As a youngster in California, JM Modisette would watch in awe as big sailboats launched from places like Long Beach and Balboa.

Now a graduate of George Stevens Academy in Blue Hill and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Modisette is under way on an adventure of his own on one of those big boats.

Modisette was recently named the winner of the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association of North America’s Robert H. Hobbs Trophy for the Outstanding Sportsman of the Year. He is now part of an eight-person crew aboard a 45-foot boat that left Los Angeles Friday for Honolulu, Hawaii, in the 43rd Transpacific Yacht Race.

Modisette was used to sailing on a much smaller scale – say, 8-10 foot boats and races of a couple hundred miles – when an aunt, Kerry Deaver, put together a team for the Transpac and wanted to know if he was interested in joining the crew.

“When the opportunity presented itself, I was ready,” Modisette said last week from Long Beach, Calif., where the boat, called Kahoots, was being readied for Friday’s motor up the coast to Los Angeles, where the race will launch.

“It’s going to be a real adventure,” he added.

Seventy-five boats will participate this year, Modisette said.

The LA-Honolulu crossing is about 2,225 nautical miles and should take around 11 days, he added. It’ll be, by far, the longest distance Modisette has ever sailed. And he has no idea how he’ll hold up.

“I won’t really know until we get [to Honolulu],” he said. “I’ve heard that you can really be affected by it, especially if you don’t get enough sleep early on.”

Another big difference is the size of the crew. Modisette is used to sailing with around two people – certainly not eight.

But that’s what happens when you’re in a 45-foot boat.

“There’s a lot more teamwork involved,” he said.

Kahoots is an Andrews 43 yacht representing the Los Angeles Yacht Club. Deaver of Newport Beach bought the boat in 2004 with Bob Williamson of Corona del Mar, Calif.

After spending a few days in Honolulu, Modisette will be one of four crew members who will help get Kahoots back to the main land.

The eastbound trip should take longer, he said, because they’ll be sailing against the wind.

Not only will the Transpac race provide Modisette with experience sailing big boats, it also gives him a break from school as he prepares to return to MIT this fall to start work on his master’s degree in aerospace engineering.

Modisette, the son of Jim and Ruth Modisette of Penobscot, graduated from MIT this spring. He is a 2001 George Stevens graduate and was a member of a GSA sailing team that went to the 2000 Interscholastic Sailing Association high school national championships.

Winning the ICSA’s Sportsman award was a surprise, JM Modisette said, and an honor as well.

“It’s a really neat thing,” he said. “I guess it means, you know, that people like me.”

Modisette was named the Outstanding Sportsman of the New England Intercollegiate Sailing Association two years in a row and also received All-America honorable mention honors.

“JM is the type of sailor against whom everyone wants to compete,” Harvard sailing coach Mike O’Connor said in a release. “… He is the type of student-athlete that makes our sport competitive and fun.”

To follow Transpac online, go to www.transpacificyc.org.