Peligroso Racing Team

2011-12-07T14:46:00.001-08:00

Hot Rum I check Hot Rum II next

2011-11-25T07:21:00.001-08:00

Malin Burnham was at the helm of the Hot Rum I Regatta in San Diego. The competitors, the crew, the stage and even the wind was as good as it gets. Here you will find the results and in the following Link you will be able to see the tracking of Peligroso during the Hot Rum II Regatta to be celebrated tomorrow (Sat. 26th of Nov.).

Real time tracking fot Hot Rum II Regatta

Results Overall

Results Class 1

Peligroso RT: Closure

2011-07-17T21:48:00.000-07:00

After twenty four hours living in land, having cleaned the boat, and everyone (except Yon) fully recuperated from the party's hangover, the crew is only beginning to digest the magnitude of their accomplishment.

It was a week unlike any other. It all began with the Californian cold and harsh winds. Sailing upwind was a challenge that lasted two difficult days. Then, the wind shifted for the better, and the colorful spinnakers came out to glamorize Peligroso for the rest of the race. The team's focus and commitment was key to their daily performance and it was tested strongly by the vastness of the Pacific, mechanic difficulties, changing weather conditions, and hygienic incidents that were fortunately resolved. The end of the race was not uneventful, the Molokai Channel welcomed Peligroso with winds speeding over 30 knots. These extreme forces tore the sailboat's main sail and blew up the spinnaker just minutes before reaching the finish line! Notwithstanding, our sailors crossed the Pacific Ocean in an impressive time, stopping the clock at just minutes before 8 full days.

The welcoming party was very emotional, and maybe even excessive (but well earned, according to Dominick/Loren). Hawaii's tropical weather, the hugs and kisses from us waiting at the docks, and the Mai Tai's were exactly what the crew longed for. It was a truly unforgettable day.

The Peligrosos finished second place in Division 1 and it was the first time a Mexican boat ever competed in this division. This was an accomplishment beyond what our imaginations can describe. Lets never forget what these 14 brave sailors have demonstrated. If they were capable of this, what could ever stop them from doing more? Also, lets not let them forget how proud we are of them and how we will always be there to support them the way we did this week: sending email descriptions, waking up early to read updates, and suffering, laughing, and crying thinking about them as they defied mother nature with their courage, skill and strategy. Lets also recognize the 15th and most important crew member. Aside from her obvious beauty, she made sure our sailors were protected and warm throughout the journey. Lets all take a moment to recognize the greatness of the vessel: Peligroso.

With everyone now in land, we can only wait to hear their stories, and wonder when their next adventure will be and what it will look like. I close this series of emails with a few images that speak a lot better than words ever could. Thanks for following these emails and thanks for your congratulating notes to me and especially to the crew. We are having a wonderful time here in Hawaii! ALOHA!

If you weren't able to follow all the emails, or if you wish to read them all again, or if you want to stay informed about Peligroso's future adventures, you can always do so at the Peligroso RT official blog and their official Facebook site.

July 16, 2011

WE FINALLY SEE THEM....

WITH DIAMOND HEAD AS BACKDROP

CHEERED AS THEY ARRIVE AT THE MARINA, WAVING THE MEXICAN FLAG

DOCKING... FINALLY!

MAKING CONTACT!

PELIGROSO'S NEW OUTFITS... COURTESY OF THE SAENZ FAMILY!

MORE (PG13) CONTACT...

AFTER THREE TEQUILAS...

HAVING AN AWESOME TIME!

Transpac 2011: Images of the arrival

2011-07-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

Transpac 2011: Aloha!!!!!!

2011-07-16T13:24:00.000-07:00

Reporting live from Honolulu, Hawaii!
Houston, the crew has crossed the finish line and set foot in the island. Speeding at an average of 16 knots for the last miles, Peligroso finished at 09:48AM local time, way before everyone expected! We are waiting for all the boats in the division to determine whether or not they are the transpac champions!

They are all in great shape despite eating and sleeping so much! and they couldn't be happier. Peligroso's arrival was very emotional with hugs and tears, particularly with Eduardo being surprised by his mother and sisters' presence at the finish line. I will send photos as soon as we are all back at the marina.

Congrats to Lorenzo, Andres, Jorge, Piet, Chris, Diego, Patrick, Miguel, Yon, Eduardo, Loren, Ben, Alex, and Dani for completing this magnificent life achievement! We can't wait to hear all the stories and see the pictures. We are all very proud of what you just accomplished. Now it's time for celebration!

RE:

Congratulations! Mission accomplished you did a great job!
Lorenzo and Rocio thank you for sharing your dreams with us. It is such a pleasure to learn from you. Thank you we love you all very much!

Los Belaustes!

Eliane Fierro Havas Media

Muchísimas Felicidades a toda la tripulación de esta maravillosa aventura llamada PELIGROSO.

Sinceramente nos han transportado junto con ustedes, y nos han dejado pensar lo que deben haber sentido, vivido y convivido. Especialmente felicito a la “increíble” familia Berhó (que es a quien conozco) por este nuevo éxito. Lorenzo no me deja de sorprender, pero nunca ha sido diferente.

Especialmente mi agradecimiento y reconocimiento a nuestro, y digo nuestro porque ya lo sentimos como a un gran y cercano amigo Santiago, quien nos ha hecho reir, soñar y navegar con sus crónicas. Son impecables y en un Inglés extraordinario. Dejé de extrañar a Germán Dehesa al leer sus relatos. Puedes seguir contándonos lo que quieras.

Un saludo caluroso a todos, tripulación, familiares, amigos.

Mis respetos y muchas felicidades otra y mil veces.

Mario Ortega

muchas, muchas felicidades, han conquistado una gran aventura, que ademas han compartido con todos nosotros, siguiendolos constantemente desde españa. Gracias Santiago por haber relatado tan interesante aventura, desde luego esperamos fotos y conclusion. Nuevamente Peligroso felicidades a todo el gran equipo.

Carl eric

Congratulations Peligroso team and my brave and lovely friend Dani! Can't wait to hear all stories and see the photos! Also thanks for the lively news from Peligroso Santiago, you have a really good pen! :)

Have a great time in Honolulu, much love

Fiko

Muchas felicidades a todos los tripulantes del Peligroso, estoy ansiosa ver esas fotos y oir sus historias en persona.

Disfruten mucho ese sentimiento de victoria al llegar a tierra firme.

Santiago eres un increible narrador, disfrute cada uno de tus mails enormemente, muchas gracias. No dejes de escribir mi querido Rudyard Kipling.

Un gran abrazo

Marisol Cano

Muchas felicidades a todos

Gran logro!!!

______________________
Santiago Suinaga

Huahu que orgunlloso debemos de estar todos del increible equipo que han logrado, felicidades a todos.

Alex Mendez

LORENZO, NIETOS, AMIGOS, COMPAÑEROS TODOS DE "PELIGROSO"... ¡¡¡ME SIENTO ORGULLOSISIMA DE TODOS USTEDES!!! ¡¡¡FELICIDADES, QUÉ GRAN ESFUERZO!!! DEBEN SENTIRSE MUY SATISFECHOS Y PLENOS DE ESTE GRAN LOGRO. SANTIAGO., PARTE INDISPENSABLE DE ESTE GRAN EQUIPO...GRACIAS POR TAN GRATA, CLARA Y EMOTIVA NARRACION TAN CONTAGIANTE DE SUS EXPERIENCIAS, REALMENTE NOS PERMITISTE CONVIVIR PROFUNDAMENTE ESTA INOLVIDABLE REGATA. RO, TAMBIÉN MUCHAS GRACIAS POR TU APORTACIÓN DESCRIPTIVA DE LORENZO, ME LLEGÓ DIRECTO AL ALMA, ME GUSTO LO BIEN QUE LO HICISTE, Y, SOBRE TODO, CON EL AMOR QUE LO TRANSMITISTE. ¡¡¡SE MERECEN QUE LOS CONSIENTAN MUCHO Y QUE DISFRUTEN A TODO LO QUE DA, ESTE ÉXITO!!!

CARIÑOSAMENTE...

CUCÚ

Felicidades a TODOS los PELIGROSOS, muchas felicidades

Hugo Burgos

Santiago, you have done a “heck” of a job, you should be a writer ( you are one by now), thank you so much for reading between the lines and being such a great intermediator, this has been better than watching the 24h series on TV, and getting to know the crew members on its inner side from their loved ones, just a blessing and a delight.
Thank you all who have shared the experience and you for being a bridge across this journey, you surely have had your adventure too.

CONGRATS TO THE CREW IN THIS NEW BIG AND UNIQUE ACCOMPLISHMENT. I had sent this email yesterday, don`t know why it did not go through. Love and blessings to all.

I am in NYC how can I watch the finish line and at what time is expected?
Un beso. Cuquis

Transpac 2011: 42 miles to go!

2011-07-16T10:48:00.000-07:00

Imagine the smiles on their faces as they finally see land again!

Transpac 2011: Day 8. So close.

2011-07-15T22:44:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. I hope by now you've all checked out the website I sent yesterday and are in the process of uploading your videos. Again. This is very important to me and it should also be of importance to you...

The Peligroso Racing Team has been doing so well in the last couple days that some of us will not even be able to make it on time to Honolulu to greet them at Diamond's Head Lighthouse... This is quite a bummer... I guess that the Peligrosos will be the ones throwing the Hawaiian welcome party for us... The good thing is that at least I am sure that Rocio will be there at the finish line, right on time. Their updated ETA is between 1:00 and 3:00PM local time... A little over 8 complete days out at sea.... Wow!

