Peligroso Racing Team: Transpac 2011: Viva México!!!

Today was a very special day in Mexican sports history... For the first time ever, a Mexican boat is leading DIvision 1!!!! Yes I'm not kidding you... Peligroso is currently FIRST in its division! If you have been tracking them on the map during the last two days, be careful not to be fooled by the position of the boats. As with other sports, to make the competition fair for all, each boat has a different handicap rating, depending on its size and design. With handicap our amazing crew is leading the race... their hard and smart work is paying off! You can monitor Peligroso's position on the "Leaderboard" tab to the left of the map.

Oh and I almost forgot... Mexico is the freaking U-17 soccer World Champion!!!!!!! VIVA MEXICO! What a Day!!!!!!!

Peligroso communicated with me a few moments ago and they are doing great. The hardest part is already behind them. In one day, they covered an outstanding 340 NM at an average speed of 14.2 knots! The weather has gotten a bit warmer and the skies are clearer. Today they finally hit the winds they were hoping for, and the spinnaker is fiercely pulling them closer and closer to the finish line. Tonight, as they enter a new time zone (now 3 hours earlier than Mexico City), they will be celebrating the results of our young soccer heroes as well as their own achievements with a delicious spicy lamb dinner. But Peligroso still has quite a distance to cover, and they know that it is is too early to get confident. Vamos Peligrosoooooooo!

I received two more crew member descriptions for Eduardo Saenz and Piet van Os. Don't forget to send me more of these. Here they are:

Eduardo is 18, competitive, enthusiastic, and highly committed to his responsibilities. He is a third generation sailor in his family. When he was only 6 years old, the destroyer (as the crew calls him) started sailing ocean races in Acapulco and the pacific coast with his Dad and Grandfather. He is almost a high school senior and plans to study college in the US after his graduation next summer. He has two older sisters, Jimena 23 and Roberta 20.

He is very athletic and loves team sports like soccer, ice-hockey, and lacrosse where he has achieved positive results. For the last 1.5 years, Eduardo's life has been planned around Peligroso's regattas, and he has enjoyed every single moment of this great experience. Eduardo, views this challenge as more than a regatta, for him the Transpac is a life accomplishment, and a turning point! Eduardo's family is very proud of his decision to participate in this great adventure and very thankful with the Berho's for literally adopting him as one more member of their family, and experiencing the warmth and the joy for life that they show in everything they do!

Piet is 27, and was born and raised in La Jolla, California. He has always had a passion for the water and the sport of sailing, and spends more time on the water than he does on land. He graduated the California Maritime Academy in 2008, and has traveled the world near and far to compete in an amazing number of regattas. Piet has always had his eye on the Transpac regatta, ever since his grandfather won it on his boat, the Nam Sang, in 1961. This is Piet's third Transpac and I highly doubt it will be his last. The ocean will always remain home to Piet, no matter where in the world that may be.

Thanks for the good wishes that you have sent to Peligroso through me. I have passed them along to them during our brief exchanges. Also, thanks for the pictures from the start of the race. Here are some of them for everyone's enjoyment:

LOOKING SHARP