Remind Steve Manson what all of this has to do with sailing. That's Manson, a 22-year-old sailing instructor from Baltimore, shuffling sideways from wall to wall with a thick elastic band tethering his legs together. That's a determined Manson heading back the other way now, looking less like Dennis Conner than an arthritic crab.

Explain to 20-year-old Australian Jeremy Wilmot, inheritor of a rich family tradition of professional sailing, how catching and tapping a basketball off a backboard applies to conquering the high seas.

And, please, spell out for 18-year-old Punahou student Mark Towill how standing on a balance ball and throwing medicine balls back and forth is going to help the youngest crew ever entered to win in the prestigious Transpacific Yacht Race — while carving a niche in cinematic history, to boot.

Culled from a field of nearly 540 applicants from around the country, Manson, Wilmot, Towill and a dozen other young sailors are participating in an ambitious and — filmmakers hope — inspiring documentary project spearheaded by inveterate sailor and frequent Hawai'i visitor Roy E. Disney. Yeah, Disney, nephew of Walt.

The crew members, ages 18 to 22, were in Hawai'i this month for two weeks of intensive training in preparation for the 2,225-mile biennial Transpac race, which starts July 9 in Los Angeles and wraps up in Honolulu more than a week later. Their experiences in coming together for the event are being captured for "Morning Light," a full-length documentary film — being made by Disney's Pacific High Productions in association with Disney Studios — tentatively scheduled for release early next year.

Filmmakers Disney and Leslie DeMeuse, both Transpac veterans, are co-producing the film. Mark Monroe ("Beyond the Glory") directs.

In addition to taking part in an intensive, three-day safety program (required for certification) the crew spent its time in Hono-lulu getting acquainted with their 52-foot racing boat, the Morning Light, and enjoying the grueling hospitality of 24 Hour Fitness trainer Janell Petalver.

It was Petalver, an accomplished triathlete, who put together customized workout regimens for each of her charges, designed to allow each sailor to handle the rigors of a variety of onboard assignments, be it the quick, athletic movements of a bowman to the power-based duties of a grinder, who cranks the big winches that trim the sails.

"The training has been really tough," says Wilmot, who has been sailing since he was 5. "But we all enjoy it because we all understand what we want to achieve."

At an average age of 21.2 years — a year below that of any other crew to attempt the race — the Morning Light crew will be sailing against the competitive winds.

The team's 13 men and two women, hailing from all corners of the nation, have just four monthly training sessions to hone their skills and coalesce as a unit.

"Where we're at right now, we're still melding together," says Wilmot. "Not everybody comes with the same experience, but each day someone surprises me with what they can do."

INSPIRING NEW SAILORS

DeMeuse, an Emmy-winning producer while at ESPN, first participated in the Transpac in 1973 at the age of 15.

Disney entered for the first time two years later and will participate in his 16th Transpac in July, aboard his boat Pyewacket.

"It's a different event every year," Disney said. "Some years, it can be totally weird. No two waves are alike, no two puffs of wind are alike. The race is moment to moment."

Disney and DeMeuse said they hope the film will help dispel some common misperceptions about sailing, while at the same time inspiring a new generation of sailors to embrace the ocean as a teacher.

"It's a sport that requires tremendous physical and mental endurance, and it can have a huge impact on young people's lives," DeMeuse said. "It's a condensed version of life — how to get along with people, how to deal with adversity. You can't just walk off a boat. If something goes wrong, you have to resolve it.

"It changed my life, and I've found myself repeatedly going back to that experience," she said. "I never realized it would have such an impact on my life, but it has. Rising to the challenge, accepting others and accepting differences not as weaknesses but as strengths — these things make you a better human being."

DAYS OF RIGOR AT SEA

Veterans describe the race as four hours of bench-pressing followed by four hours of fitful sleep, over and over and over again, for 10 days. And that's if the sailors are lucky. Disney recalls the 1979 race, when difficult conditions left him and his crew out on the ocean for 17 days.

Thanks to Disney, the crew is learning at the feet of some of the best sailors in the world, including boat managers Dave Tank and Jim Slaughter, sailing manager (and Olympic gold medalist) Robbie Haines, premier navigator Stan Honey and off-shore sailing coach Ralf Steitz.

Come race day, however, the crew will be on its own.

"When we shove them off, that'll be the scariest moment," DeMeuse says, laughing. "We've got a lot of mother hens around here."