Remember that by the time you wake up on Saturday, the Peligrosos will be less than 100NM from the finish line and as soon as that happens the livetrack.com will no longer be six-hours delayed, it will actually be LIVE! Don't miss the exciting ending... With the bigger boats already in Honolulu, everybody is just waiting to see how Peligroso finishes the race to determine who the winner will be! Best of luck to our brave sailors!

I had a short telephone call with the crew earlier today followed by a pair of emails a few hours ago. The crew is incredibly excited. In the last few hours they have found a few squalls. Peligroso took advantage of most of them, although not without some exciting and tough moments. Earlier today, while trying to pull a gybe at 25 knots (that weird word basically means a turn when going downwind, because otherwise it would be a tack... makes sense right?), Piet had to choose between his lucky watch and letting go of the sheet. Tough one.... The sheet went overboard but they were still able to quickly manage and gain lots of distance with that squall. Later on, they found another squall in which they weren't as lucky, the spinnaker sheet dropped off the bow sprit and went under the boat. This is not good. It took 4 of them up in the bow to recover the sheet, fighting against 20 knots of water pressure pressing the sheet against the keel. Despite all this, they were able to recover and "gybe" back to find the better winds. The good news is, this will be great material for the movie (finally some action)!

With regards to the race, our sailors are still moving up on the tables and appear second in their division. Nevertheless, other boats behind them are trying really hard to recover... COME ON PELIGROSO, YOU CAN DO IT!!!!

The crew is doing great and the winds are blowing strong. I can only imagine the look in their faces when they see land for the first time in a 8 days. That feeling must be very unique. If I make it on time, I promise to take pictures, and share them along with an email letting everyone know that the 14 sailors have arrived sane, safe, and sound...

Tomorrow will probably be my last email to this group. It has been a great pleasure for me to participate in the Transpac in this way. I have felt as if I was on the boat without having to sleep in moving bunk beds! I hope you have enjoyed reading these accounts as much as I've enjoyed writing them. I appreciate the emails that you have been sending me, your descriptions, and your love and support for Dani and the 13 sailors that have been taking good care of her during the past week.

For tonight I have only Alex Camet's description to share, courtesy of his wife Diane... Hopefully tomorrow I will be able to include the description of our last Peligroso, Patrick, which I haven't yet received. Good night everyone and think PRIMER LUGAR!!!!! (That means first place Steve).

Alex moved to San Diego from Buenos Aires, Argentina with his family when he was six years old and started sailing immediately. He excelled and quickly started racking up the trophies left and right, winning all the local, state and national and international regattas, Youth Champs, did an Olympic campaign, became an Olympic sailing coach, placed at the top of many "worlds" and has called tactics for some of the world's top sailors including our own Dennis Connor. If you ever get a chance to stroll through the San Diego Yacht Club, take a look at all the trophies in the cases, you'll see "Alex Camet" on just about very single one.

Al and I both sailed collegiate and met training for Thistle Nationals, fourteen years ago. We have been married for almost thirteen years and have three young children who absolutely adore their Daddy (me too!). He's the best daddy and husband in the world and we all couldn't be more proud of who he is and all his accomplishments both on and off the water. What you may not know is Alex has had quite a distinguished career in the field of sales and marketing, he's so great at bringing people together and bringing out their strengths, he's supportive, kind, and you can…as many of you have found out on this incredible journey across the ocean, trust him with your life. You can't say that about many people these days but you sure can with Alex. He's someone to love, someone to appreciate, someone to treasure. We do every chance we get.

Transpac 2011: An untimely email

2011-07-15T06:19:00.000-07:00

Sometime in the middle of the night my Inbox was happy to receive a
new email communication from the Peligrosos. The good news is they
have not gone crazy and they still remember us... The bad news is
that's not gone help for the movie script...

This new email has a lot of technical info in marine/sailor language
(quoting Rocio) and unfortunately I do not have the dictionary with
me. Therefore, instead of trying to explain, I am just going to share
some of the highlights of the email and you make of it what you can...

"This morning we got the gift of a really nice squall to sail with.
With tropical squalls come wind and if played right can give you an
extra 10kts of wind speed. The wind is all in front of the squall and
the tricky part is that behind the squall there is very little wind.
If the squall overtakes you or you sail through the back of one you
could possibly be stuck in very light wind for hours. Today we were
able to play the squall very well. We went from the normal 14kts of
wind to 26kts! We did 6 gybes to stay in front of the squall and we
managed to sail in that increased breeze for 2 and a half hours!!!
That was a gain of over 10 miles which we hope will help us in the
standings."

"Of course with the good comes the bad…we got something stuck on the
keel and had to back down twice today. Very slow but we're getting
better at it and it takes far less time now."

"As of now we have gybed onto port gybe towards Hawaii. We're one of
the farthest right boats in the fleet and we're working the angles of
the wind to take us all the way into Honolulu. We're just starting to
see the angle that we have
been waiting for and we're ripping along at 15+kts straight toward the
finish!"

"The breeze is only due to increase. Hawaii here we come!"

Here's the techiest part of the email... Let me know if you understand
it because I can't:
"the food onboard…It's fantastic! Usually the food on race boats is
terrible because it is freeze-dried food to save weight. Onboard
Peligroso we eat VERY well. Tonight we had fajitas which were great
and the hot chocolate in the morning is always nice to wake up with.
Life is good onboard Peligroso"

Transpac 2011: Day 7. Getting Closer...

2011-07-14T22:37:00.000-07:00

I have a personal favor to ask, especially to all the Mexicans. If you have been liking my emails, the best way to thanks me is by taking 5 minutes to check www.facebook.com/perdonameMexico. If you like it, please participate with your videos, make it yours and ask your friends to do the same. We have the power to change Mexico if we collectively participate. Thanks for doing this. It means a lot to me and mostly to Mexico.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wow... Peligroso is really getting closer and closer to Hawaii... They have a little over 500 NM left to cover and then it's Mai Tai time... The team did great today with average speeds of 15 knots. They are still in either first or second place depending on who you ask (as there is disagreement between livetrack and the Transpac website). Apparently one is Democrat and the other is Republican... According to the map, today they chose to sail west (as opposed to southwest) I guess in hopes to find stronger winds despite having to sacrifice some distance. Most boats are doing the same so I too think it was a good decision.

I must be honest, today they did not call me and I am too tired to keep waiting... This may mean only one of two things, either they've gone completely crazy and ate each other, or they have completely forgotten about us... OK maybe they had a problem with the satellite phone... but don't you think the first two options sound more interesting? If they happen to wake me up in the middle of the night I promise to give you all an update...

Since Peligroso has given me no more content to write about, today's email will be short(er)... I leave you now with a description of Miguel Lanzagorta and Chris Doolittle. Thanks to their respective wives for providing them. Also scroll down for some photos of Peligroso's cabin just in case you have been wondering about their tempurpedic mattresses and walk-in closets...

I am missing the bios from Alex and Patrick, tomorrow's the last day, please send them to me so that we can complete the descriptions for the whole crew...

Miguel was born in Mexico City and recently moved to San Diego. From my personal experience with him I know he is an amazing human being as well as a great husband, father, stepfather, friend, and a loving son. He has always had a passion for sailing and I know that he is quite aware of how lucky he is to be part of Peligroso's crew. Lucky, because he is able to fulfil one of his dreams by participating in the transpac. I would also like to thank Lorenzo y Ro for your continued frendship, your love, and the lifetime of an adventure.

Twelve years ago today (Jul 15), after his first Transpac, Chris proposed and we were married within the hour! In true Doolittle fashion, Chris planned our wedding from the reverend who married us, flowers, photos, location, down to the specific design on our rings. You will have to ask him to tell the story some time as he is a great story teller. Since meeting Chris 24 years ago he never ceases to amaze me with his passion for life. Whether it is dirt bike riding to his favorite fly fishing spot, sailing in the bay or across the ocean, or just working on our property in Alpine, he lives life to the fullest. If you have met him you know he has an infectious laugh. You can hear him laughing from miles away and you can't help but join in. You never have a problem finding him in the bar after a race, just listen for the awesome laugh. J Chris enjoys being around people, hearing their stories and sharing a few of his own. Looking forward to some stories about the journey over.

Transpac 2011: A boat can only be as great as it's Captain.

2011-07-14T11:56:00.000-07:00

This email has no updates on our crew. Sorry. Instead it has the
objective of telling the great story of Lorenzo Berho and Peligroso as
told by the best land crew manager ever: Rocio. The photo of Lorenzo
that is attached to this email was taken a month ago at the Honefleur
Cathedral in France. If you look closely, you will be able to see that
there is a sailboat on the back. Honefleur is a port from where
sailors back in the early days, set out to sea in search of new
worlds... Loren is lighting a candle in honor of the Peligroso crew
and their families and praying for their success and safe return.

With Lorenzo and Peligroso, It is hard to tell where one ends and the
other one begins. "PELIGROSO" according to the marine/sailor language
dictionary means "a restless spirit with a competitive, creative and
adventurous soul and the heart of a conqueror with great generosity".
Therefore, I can't think of a better way to describe Lorenzo.
He discovered his passion for sailing 11 years ago, infected by the
enthusiasm of our children, Loren, Dani, Carla, and Diego, who were
learning to sail Optimist and windsurf. He immediately organized a
sailing trip the Sea of Cortez with a dear family and great
friends: the Hinojosas. For this first experience, we obviously hired
a captain and a cook. This was a new family adventure that we had
never experienced before. We had little knowledge of the impact that
the trip would have in our futures. In line with his restless spirit,
Lorenzo would keep asking the Captain about the usage of the different
sails, the way to read winds, and the meaning of words such as port,
starboard, and trimming.

