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. In early 2006, Roy E. Disney, longtime sailing master
Robbie Haines and DeMeuse considered 538 applications and picked 30 finalists, from which 15 were chosen in a week of selection trials in
Long Beach, California. Training began in Honolulu, Hawaii in January 2007, for two weeks at a time through late June, with time off in May. The team trained aboard the
Morning Light, which Disney purchased from software executive
Philippe Kahn. Filming coincided with training and the race itself, which started July 15, 2007 and concluded ten days later. == Release ==