Troy Sears ’88, Ed Novak ’84
Lights, camera, reality!
by Malinda Marshall ’00

Imagine a cast of attractive twenty-somethings and a hard working camera crew sailing across San Diego Bay. An updated version of Mutiny on the Bounty? Not quite. It’s MTV’s The Real World being filmed aboard two of San Diego’s most famous yachts, the Stars and Stripes/USA 34 and the Abracadabra/USA 54.

The yachts, which are among the fastest mono hull sailing vessels in the world, belong to Next Level Sailing, founded in April 2003, by Troy Sears and long-time friend, Ed Novak.

Sears and Novak met at UCSD while rushing in the founding class of TKE Fraternity (Tau Kappa Epsilon) and later worked in New York City in investment banking. Sears eventually grew weary of the financial rat race and returned to San Diego to work in his family’s extermination business. In early 2003, MTV’s pre-production crew noticed their two distinct yachts when they began scouting San Diego Bay for the 14th installment of The Real World. Filming began in August 2003.

And how have the traditionally rambunctious and dramatic cast of this new Real World behaved? Sears says, “the group has all been very respectful and a pleasure to work with.” But you can judge for yourself when The Real World: San Diego sets sail in January 2004 on MTV.

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