After that experience, the next logical step was to get his Skipper
license in Tortola with Pepe Hinojosa. After the sailing camp and now
with a license in hand we decided to do more trips with friends and
conquered the seas of Belize, Greece, the Caribbean, and the
Mediterranean. And on every trip, he discovered a new world, a special
contact with nature that allowed him to experience an inner peace that
he couldn't find in his quite busy lifestyle.

Surprisingly, it is in those moments of peace that it suddenly gets
"Peligroso". Inspired by much loved families: Villalpando, Guzman,
Villareal, Brockmann, Belausteguigoitia, and Murrieta as well as by
his great friend and mentor Malin Burnham, Lorenzo decided it was time
to conquer a new challenge and compete in ocean races on a sailboat
J145. It was the boat of his dreams, beautiful, blue, and of great
size: the famous Raincloud or "Tormenton" as Loren's friends called
it! It was a boat where he could share new challenges with our
children and friends. The goal was sailing the Transpac race in 2007,
but the boat was also perfect for cruising. It provided a great mix:
it was competitive for regattas and a great boat for "Hollywood
Sailing".

And then suddenly, and innocently, two years ago, I jokingly
introduced my very own Mr. Peligroso to a boat that coincidentally was
named "Peligroso". And just like that. It was love at first sight.
Peligroso was bigger and specifically designed for racing ... Goodbye
Hollywood Sailing and hello this new challenge. And even more than a
challenge, Peligroso became an entire project with a noble mission: to
not only sail with our kids and friends but to encourage young
Mexicans to sail and to commit to this passion, as well as to provide
them with the required support to get them as far as they would dream...

Today, we are witnessing this project competing at an international
race. A DANGEROUS boat, a DANGEROUS captain and a very DANGEROUS crew
that includes 6 young Mexicans who have been engaged and training for
a year and a half, 3 not so young Mexicans, and 5 professional
Americans supporting the team with their knowledge and experience.
Lorenzo's dream is being lived today and the results could not be
better. But this has been the work of a team, which obviously includes
the support and love of all of us on the ground sending out our great
thoughts and prayers. Lorenzo is very proud of this team, because he
is a person who drives and enjoys teamwork.

To close, I would like to add something that I admire greatly about
Captain Peligroso. I admire that every day, he takes time to thank God
and life for being surrounded by all the good people who have
influenced him. He also gives thanks and prays for his crew, who, by
always doing their best work, have earned his full trust. And he
unmistakably gives thanks to God for the blessing of having each of
our children.

Thanks for all the love that you give me, I love you

-Ro

RE:

Rocio -

You had me laughing....and crying....

It is a good thing you did this first....as I was thinking that I might have to write something about my "stubborn Basque friend".....I mean "Captain Peligroso"

I might have told his story a little differently....and most certainly...not as well.

Great job!

Stephen B. Williams

Transpac 2011: Day 6. Hallucinating Palm Trees

2011-07-13T22:17:00.000-07:00

On board Peligroso for the 6th night, the crew is enjoying the
experience more than ever. They haven't seen land in so long that
every time they close their eyes they see palm trees and piña-
coladas... And that happens quite often according to their sleep
shifts... And I am sure that for us it is the complete opposite. Every
time we close our eyes from the traffic, stress, work, and bad news,
we feel like we are a part of their adventure out at sea...

I was able to extract information on one funny nickname. On board,
Andres Akle is a.k.a. "La Piñata"... I understand he climbs the mast
at least three times a day and every time he is up there people have
an urge to hit him with a stick... I do not know why this is, maybe
they are all starting to go crazy like the children in The Lord of the
Flies... I think Magda, Andres´ mom will need to have a word with the
crew as soon as she gets the chance. UNACCEPTABLE!

Sailing today was tough, as the winds were quite light. They described
it as an almost a perfect day, sunny, the water a beautiful dark blue,
and they're all in good spirits…the only thing missing was the wind!
As I talked to them just a few minutes ago, the sun was setting
beautifully on the horizon. They are now practically in Hawaii
standard time.

Today Peligroso´s speed averaged 8-13 knots. Tonight however, the wind
is staring to pick up and on Friday it is expected to be quite strong
at around 15-20 knots. Their hope is to switch to the bigger spinnaker
tomorrow (The A2) and get out of the smaller one that they are
currently using (A1). The good news for those of us that worried about
not making it on time to welcome them at the Diamond Head Lighthouse,
is that their ETA is Saturday late afternoon or night. My hypothesis
is that they are having such a good time that they are keeping it as
purposely slow as possible without losing ground (or water) with
regards to their competitors!

With regards to the other boats the competition is as exciting as a
Hollywood script and the crew is quite nervous. Today they were able
to gain some miles on the third place "Medicine Man" and also they
closed in on the first place boat in their fleet "Bella Mente". The
competition is far from defined with a little less than 800 NM to go,
and the next two days will be crucial as they approach the Molokai
Channel.

In case you were wondering about the other two Mexican boats racing,
well Patches and Vincitore are also doing remarkably well, positioned
at #1 and #3 respectively in Division 2.... I guess there will have to
be mariachis and tequila for this weekend's fiesta in Hawaii...

I only have one crew member description to share with everyone today,
the very own Piñata Akle! I am still missing the bios for Lorenzo
(captain), Miguel, Alex, Patrick, and Chris. Please don't forget to
send them to me before it is too late!

When I think of Andres my head fills with wondrous images of his
adventures around the world, his mortal jumps on the wakeboard, atop
of a very, very tall mast, or kite surfing while Yon looks rather
worried because he is doing it in open water. But most of all, I think
of his laughter and smile. Andres is adventurous since he was a
toddler wanting to try new things and pushing the envelope at sports.
He has done well: he won a Pan-American Bronze Medal in Brasil with
Jorge Murrieta. He is not always 26 years old, as his practical jokes
are sometimes childish, but that's because he wants to make people
laugh. He is one of the most generous people I know with regards to
his time and his skills. He has an amazing patience for teaching what
he knows, especially with sports whether it is mountain biking,
snowboarding, wake-boarding, kite surfing, and above all his true
passion: sailing. He completely baffles me when he talks mathematics
with his brothers and Dad. He is a lot of fun to be around as he
always finds the good in every situation and every person. Andres is
also affectionate and talkative about his feelings. I am incredibly
lucky to be his mother!

RE:

¡HOLA QUERIDA FAMILIA Y AMIGOS DE ESTE GRAN RETO QUE ESTAN VIVIENDO EN ALTA MAR RUMBO A HAWAI Y EN EL GRAN VELERO QUE ES PELIGROSO!

¡QUÉ EXPERIENCIA, QUÉ VIVENCIA Y QUÉ EMOCIONES TAN MARAVILLOSAS ESTÁN TENIENDO!

Por supuesto que todo esto está demostrando el maravilloso equipo que forman con esta tripulación tan entusiasta y tan experimentada tan capaces de resolver problemas tan importantes y de aprovechar tantos momento únicos como es disfrutar juntos nuestra bellísima naturaleza que nos brinda paisajes increíbles y en la que nos permite sentir siempre la presencia de Dios que hasta en los grandes esfuerzos y también en la alegría que nos muestran, se percibe tanto, sobre todo con nuestro gran cronista SANTIAGO y aportación descriptiva individual de los integrantes del grupo que tanto familiares como amigos están haciendo y que nos permite una mejor apreciación de lo bien clasificada, reconocida e integrada que está esta comunidad que ya forman la familia "PELIGROSO'S FAMILY"

QUERIDOS HIJO, NIETOS Y AMIGOS ¡VAN MUY BIEN! ¡LOS FELICITO, LOS QUIERO, LOS ADMIRO Y LES DESEO MUCHA SUERTE...SE LO MERECEN!

-CUCÚ

(Mother of Lorenzo)

Transpac 2011: Day 5. If it ain't broke...

2011-07-12T21:54:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone, here's what's new with our crew...

The wind was blowing with less strength today at around 10 to 11 knots. But the boat was keeping up with the same speed as the wind. It was a calm day for Peligroso, with warmer weather. The crew is now beginning to enjoy non-sailing activities such as listening to music, watching movies on Loren's iPad, nicknaming each other (I will do my best to get some good examples), and fixing stuff.

Last night the crew witnessed a nighttime rainbow, according to them, a unique and surreal experience. Hard to imagine how beautiful that must have been... I hope they took pictures.

Apparently today the crew was able to fix the suction pump in the toilet (thank God!) and people are not happy with Yon for having thrown two perfectly good cokes literally down the toilet. They also had to fix the band on one of the front winches that is used to grind (pull up) the Spinnaker. And also the engine was not working well. No, they are not cheating, they actually have to turn on the engine for an hour each day to recharge the batteries. Without batteries the water maker (among other electronics) can't work and that could be a problem. But the good news is that the engine is now working fine and the Peligrosos can stay hydrated...

I don't completely buy this, but the information received today indicates that "most" crew members have now showered. I wonder which ones haven't. Actually, we all know well who those dirty sailors are... (maybe that's why Dani has been nicknamed the "rasta girl").

With regards to sleep, I believe we should start calling this boat the Hybernoso because the sleep shifts are record long. The more experienced american sailors joke that they had never been on a boat where the crew slept so much as in Peligroso. Bienvenidos to the concept of Mexican Siesta!

