29)
  
• Delicate Balance (Andrews 56), DBB Transpac LLC, San Rafael, Calif. (3:20:58:21)
  
• Lucky Dog (J/125), Colin Shanner, San Diego (3:21:37:33)
  
• The Secret (MacGregor 65), Cheryle Rayson/Garry Golding, Salisbury Downs, Australia (3:21:57:52)
  
• Reinrag2 (J/125), Tom Garnier, Wilsonville, Ore. (3:22:20:02)
  
• Raincloud (J/48), Lorenzo Berho Corona, San Diego (3:22:26:21)
  
• Ruahatú (Concordia 47), Ricardo Brockmann, Acapulco, Mexico (3:23:58:37)
  
• Bolt (Nelson/Marek 55), Craig Reynolds, Newport Beach (4:00:24:09)

Division 50/52 (Starts July 12)

• Kokopelli 2 (Santa Cruz 52), S.A. (Chip) Megeath, Tiburon, Calif. (3:03:55:25)
  
• Relentless (Santa Cruz 52), Will Durant/Rick Brizendine, Long Beach (3:16:42:19)
  
• Hula Girl (Santa Cruz 50T), Beau Gayner, Newport Beach (3:17:23:38)
  
• Tachyon III (Santa Cruz 52), Kazumasa Nishioka, Tokyo (3:18:57:36)
  
• Adrenalin (Santa Cruz 50), David Clark, Newport Beach (3:19:43:59)
  
• Passion (Santa Cruz 50), Steve Hastings, Corpus Christi, Tex. (3:20:35:39)
  
• Fortaleza (Santa Cruz 50), Jim Morgan, Long Beach (4:00:12:42)
  
• Horizon (Santa Cruz 50), Jack Taylor, Dana Point, Calif. (4:00:14:46)
  
• Stags' Leap Winery (ex-Chasch Mer; Santa Cruz 50), Gib Black, Honolulu (4:05:22:35)

Division 5 (Starts July 12)

• Rancho Deluxe (Swan 45), Mike Diepenbrock, Sacramento, Calif. (4:10:34:37)
  
• Tower (Lidgard 45), Doug Grant, San Pedro, Calif. (4:10:51:22)
  
• Paddy Wagon (Ross 40), Richard Mainland, Los Angeles (4:15:58:16)
  
• DH-Tango (J/133), Michael Abraham, Newport Beach (4:19:58:16)
  
• DH-Narrow Escape (Fast 40), Allen Lehman Jr., Payson, Ariz. (4:20:59:25)
  
• Uncontrollable Urge (Columbia 30), James/Chris Gilmore, Carlsbad, Calif. (4:23:42:31)
  
• On the Edge of Destiny (1D35), Sean Doyle, Kailua, H.I. (5:00:05:40)
  
• Tabasco (1D35), Gary Fanger, San Francisco (5:02:01:10)
  
• Recidivist (Schumacher 39), Ken Olcott, Los Altos, Calif. (5:09:17:24)

Division 6 (Starts July 9)

• DH-X Dream (X-119), Steen Moller, Point Richmond, Calif. (5:12:37:00)
  
• Inspired Environments (Beneteau First 40.7), Timothy Ballard, Sausalito, Calif. (5:20:14:31)
  
• Peregrine (Hobie 33), Simon Garland, San Diego (5:21:13:46)
  
• DH-Brilliant (J/100), Tim Fuller, Murrieta, Calif. (5:21:44:43)
  
• Brown Sugar (Express 37), Steve Brown, Santa Ana, Calif. (6:03:41:56)
  
• California Girl (Cal 40), Don and Betty Lessley, Novato, Calif. (7:01:16:11)
  
• Far Far (Cal 40), Don Grind, Placerville, Calif. (7:02:47:32)
  
• Psyche (Cal 40), Steve Calhoun, Palos Verdes Estates, Calif. (7:03:57:50)
  
• Shanti (Olson 911S), Jon Eberly, Greenbrae, Calif. (7:17:47:09)

Aloha A (Starts July 9)

• Ariadne (Ladd 73), Frank Easterbrook, Newport Beach (4:08:39:09)
  
• Ho'okolohe (Farr 58), Alyson and Cecil Rossi, Novato, Calif. (4:10:58:57)
  
• Alsumar (S&S 70), Bill and Ted Davis, Las Vegas, Nev. (4:22:27:48)
  
• Enchilado (Jeanneau 54), Cesar de Saracho, Tucson, Ariz. (4:23:43:58)
  
• Windswept (Sean 57), Maxwell Phelps, Jamul, Calif. (5:06:21:29)
  
• Anna Katarina (First 47.7), John Otterson, La Jolla, Calif. (5:08:31:43)
  
• French Kiss (Beneteau 50), Bryan Daniels, Alamo, Calif. (5:11:59:45)
  
• Between the Sheets (Jeanneau 52), Ross Pearlman, Marina del Rey (5:12:56:15)

Aloha B (Starts July 9)

• Ginny (Calkins 50), Chris Calkins/Norm Reynolds, Encinitas, Calif. (5:18:26:52)
  
• Mysteré (Swan 42), Jorge Morales, Dana Point, Calif. (6:12:14:02)
  
• Traveler (North Wind 47), Michael Lawler, Newport Beach (6:14:37:49)
  
• Gaviota (Cal 2-46), Jim Partridge, Pasadena, Calif. (6:20:18:32)
  
• Cirrus (Standfast 40), William D. Myers, Honolulu (7:02:14:16)
  
• Lady Liberty (Catalina 36), John Wallner, Calabasas, Calif. (8:12:05:44)

DH-Doublehanded.

Multihull

• LoeReal (Jeanneau 60 trimaran), H.L. Enloe, El Paso, Tex. (July 15)
  
• Minnow (Catana 52 catamaran), Bob Webster, Pryor, Okla. (July 12)

The official 2007 TransPac Yacht Race Website http://www.transpacificyc.org
Website © 2006/2007
Doug Vann, Lisa Niemczura, Walt Niemczura