A 17-person production crew has been following the team since the final round of cuts last November and will continue to track them through training to the race itself.

"It was intimidating for about the first five minutes," Clark said. "But after that, it was just motivational. No one wants to look bad on camera."

Disney and DeMeuse said they have no idea how the story will unfold. They are adamant, however, that nothing be predetermined or contrived. To that end, and for safety's sake, they resisted the temptation to orchestrate drama by selecting sailors whose personalities would likely conflict. Rather, they hand-picked applicants who would be able to subvert their egos for the sake of the team.

"We were looking for experience first, but a lot of it was very subjective, and we wanted to find people with character," DeMeuse said. "There were some with little or no experience but great character and a willingness to learn."

"This isn't like reality TV," said team member Chris Clark, 21. "The only way to survive is absolute harmony."

Disney said he also hopes that the film will dispel the myth that sailing is restricted to affluent white people.

"Yachting is seen as a white-bread, rich-man's sport," Disney said. "That may be true of the owners, but not the crews. There is a very diverse mix of people that participate."

LATE BLOOMER

Many of the crew members were born into the sailing life, gaining their sea legs almost as soon as they could walk. And then there's Manson, who, like many from his Baltimore neighborhood, grew up around the water without ever experiencing its wonders.

"The water is too dirty to swim in," Manson said, "and unless you know someone, it's difficult for a city kid to get on the water."

It wasn't until he applied to the Downtown Sailing Center, a summer program that teaches sailing to teenagers from impoverished urban areas, that Manson heard the siren call. He quickly came to love the sense of freedom, the ability to separate himself from the drudgery of his day-to-day world.

Manson returned the next summer to earn certification as a sailing instructor. Now on staff at the center, he shares his knowledge and his passion with other Baltimore kids.

He admits to feeling the added pressure of representing not just his community, but black Americans in general in a sport in which they continue to be underrepresented.

"My folks at home said, 'You're going to represent the whole African-American community,' " he said. "But I'm just going to take it one step at a time and let things fall into place. I'm not out here trying to make anything out of it, but if more African-American or urban kids see this and want to sail, that's fine.

"I just want to encourage them to go out and do whatever they want to do, whatever they're interested in, no matter what color they are," he said. "As long as they don't hurt anybody, what's wrong with that?"

Manson said it took him a while to get used to the quick, coordinated reactions required when racing big boats. Still, he persevered. Just as he persevered in overcoming a bigger problem for a man of the sea: not knowing how to swim.

Manson doesn't consider himself an accomplished swimmer yet, but he did acquit himself well when, during a "man overboard" drill, he found himself in the middle of the ocean, drifting with the current in one direction while the lifesaver device, and the boat to which it was connected, plowed along in the other.

"I just had to remember to relax," he said. "Once I relaxed, it was a lot easier to stay afloat."

After sharing long days of workouts, safety-education skill development, sailing practice and boat maintenance with his teammates, Manson had complete faith that he wouldn't be left bobbing in the tide. It was a matter of trust among sailors.

"It's a nice feeling to have a home away from home and friends that you share a common interest with," he said. "If you pass another boat, the people on that boat will always smile and wave. That doesn't happen if you're just walking downtown."

THE UNDERDOGS

Not everyone in the sailing community thinks the Morning Light project is a great idea.

"There's a lot of chatter within the sailing community about these kids," Disney said, recalling one miffed Internet poster who scoffed at the idea of such a young crew attempting something as daunting as the Transpac.

"Clearly, they're viewed as underdogs," Disney said. "But if they do win, it will be a real shakeup."

And while the young crew members may be humble, they are also not lacking in confidence.

"The goal is not to finish," said team member Charlie Enright, 22. "The goal is to win."

Wilmot thinks youth might even be an advantage, particularly in the late stages of the race.

"The others might have more experience, but we'll have the strength and energy to push to the last bit," he said. "We'll push as hard at the end as we do at the start. No one will give up."

Clark isn't making any predictions; neither is he conceding anything to the doubters.

"Our answer will come at the finish line," he said.

Such determination should make for compelling cinema, even if the stars of the documentary are ambivalent about their role in the film and less than interested about potential stardom.

"They could care less about the film," Disney said. "For them, it's all about the sailing."

Reach Michael Tsai at mtsai@honoluluadvertiser.com.