Despite the merrier and more relaxed environment on board, the crew is still doing a very professional job and they are still fighting closely for the first place. With less than half the distance still to cover, they will soon have more accurate information about their ETA, but my rookie math approximates an early Saturday morning arrival.

And now, our daily crew descriptions. Here are Ben Mitchell and Yon Belausteguigoitia's. Thanks Karen and Eliane.

Also check out the pics after the descriptions to get a sense of life on board Peligroso...

Yon is a man that knows what is important in life! He is an entrepreneur with a business education and an MBA from IPADE. He headed a Company of over 400 employees for 20 years and was brave enough to let go of all of that in order to fight for what he truely loves. Today he is starting a new business around sailing. In Mexico, he is known as one of the best sailors in the country, but not only for what he knows, but also for what he loves to share with others.

Yon is my soul mate, my spiritual teacher with such a huge joy in his heart that it is always contagious. It is my privilage to share my life with him. We've been in love for more than 30 years and have the fortune of having 3 wonderful children: Yon (20), Danel (17) and Ander (15). Yon is always happy, he connects with his heart and makes the people around him feel happy and safe. He is a quiet leader, who knows how to listen deeply. He will always go out of his way to help others and make everybody feel at home. Yon is always creating something new, he loves to do things himself and is always active. For him imposible is nothing!

Ben was born and raised in Los Angles CA. where he learned to sail at a young age on his father's Dragon. He sailed in college for USC and gained a degree in Law. Benny's absolute biggest passion in life (hopefully only second to his wife) is sail boat racing. He just finished 3rd in the Etchells Worlds and has his sights on the upcoming Star Worlds in San Diego. I beleive this is his 13th? Transpac which were previously sailed on Pyewacket but his first time on Pelegroso. I know this is a very special race for him because of the opportunity to sail with with Lorenzo and his young enthusiastic crew. By the daily updates and the daily tracker I'm sure they are all having a very exciting race.

THE SCENE OF THE CRIME

GOT SAILS?

EN PANZA LLENA, CORAZON CONTENTO

THEIR SLEEP, I'M SORRY WORK SHIFTS!

PIET, TAKING CARE OF ALL THE TECHNICAL STUFF

AND THEIR INSPIRATION....

Transpac 2011: Day 4. Approaching half way...

2011-07-11T23:01:00.000-07:00

Hello Peligroso fans. Thanks again for continuing to show support for the team through your emails and phone calls. According to the maps, our Peligrosos are having a tough time maintaining the NUMERO UNO position in Division 1, but the race is still very tight and the positions are changing constantly. At least two other competitors, are within just minutes... VAMOS!!!

My quite unprofessional calculations lead me to believe that Peligroso will be exactly halfway to Honolulu in less than 15 hours. Exactly 96 hours (or 4 days) since they left LA. Please don't hold me accountable for that statement, it is just a rookie approximation... But most likely, before you get tomorrow's email our crew will be literally and exactly in the middle of nowhere!

In today's brief call, Peligroso sounded happy and pleased. The winds have been a little lighter and they have been sailing very close to another boat called Medicine Man, so they are not alone out there! They had bagels for breakfast and sandwiches for lunch. I was confided two secrets which I am not supposed to tell you, but what the hell... They are too far to complain anyway! The first one is that to date no one in Peligroso has yet taken a shower. They claimes that it is too cold to bathe. The second and even icky-er secret is that an undisclosed member of the crew had an "accident" in the only bathroom which may have disabled it for the rest of the trip... The crew has poured two Coca Colas in hopes for dilution of the clogging substance with no results yet! They should have known better with that lamb dinner yesterday. GUACALAAAAA!

And now for nicer subjects, here are two more crew member descriptions for the Berho brothers: Lorenzo and Diego (courtesy of their lovely girlfriends Mariana and Ana Pau):

Lorenzo D. Berho (Loren) is 29 years and 4 days old, and been on board since his b-day. Everyone who knows Loren will agree that he is full of energy, he works hard, enjoys life and loves sports (triathlete). Loren is the type of person that sets a goal and makes it happen no matter what. He is constantly proposing new ideas and likes being involved in all kinds of projects. Planning things is one of his best qualities and he is the master at convincing people to join. That is how he has made so many friends all over the world. That and the fact that he knows how to make people feel good. Loren has a strong character and it seems like the word IMPOSSIBLE doesn't show up in his vocabulary. He enjoys moments of silence, and lying down on the couch listening to a good concert on tv. Travel and good food are his passion. Dominique is Loren's middle name and it is the name he goes by when he focuses all his energy in partying (and he is very good at it)! He firmly believes that after working hard all week, he has earned one day of wild partying! And there is no way to stop him, you are better off joining him. (Watch out Honolulu!) For Loren, the Transpac is a real challenge. He doesn't like wasting his time, so I am sure that he is doing a great job on Peligroso!

One way to describe Diego is as a lively 23 year old with diverse interests and passions which he likes to share with his friends and family. There is never a dull day with him. He is a gifted photographer, amateur chef, avid skier amongst other things. Notwithstanding his diverse interests he has special devotion and oomph for anything involving wind and water. Not even the winters of land locked Munich, where he currently studies Civil Engineering, keep him from "hitting some waves" (even if it is on a river.) Just before flying to LA for the Transpac, Diego was working on his BA thesis on how to ameliorate the water (of course!) system in Mexico. The thesis focus is very descriptive of Diego, always enjoying the status but finding ways to make it better, and acting upon it! Diego has amazing creativity (which he uses to solve problems, make the good, better or come up with a quick joke) a contagious drive, and responsible determination. This combination makes him a fun and proactive team player. But on top of all that, the greatest asset he brings to every team (and individual around him) is his ability to see and bring out the best in people. The thing that strikes most people about him is his uncanny ability to move people for the better and make everyone around him comfortable. For Diego, the Transpac is a long awaited goal and he believes that he couldn't be doing it with a better crew (he speaks very highly of all his teammates and was looking forward to meeting the new members). I am sure he will form and grow great friendships from this experience (and hopefully get a tan.)

Where are the rest? Come on friends and families... send me a short description of the rest of the crew members so that we all get a sense of who is sailing Peligroso!

RE:
Congrats, excellent job at sea and land. Go for the win. If it helps get mad, enjoy and focus for the win. You can.
Carl eric

Incredible Journey, Incredible Crew, only a great outcome!
Congrats to all, brave sailors.
Love. Cuquis.

Transpac 2011: Viva México!!!

2011-07-10T19:28:00.000-07:00

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

WHAT A SPECTACLE!

BIG SMILES! SEE YOU IN HONOLULU!

ORANGE NEVER LOOKED SO GOOD!

MAYBE WE SHOULD SHOWER BEFORE WE LEAVE!

VIVA MEXICO! VIVA PELIGROSO!!!

ANIMO EQUIPO!!!

Transpac 2011: Communication Established!

2011-07-09T22:26:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! Exciting news... I just received a call from Peligroso!
I must admit that the sound quality would have been better had they
been calling from a village in Papua New Guinea in 1952. Nevertheless
I did get to hear that they are all doing great! It's been a rough
start with very strong winds. They are currently averaging 13-14 knots
(which is quite fast) and therefore the boat is very heeled (osease
bien inclinado). I understand that the crew that works the bow (la
proa o lo de adelante) is getting very wet (and the water is not
warm). It is the beginning of their second night and they are a bit
tired from so much work but they are all very happy and looking
forward to taking out the spinnaker hopefully soon! Just so you know
when they take the spinnaker out, the boat will no longer be heeled
and therefore, everyone will be a bit more free to relax and enjoy!
Keep sending out the good vibes to our brave sailors crossing the
Pacific ocean!

Here's a description of another one of the crew members sent by his
girlfriend (thanks Andrea). Keep sending me more...

Jorge Garcia Moreno is a special guy. He enjoys each moment in life
and is committed to everything that he gets involved in. Sharing is
his essence, and through it, he transmits joy, trust, and an
unconditional presence to his loved ones, which forces us to love him
back. His passion is contagious and his positive energy makes you see
things in a positive light no matter how bad they may really be. This
energy is enriched when Jorge is out at sea, because it is there that
he finds peace, tranquility, and a space for reflection. On the
sailboat Jorge will be giving the best of himself; courage, teamwork,
and a restless attitude for adrenaline and adventure. The crew will
find in Jorge much more than just a sail buddy; they will discover a
friend, a source of support and advice, and a colleague who will have
the team's best interest at heart, making sure that everyone in the
boat shares an unforgettable and gratifying experience.

Transpac 2011: Day 2. After the first 24 hours

2011-07-09T16:45:00.000-07:00

For most of us, it is probably hard to understand what it is like to
be racing the Transpac. Think of everything you've done in the last 24
hours. How much did you get done? How far did you drive? How many
people did you talk to? How much money did you spend? What did you
eat? We do so much in an average day that it is hard to imagine 24
hours living in a reduced space, doing the same activity, isolated
with 13 other people.

Actually, the ambiance in a regatta is very fast paced because the
crew has to be focused and active all the time. As long as the wind is
blowing, the day goes by very quickly. By now the crew is already
feeling at home in Peligroso. Everyone is getting used to his position
and responsibilities on board and working better as a team. The crew
gets on average 6 hours of sleep and the amenities are not exactly the
St. Regis, but believe me, they are all sleeping like babies, rocked
by the movement of the waves. Sailing the Transpac is also a very
earthly experience. Just imagine, when was the last time that you
watched the sun rise and set in the same day?

Peligroso is getting farther and farther away from the mainland at an
average speed of 9.8 knots. FACT OF THE DAY: A knot equals 1 nautical
mile per hour. As the hours progress the sight of other competing
boats extinguishes... Throughout the first night at sea, the winds
were constant between 15 and 20 knots. On the map, Peligroso RT
appears to be a bit behind its fleet, but worry not! The first leg of
the race is upwind with the winds coming from the north. In the next
few hours Peligroso will reach the area where the winds will come from
the east (behind) and that is how they are expected to remain for the
rest of the race. Peligroso looks and performs its best when sailing
downwind. The crew will be able to finally take out the Spinnaker
(that big, puffy, and colorful sail) and FLY, the way the boat was
designed to.

So far, the boat has not communicated with us. But no news is good
news! Don't worry about them, I am sure that they are all having the
best time.

Since I do not know many of the people on board Peligroso, I thought
it would be a good idea to write a couple lines on each of them so
that we all get a better idea of who our loved ones are sharing this
experience with. Please send me a short description of your loved ones
so that I can share them with everyone in future emails. I will start
us off by describing the only lady on board, my wife Daniela.

Dani Berho is 27. A young woman with strong character and a noble
heart. It is always better to have her on your side! Active is
probably the word that best describes her. She is currently studying
her MBA at IPADE, and working full time at Vesta. She is a very social
person but hates wasting time with meaningless conversations. She is
deep and at the same time so much fun. Sailing means a lot to Dani,
because it makes her feel true to herself and close to her family. She
always feels cold, but she kind of likes it when she has a blanket to
keep her warm. Loves chick flicks, shopping online, yoga, and eating
right (except for chocolates which are her biggest weakness). Her
parents and siblings mean the world to her. She is an awesome friend
and the best possible partner in life.

Transpac 2011: Day 1. A couple more pictures!

2011-07-08T14:13:00.000-07:00

1
2

RE:
A toda la tripulación de este "Peligroso Navío" les deseo todos los éxitos y que se la pasen de maravilla, ya son nuestros terceros "niños héroes"
Suerte y Un abrazo,
Mario

Transpac 2011: Day 1. And they are off!

2011-07-08T13:57:00.000-07:00

Our 14 brave sailors have officiallybegun the adventure of a lifetime. It has been a warm and sunny day in Long Beach with clear skies and strong winds! The team will be heading southwest and after passing by a couple islands during the first few hours, they will lose sight of land and become surrounded by a lonely expanse of ocean... Lets hope they won't run out of topics for conversation!
The course will likely present them with numerous unforeseen conditions: from the cold, wet northeastern Pacific, through doldrums, enormous seas, abundant squalls, and scorching heat, to the blustery tradewinds of the Molokai Channel near the finish. But the payoff will be grand: a warm "Aloha" greeting, a promise made by King Kalakaua, the last King of Hawaii (no... I did not know that either); that is still honored to this day by scores of island volunteers, visitors, media, and supporters. And obviously the sip of a well deserved, very cold, Mai Tai, and the embrace of their loved ones who were able to make it to Honolulu...

Today, in addition to being the first racingday, the crew is celebrating Loren Jr.'s birthday (29). Feliz cumpleaños! What a great way to celebrate in style!

As Peligroso left the starting line behind at 1PM local time, the crew was notably excited, although in all honesty, more than a pair of legs were jittery, and a few eyes were not able to hold back the tears. From the docks, the shore, and a few motor boats, crowds of families and friends were there to wave them goodbye and wish them luck. I regret to inform that unfortunately William and Kate couldn't make it on time for this event...(despite being English). They are currently concentrated and in full racing mood.
Peligroso is competing in Division 1, against 6 other sailboats of similar size. Five of these boats wave an American flag and the remaining one is Canadian. As someone said earlier today: with the sporting Gods (finally) in favor of Mexico (after yesterday's great victory over Germany at the U-17 World Cup), we can be sure that Peligroso RT will be kicking some North-american butts! (no offense).

Remember that the tracking information has a 6 hour delay... Here's the link again: http://live.adventuretracking.com/transpac2011

Transpac 2011: Making last decisions...before the start

2011-07-08T10:44:00.000-07:00

Transpac 2011: Getting ready

2011-07-08T09:31:00.000-07:00

Transpac 2011: Some words of inspiration!

2011-07-08T08:56:00.000-07:00

As the Peligroso team prepares for departure, I remembered an inspiring and relevant quote from Mark Twain:

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

Congratulations on literally following Mark Twain's great advice on life! Go for it Peligroso RT!!!!!

Transpac 2011 T-1 The excitement is building up!

2011-07-08T07:57:00.001-07:00

The long awaited moment is finally here! The Peligroso RT is very excited about setting sail today in the 2011 Transpac Race. The crew will depart from the LA scene at exactly 1:00PM (PST), just as the duke and duchess of Cambridge arrive in town. Who knows? Maybe they will get there just in time to give them a royal send-off!

Yesterday, the team and the land crew (led by Rocio) managed to get the boat ready for the trip, had their kick-off strategy meeting, and did some last minute important shopping... sailing gear, lots of food and water, sunscreen, books, board-games, dvd´s, and yoga mats (just kidding).

For those of us unaware of the magnitude of the Transpac challenge that's ahead, here are some good-to-know facts:

Departs out of Rainbow Harbor (Long Beach) and finishes at the Diamond Head Lighthouse (Honolulu)
Total straight line distance is 2,225 nautical miles - this is 2,555 "normal" miles or 4,112 kilometers.
This is a race! The boats do not stop to rest (unless there is no wind). Therefore a part of the team must always be awake to steer and sail the boat.
The record time to complete the race by a monohull (before the Peligroso era obviously) is 7d 11h 41m 27s by Pyewacket in 1999.

...and these are some facts about Peligroso RT and its crew:

1. It is the best looking boat in the seven seas. Not to mention the crew, which looks quite sharp too...

2. It is 70 feet long (osea 21.33 metros pa los mexas)

3. The captain expects to cover the full distance in 8-9 days. It will depend on the winds and the strategy.

4. The crew is made up of 14 members who will be sharing one single bathroom (and the immense Pacific Ocean for simpler needs).

5. The captain is Lorenzo Berho Corona.

6. It is not a very "diverse" crew with only one lady on board (my beautiful wife of course) who will help keep the gentlemen, gentlemen throughout the trip.

7. There are two more Mexican boats besides Peligroso in this year's Transpac: Patches and Vincitore.

Starting today, you can easily track the whereabouts of Peligroso (with a 6 hour delay), a member of the division 1, using the following link: http://live.adventuretracking.com/transpac2011

Good luck Peligroso RT! We hope you had a good night sleep last night because it all gets very "loco" soon. We are very excited for you all!

Mexico's performance Miami OCR

2011-01-26T00:05:00.000-08:00

In Biscayne Bay the world’s best sailors in the world meet being one of the ISAF’s Sailing World Cup. More than 600 sailors are here to compete and Mexico is represented by 16 Sailors. Here are the Results so far. Good luck to all of you!

Many of the sailors who are campaigning for the next Olympic Games are competing, from Mexico Jorge Xavier Murrieta and Alejandro Murrieta are doing a very good job this is the first time they are able to compare themselves to the best sailors in the world!

Among the Laser Radial are Tania Calles and Natalia Montemayor.

Competing in Laser Standard are Pablo Rabago , Ricardo Montemayor , Yanic Gentry, Jeronimo Cervantes Belausteguigoitia, Roberto Porter and Manuel Dussault.

Windsufing we have David Mier y Teran, Mauricio Martinez and Demita Vega and Ana Cecilia Gutierrez.

Here is a small video of the race so far!

Fallow the regatta on
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ABANDON RACE !

2010-12-05T11:08:00.000-08:00

"How can they call for abandon race when there still two hours before 4.30 pm which is the finish time limit?"
This is very, very sad! We had it and we would have won the regatta!
This was the general comment at Peligroso's deck.

Hot Rum 3's forecast showed very light winds, and this is exactly what happened.

At the start we saw many, many boats not moving much, and on top of that a big freight ship was exiting the Channel 10 minutes before Peligroso started.

By the first mark we had passed 25% of the fleet, then we hoisted the spin and went right while many boats jibed and this was an strategic decision, because by the second mark we were already in eight place and wind kept dropping, we saw 00 knots speed turning to 1-2 knots and little by little we got the forth place overall, we knew that we still had 40% of the course to go which was to our advantage being the fastest out of 135 boats.

And suddenly the race committee decided to go the easy way and go to the party cancelling the regatta.

We finished 4th in our class after the 3 HR.

This was our last regatta of a wonderful sailing year!

Our crew was formed by 23 people including several young sailors from Mexico and the U.S.

It is an honor to have Malin Burnham as my "PC" ......... Personal Coach at the helm.

And congratulations to all our crew for your hard work and commitment during this challenging year.

I also want to wish all our crew members and to their families a Merry Christmas and a Wonderful 2011 full of Sailing!

Lorenzo Berho

Challenging Hot Rum II

2010-11-22T01:10:00.000-08:00

Weather conditions looked more like San Francisco than Southern California big waves and winds close to 30 knots forced the race committee to change to course 2 inside the SD channel.

The smaller boats were flying ahead long time before we started, so it was going to be though to catch them.

Going down wind in the second leg we saw 21 knots, and then reaching towards the Coronado bridge with shifty puffs wasn't easy, specially having a hundred boats coming back in front of Peligroso.

When reaching back to the finish line several boats broached and others broke spinnakers.

We ended up 24 overall and 10 in our class.

Great team work and camaraderie.

And a wonderful real "Hot Rum" at the dock.

We will need to work very hard in Hot Rum 3 to get 3th place.

This will be our last regatta of a wonderful and exciting 2010.

The best is yet to come!

Lorenzo Berho

Watch minutes 0:50 and 7:35 great captures!

First of Three

2010-11-09T11:26:00.000-08:00

Here are the results of the race. This was a great race to take part in, great conditions, great sailors, and why not great results.

2nd in class

6th overall

Special thanks to Malin Burnham, Piet van Os and Alex Camet!

Great Job guys!

Click here for the Overall results.

Burnham Again

2010-11-06T09:11:00.000-07:00

After one year of racing Peligroso the Mexican crew with great results including winning the San Diego-Vallarta and the Cabrillo regattas and second place in Long Beach Race Week, Peligroso is ready for the Hot Rum Series 2010.

Today it will be an honor to have as Skipper Malin Burnham who has been the youngest ever world champion in Star Class and skipper of Enterprise and Stars and Stripes during America's Cup.

In the probably hottest day in San Diego for the last 30 years we are ready to sail and have a great result in this incredible regatta!

For further info visit the SDYC website

Peligroso, Si. Danger, No

2010-09-20T15:03:00.000-07:00

By kimball | Published: September 19, 2010

There’s this boat that was born of a concept, not to be “just a boat” but a spark to reignite interest in building new 70-footers for the West Coast, where “70″ is magic. At that level, it didn’t quite take, but Peligroso looks good on the water, and the boat has gone on to a brilliant second life as a queen of Mexico’s sailing fleet. When he found her, new owner Lorenzo Berho didn’t want “just a boat.” He wanted a vehicle to inspire young sailors; train them; give them an experience of the other.

Rolex/Daniel Forster

I think it’s working.

Lorenzo tells it this way:

“I wanted this for family, and I wanted to keep it family. Some people lose that as they become more competitive. And I wanted to recruit these other young sailors too, kids who are campaigning for the Olympics and the like, and give them an opportunity to participate in racing a bigger boat. With young people it is easy to see the analogies between sailing and life, the importance of learning your limits, learning to solve problems, learning to work together, learning respect. You embark upon something like this, and you never know how many lives you will touch.”

We were sitting in the cockpit of Peligroso, caught up in the dockside hustle of the final morning of the Rolex Big Boat Series, and Lorenzo looked around the deck and added, “On the day of Mexico’s bicentennial, we went to a restaurant, and we celebrated with the words of Father Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla 200 years ago. We spoke the words of freedom and honor. What better way to celebrate your country’s bicentennial than to compete in a great regatta like this.”

Berho, who lives in Mexico City, has gone step by step to get this far, and he has a plan. Step one, in 2005, was to buy a J/145, Raincloud. “It was a good boat to take the family to the next level,” he says. “We had no idea how to do the basics, so we trained hard, and we had the goals of racing San Diego-Vallarta, Transpac 2007, and the Big Boat Series, 2008. It was here in 2008 that I was having a glass of wine with my tactician, Nigel Cochrane, in the St. Francis Yacht Club. They have a large model collection . . .

. . . and Nigel said, ‘Come over here and look. This is a model of Peligroso. She’s for sale.’ I stood there looking into the glass case, and it came to me that, if we had a competitive boat of a size that no one else in Mexico has, we could make a difference.”

Peligroso—the word means danger—had been commissioned from Tim Kernan by boat partners Mike Campbell and Dale Williams. They had raced the boat hard and well, but failed to inspire the new fleet of 70-footers they hoped for. When Campbell died of a persistent illness, the boat became available. I snapped this shot of Peligroso at MEXORC last February, with Lorenzo at the helm . . .

“Some boats have a legacy,” Berho says. “Mike and Dale put heart and spirit into Peligroso, and the boat still has something special about it, something that makes it important to me to keep our focus on the amateurs, with the professionals secondary to the passion of the younger sailors.” Again he looks over the deck. He’s a man of infectious high energy (I doubt that many people say no to this guy) and he says, “All these kids, they’ll be flying out on red-eyes tonight—at their own expense—to be at work tomorrow morning, or at school. And they’re proud to be sailing on a Mexican boat. When we sailed the San Diego-Vallarta race, 1000 miles, it was the first time that a Mexican boat had won, and we did it by winning class and overall, and finishing first, with a new record. When we got to the dock at 5 a.m. all the waiters at the hotel were awake and outside. The hotel staff was out. Everyone was excited to see a Mexican boat win.”

BUILDING THE EXPERIENCE

Berho’s Peligroso project is very different from what the late Roy Disney did with his Morning Light project and movie, training young sailors to a high level and then setting them off to face the fortunes of war. There is enough in common, however, that Peligroso attracted Piet van Os, the Morning Light navigator, to sail and teach aboard. Also pitching in at times has been Robbie Haines, an Olympic Gold medalist who was one of the coaches for the Morning Light crew.

Next year, Peligroso is slated for the Transpac, Los Angeles to Honolulu, and if things continue to go well, Berho’s five-year plan is to eventually take off to do the great races beyond the Pacific. He’s thinking Sydney-Hobart, Fastnet, Bermuda and more.

BUT FIRST—

“You should speak to some of these young men. Jorge! Jorge! Come over here.”

And soon I was receiving a lesson in the difficulties of the Olympic dream, Mexico style.

Jorge Murrieta has an Olympic campaign under way in the 49er, but he’s the Lone Ranger of the fleet in his home country. “I live in Mexico City,” he says, “because that is where all my contacts are for sponsorship. To sail, I go to Acapulco or Vallarta. Vallarta is better, but it’s farther and more expensive.”

Jorge won the 2009 J/24 North Americans on his home waters two hours north of Mexico City, Valle de Bravo. Lest “home waters” make that sound easy, I’ll note that second place went to North sailmaker Chris Snow, who’s had more than a little success over the years. In 2010, Jorge is the Snipe North American Champion. To get support from the government, he says, it is necessary to sail boats such as the Snipe that compete at the Central American and Pan American Games: “The government doesn’t get the difference between those boats and the Olympic classes.

“For Olympic boats, Mexico has only the Laser and the RS:X,” Jorge explains. “Being by myself with the 49er, it’s even harder that I don’t have a coach. Mexico has produced some very good sailors, but they don’t live in Mexico anymore. They live in Europe. Lorenzo’s vision is to help a guy like me get all the way to the Olympics.”

Okay, that’s a long road to travel, but it is good to remember moments such as the end of the J/24 North Americans. Smile for the camera . . .

ROLEX BIG BOAT SERIES 2010

It won’t go down as a classic year, not even close. A weird summer ends on a weird note. In all my days on San Francisco Bay, I haven’t seen the fog behave quite the way it did last Thursday. But the Rolex Big Boat Series had its moments. Here we see Peligroso, second from bottom, applying the thrill test to a passing cruiser along with fellow Mexican entry, Patches . . .

Rolex/Daniel Forster

And how could I resist this Daniel Forster shot of the Melges 32 fleet against the Golden Gate and a wintry sky . . .

Rolex/Daniel Forster

Melges 32s open their world championship racing in these waters on Wednesday. This was the early-Monday look on the Melges dock as the big boats next door revved up for their deliveries home . . .

Live Big Boat Series 2010 Division IRC - A

2010-09-16T11:44:00.000-07:00

Peligroso ready to win the Rolex BBS

2010-09-16T09:12:00.000-07:00

The best way to celebrate the bicenteniall of Mexico, is for "Team Peligroso" to sail in the pacific waters at the Big Boat Series in beautiful San Francisco.

Lorenzo Berho
VESTA

Newport to Ensenada 2010 winner: Peligroso

2010-05-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

We were amazed that the Newport to Ensenada Race 2010 had so many 43 in total from class winners to most entries. Peligroso was awarded with 4 Prizes:

• Trophy 2nd Naval Zone (First Mexican Elapsed)
• Trophy Don Carlos Avila (First Mexican Corrected)
• Trophy Lahaina Yacht Club (First PHRF to finish Elapsed)
• Trophy Amigo (First time racer Corrected)

Our goal for the Newport to Ensenada Race 2011 :

The President of Mexico Trophy!

63rd Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race

2010-04-24T23:16:00.000-07:00

April 24, 2010

Party time for (almost) everybody in Ensenada

ENSENADA, Baja California, Mexico

What's your pleasure---looking good or collecting the hardware?

Lorenzo Berho of Mexico finished first with Peligroso in the big boat Maxi class of the Newport Ocean Sailing Association's 63rd Newport to Ensenada International Yacht Race in the pre-dawn Saturday morning.

Never mind that in Sunday's awards ceremony the trophy will go to Dick Compton, Jim Yabsley and Tom Parker, the owners of Taxi Dancer, the Reichel/Pugh 68 from Santa Barbara that beat him by 70 minutes on corrected PHRF handicap time over the 125.5 nautical miles.

No matter. "We are the first boat from Mexico to finish first in the Maxi class," Berho said.

Parker said the Taxi Dancer team enjoyed "a great party" the night before the race, but they'll have another in Baja.

Then there was Bill Gibbs from Ventura, who was delighted when his Tennant catamaran, Afterburner, finished only an hour and a half behind H.L. Enloe's much faster trimaran, Loe Real, because he collected 26 minutes more than what the San Diego-based rival owed him in handicap time to win the ORCA class for multihulls.

Other confirmed winners were Dennis Pennel's Blue Blazes in PHRF-A, the Richley Family's Amante in PHRF-B, Ron Simonson's Sleeper in PHRF-C, Tom Holthus' Bad Pak in Sprit-A and Mark Wyland's Lucky Star in Sprit-B.

Taxi Dancer, the bright yellow longtime campaigner among West Coast ultralight sleds, finished only 11 minutes 22 seconds behind Peligroso boat for boat before cashing in 81 1/2 minutes worth of handicap chips ---no contest.

Dennis Conner's Stars & Stripes was a more serious threat. Taxi Dancer owed time to the dark blue Farr 60 and tallied out by less than 12 minutes.

Now the anxiety is about who will collect the $6,000 Lamborghini diamond watch that will be presented Sunday to the winner of the President of USA Trophy for best overall corrected handicap time. That was still up in
the air Saturday afternoon as the slower-rated PHRF classes approached the finish line with the significant advantage of better breeze---following from the west rather than on the nose from the east---than the bigger boats found in the morning.

That was not a worry for Gibbs, the new president of the Ocean Racing Catamaran Association. All of his ORCA multihull competition were in the same boat.

"Ensenada has been an interesting race for us," he said. "In 11 attempts we have broken three times and been first to finish three times. This time we weren't first to finish but we won."

But it was tricky.

"We were with Taxi Dancer for the first hour," Gibbs said. "They're great in light wind, but when there's no wind we get stuck."

Peligroso was built for and sailed by the late Long Beach sailor, Mike Campbell. After Campbell's death in 2008, Berho, a Mexico City businessman, bought it with a special purpose.

"We bought the boat to support Mexico's young sailors," he said---and he wanted a boat that would draw attention.

For this race, he said, "We had mostly a crew of sailors in their early 20s … young people with ambitions to sail in major events---even in the Olympics."

His navigator was Piet van Os of La Jolla, who had the same assignment on Morning Light, the boat sailed by a similar crew for the late Roy E. Disney's documentary film of the same name. Van Os now sails the world navigating merchant ships.

"He just flew in Thursday to do this race," Berho said.

H.L. Enloe's hope was to challenge the multihull record of 6 hours 46 minutes 40 seconds set by the late Steve Fossett on the Stars & Stripes catamaran in 1998, but the conditions weren't there for his 60-foot trimaran. Although finishing first, he was an hour and 7 1/2 minutes over his own best time of 8:45:03 of last year.

Peligroso at Newport - Ensenada race 2010

2010-04-23T17:57:00.001-07:00

After 5:30 hours of sailing, we found ourselves just 7miles off of Point Loma, CA.
To our port we can still see Taxi Dancer, we are working our way off shore and wishing to get more brezze later at night!!!
Progressively we have been increasing our percentage of speed against our own polars and our competitors. And now we cannot see our competitors behind, this makes us believe we are doing a good race. However there are still 68 miles to go, and sun is setting in about 2 hours so there is much to come and we are confident that the breeze will help us make our way to Ensenada!

Best winds to all!
Enviado desde mi oficina móvil BlackBerry® de Telcel

Developing young leaders

2010-04-08T13:25:00.000-07:00

Peligroso J/24 is a key factor in the Peligroso project and has three objectives; to encourage talented sailing athletes into higher performance racing, to develop values within the crew, their community and their families such as teamwork, empathy and leadership and to cultivate role models in a dynamic, fun and sustainable basis.
With the experience plus great results of the GQ, Vitaminwater and Vive Mexico teams, Jorge Murrieta will be the leader of Peligroso J/24.

Peligroso J/24 main difference is that the Team will have an ongoing and evolving crew that empowers them to set the right people in the right position and by doing so improve their performance as a team and succeed.

We truly believe that this platform will encourage and motivate more young sailors not only to join the Peligroso project but also to race respectively at a high competitive level nationally and also internationally and by doing so develop themselves as fellow teammates, leaders and friends.

This is the beginning of a new era of sailing in Mexico especially thanks of the efforts and dedication of all organizers, members and sponsors within the sailing community. We are very fortunate to be in this “era” and these young sailors are the future, therefore if you have any suggestions, ideas or comments please do not hesitate to contact us.

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This weekend will be the Peligroso J/24 pre-launch in Valle the Bravo during the Copa Palacio where crew from Peligroso, GQ, Vitaminwater and Vive Mexico will sail together, we are looking forward on seeing you there, and keep posted in our blog for further info.

Fair winds

Diego Berho
dberho@mac.com

Copa Mexico 2010 Summary

2010-04-04T00:54:00.000-07:00

Regata Copa Mexico 2010 from Finer Films on Vimeo.

COPA MEXICO EDICION NEXTEL BICENTENARIO RESULTS

2010-03-15T04:17:00.000-07:00

The Final results are here:

from www.j24mex.com

Estimados amigos veleristas,

The final results are as follows:

Congratulations to Mauricio Santa Cruz and his team on Bruschetta from Brasil FIRST PLACE.
Second for Chris Snow and his team, on “S” from San Diego USA. With Marianne Schoke from Sweden. Good sailing as usual
Third for Claudio Ruschel and his team on “A que si”. Brasil
Fourth to Jorge Javier Murrieta on Vive México. First Mexican.
Mike Ingaham on blue Demon 5th place. USA. Very good
Leif Tom Loose on Rotoman, 6th. Germany. It was worth it to came from so far away.
Kenneth Porter, on Monster Fish 7th. México
Fraito Lugo on Peligroso, 8th. Puerto Rico.
Javier Arribas on Primero , 9th. Perú
Yon Belausteguigoitia, on Chimera from México, 10th.

Six different nationalities for the first 10th places.
Congratulations to all and to all the fleet that competed with all they could and lots of enthusiasm.

Everything has an end.
Thanks to our Presidente de México, Felipe Calderón who had the original idea to make this Regata Copa México Bicentenario, and made it possible.
El Secretario de Turismo, Rodolfo Elizondo, Miguel Gomez Mont from Fonatur, Almirante Mariano Saynez Mendoza, Secretario de Marina, El Gobernador del Estado de Nayarit, Ney González.
The Regatta authorities Ernesto Amtmann, Chairman Regatta Copa México, Peter Wiegandt, Vice-Chairman, Kenneth Porter. The team that made this regatta possible, judges, assistances, Marina Armada de México, organization, etc, etc.
Our J-24 friends that came from so many different countries to enjoy this festival with the Mexican fleet. Very good competition.

We hope all of you had fun. Remember to tell your family, your friends that they are welcome to México.
Hope to see you racing sometime somewhere.

Viva México!!

Fair Sailing,
Luis Alvarez.

We Came, We Sailed, Mexico Delivered

2010-03-08T11:36:00.000-08:00

By Kimball | Published: March 7, 2010

Here is a very good article about the Copa Mexico-Mexorc 2010. Click here for the complete article

"Regata Copa México is important because it is not. That is, whether it was the MEXORC series for big boats just completed or the J/24 racing soon to be under way on Bahia de Banderas, there is nothing here to re-chart the course of boat design or competitive technique. What we have instead is an example of just how fine sailing can be, for the sake of bringing family and friends together simply in the name of sailing, and I submit to you that this is good."

"The winning MEXORC entry, Flojito y Cooperando, wasn’t purchased because owner Bernardo Mincow was heavily into sailing, rather because he had family members addicted to the game. The boat is a Farr 40 that was raced in the class worlds on San Francisco Bay in 2004 and then sold into the Farr 40 diaspora (which may be coalescing in Acapulco; more on that later).

Lorenzo Berho’s Kernan 68, Peligroso—winner of the San Diego-Puerto Vallarta Race—did not figure in the MEXORC standings but continued as a platform for training promising young Mexican sailors for offshore competition, which was Berho’s goal when he bought the boat last year. And let’s slip it in here that the president of Mexico sails boats and has directed his Navy to buy boats and train enlisted (yes, enlisted) men to sail. Look beyond the headlines about the horrific “drug wars” (which are a consequence of stupid American laws, but let’s talk politics later) and Mexico is happening, baby."

Last Day of the Copa Mexico - Mexorc

2010-03-08T11:26:00.000-08:00

2010 MEXORC
presented by Ullman Sails and Servicios Maritimos by Tomas Span, Ricky Brockmann and Bruce Cooper

Day 7: Gold Cup Triangle Race
This is the last day of racing on Banderas Bay. Racers have seen great wind, great competition and great fun. From all of the Ullman Sails and Servicios Maritimos team, we hope you have enjoyed live reporting from Riviera Nayarit. We will look forward to seeing you on the water in Acapulco, Valle de Bravo, Southern California and all over the globe.

Again, the President of Mexico, Felipe Calderon, was with the race committee boat to help start the races and wish the racers good winds and safe sailing. The sailing community in Mexico and United States of America are very excited this very special regatta was so well received by the local town, state and all of Mexico. The sailing was terrific, the shore side events were unbelievable fun and the total experience was unforgettable. This is a must attend regatta and a must visit town and area! It is a wonderful destination!

The racing was in 7 knots of wind with the class "D" boats starting first with classes "C", "B" and "A" following. The race was going very smooth until the 3rd buoy when all the boats started to pass each other and 77' and 70' boats were rounding the buoy with 37' boats! It was crazy as the big boats put up spinnakers and pulled away! Some how "Piet Hein" continued to sail in clear air and hold off the big boats till the next buoy!

After the 5th buoy the wind started to get crazy as the wind dipped in speed and started a huge 80-100 degree shift to the right. This caused big changes in strategy as boats sailed for the new wind and some positions really changed! As the first boats (Pendragon, Akela, Peligroso, Medicine Man and Alchemy) approached the finish at high speed, the wind completely turned off and they drifted to the finish while the whole fleet sailed in to the finish area right behind them! Another change in positions for the class positions and fleet positions! The big winner coming into the finish was the Farr 40 "Flojito" who was going to finish very strong for the overall fleet position!
The results were announce at the awards dinner and prize giving later that night and the Farr 40 "FLOJITO" was the overall fleet winnner and class "B" victor! Also winner of the Copa de Mexico Perpetual trophy!
Finishing 2nd overall in fleet was class "A" winner Andrews 68 "ALCHEMY" who sailed with 100% Ullman Sails and 3rd overall in fleet and 2nd in class "B" was Santa Cruz 50 "HORIZON" who also sailed with 100% Ullman Sails!

Day 6

2010-03-08T00:18:00.001-08:00

Day 5

2010-03-08T00:17:00.001-08:00

Last chance for podium @ MEXORC

2010-03-06T08:42:00.001-08:00

Mysteriously the ratings were changed after 5 days of racing and affected Peligroso's position by 2 points from Flash standing in third place.

Only a first place in today's regatta, combined with Flash being in 4rd place will allow Peligroso get a 3rd place. Nothing is impossible!

Yesterday priest Ricardo Sanchez LC came from Italy to sail with us and shared a message of inner growth being developing values.
He finally blessed Peligroso and blessed the crew!

Go Peligroso!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Lay Day Reflections

2010-03-04T07:08:00.000-08:00

Ahain thanks to Tomas Span, Ricky Brockmann and Bruce Cooper for their updates and videos!

Wednesday Day 4: Lay Day...recover from Bahia Las Caletas Race Fiesta
The party was good at Bahia Las Calitas, good during the powerboat catamaran rides home and good at the foam party for anyone who could stay up. Racers took today to rest their tired bodies and get some rest and time out of the sun. Many people simply rested by the pool at the Marival Resort and Marival Residence or laid by the ocean down at the beach. The racing starts again tomorrow with the following provisional results:

CLASS "A" after 4 races*:
1st: Flash 9pts.
2nd Akela 10pts.
3rd Peligroso 12 pts.
3rd Alchemy 12pts.

CLASS "B" after 4 races*:
1st Flojito 5pts.
2nd Wasabi 12pts.
3rd Horizon 13pts.

CLASS "C" after 4 races*:
1st Mojo 6pts.
2nd Bandido 9pts.
3rd Veloce II 10pts.

CLASS "D" after 4 races*:
1st Piet Hein 4pts.
2nd Centauro 12pts.
3rd Dred Nought 16pts.

Overall after 4 races*:
1st Piet Hein 18pts.
2nd Flojito 21pts.
3rd Flash 24pts.
4th Peligroso 24pts.
5th Akela 25pts.
6th Mojo 25pts.
7th Alchemy 26pts.

*We believe the points for class and overall are accurate, but there is no official notices-results posted at the race pavillion or on the MEXORC website to verify. The results are based on official results (1) race and provisional races (2) and observed finished at Las Caletas (1).

2010 MEXORC Copa Mexico Reporting - Day 3

2010-03-03T08:00:00.000-08:00

Tuesday Day 3: Bahia Las Caletas Distance Race

Today's race was truly a race to the finish. The race starts in lower Banderas Bay and then goes upwind straight out the bay to a buoy near the Marietas Islands and then a spinnaker run to the South side of the bay finishing at Bahia Las Caletas. The starting format was the inverted pursuit method where the handicap time that adjusts for the size and speed of the different boats is allocated at the beginning of the race, not adjusted to corrected finish times after the finishes. Basically, the first boat to the finish wins. The slowest boat on handicap (Piet Hein) starts first and with predetermined time intervals all the next faster boats start with the fastest boat starting last (Akela).

All the boats left the harbor at the marina at La Cruz on Riviera Nayarit early to get a look at what the wind was going to do for the day. The wind was cooperating and was building from the West very nicely. When the first boat started, the winds was already at 12-14 knots TWS and building. I sailed on the J-120 "Tate-i" which started 13 minutes after the first boat and the wind was already solid 14 and building.

The strategy for this race is sail for the extra wind and the right shift toward the North side of the bay toward Puenta Mita, tack next to the shore and head directly to the buoy. Then, a jibe with the spinnaker and stay in the wind pressure and wind shift until the wind moves back to the standard West direction. This sets you up to the finish at Las Caletas "heated" similar to the approach going to "El Presidente" buoy in Acapulco from CYA or the finish of the Santa Barbara - King Harbor race. With all the boats around the upwind buoy, it looked like the Melges 32 "Mojo" would surely take line honors, but they never came far enough back down the bay before jibing to the finish. The bigger boats from Class "A" did the early jibe at the upwind buoy and played the angles perfect. The TP-52 "Flash" was first to finish with Bob Lanes "Medicine Man" right behind with Lorenzo Berha's Kernan 70 "Peligroso" just nosing out the Melges 32!

The Americano boats had real strong finishes with "Flash" and "MedMan" taking the 1st & 2nd positions in class "A"; Jack Taylor's fast SC-50 "Horizon" took first in class "B" beating the tough Farr 40 "Flojito" and the Farr 46 "Wasabi" and Concordia 47 "Ruahatu"; class "C" was easily won by the Melges 32 "Mojo" from Texas.Today we talked to the Altolaguirre father and son team of Luis and Luis racing their family crewed J-120 "Tate-i". This boat has been waiting all year to come to PV and the big breeze in Banderas Bay!

Also, we talked to SD-PV racer Chuck Skewes from Ullman Sails who races with Per Peterson on the recently rebuilt Andrews 68 "Alchemy" in "Alchemy's" first MEXORC! "Alchemy" had a terrific race placing 1st in Class "B" in the SD-PV race and also sails with 100% Ullman Sails.

by Tomas Span, Ricky Brockmann and Bruce Cooper

Peligroso sailing for 3rd place in the Copa Mexico

2010-03-03T00:14:00.000-08:00

Akela

Other things happening

2010-03-02T10:49:00.000-08:00

Also in Cabo the sailor Tania Elias Calles started her challenge. Non stop from Los Cabos to Puerto Vallarta ON A LASER! Here is a sneak peak of the start. Her project not only includes this challenge, but also racing in the 2012 Olimpic Games in London and charity!

Bests of luck Tania.

www.eldesafio2012.org

2010 MEXORC Reporting - Day 2

2010-03-02T09:45:00.000-08:00

Monday Day 2: Windward - Leeward Races (x2)

Today all the boats got out of the harbor with no low tide issues. The beautiful harbor is the marina at La Cruz on Riviera Nayarit. The Marina is becoming more popular and offering all the services the racers and sailors need.
The sailing today was good breeze at 10-15 knots. The MEXORC fleet had 2 mile and 2.5 mile legs for each race with two windward legs and two downwind legs (finish downwind). Starts were critical to get out in clear air and pick your course for the first wind shift upwind. The boats with better starts typically finished well.

As the class "C" and "D" boats sailed to the first upwind mark, the front runners of class "A" (Akela, Peligroso, Pendragon...) were approaching on their second upwind mark; it was real exciting to see the boats battling for position (the big boats always win that battle)! However, in class "A" it was the slower handicapped "Alchemy" who took a 1st and 2nd in the big boat class! Alchemy sails with all Ullman Sails!

In class "B" the Farr 40 Flojito was most consistent with two 1st. Wasabi and Ruahatu had each a 2nd place and a 5th and 6th respectively. The longer races might let the bigger boats get a lead on the Farr 40 and save the corrected time, we will see.

The "C" class had a great change of leads on both races with the Melges 32 Mojo (2nd,2nd), J-133 Veloce II(1st, 4th), CM-1200 Velocity (4th,3rd) and Freres 43 Bandido (3rd, 1st). This will be a very tight class through the rest of the week. Too bad Quintessence is not able to sail. Good news is the RP-43 Knitissima made the delivery up from Acapulco and will race the rest of the week!

Piet Hein continued there first to finish and two 1st place finishes with the fleet chasing them. The NM-41 Centaru from the Mexican Navy is showing good speed finishing with a 5th and 2nd. This boat was totally rebuilt by the Navy to prepare for MEXORC. It was in horrible shape and is now finished with a 2nd, 5th, and 2nd using all Ullman Sails.
Today we talked to Acapulco's Brockmann Family who are back to better their 2nd place finish
in the last MEXORC joined by San Diego's John Laun-Steve Malowney and Erik Axford. Erik and Ricky Brockmann just finished crewing on "Peligroso" in the record setting SD-PV race which scored 1st in Class "A"and 1st overall in fleet!
Also, we talked to Jack Taylor who raced his SC-50"Horizon" in the recent SD-PV race claiming a very satisfying 1st in Class "3". Jack and his family and friends are enjoying their first MEXORC with Ullman Sails Erik Shampain aboard! Horizon races with 100% Ullman Sails!

Muchas Gracias por velear con Ullman Sails,
Tomas Span
Ricky Brockmann
Bruce Cooper

High action in lighter winds

2010-03-01T10:16:00.001-08:00

Just 30 seconds can make a lot of difference in this competitive fleet!Peligroso's 3rd place in MEXORC's first day made us aware of the performance level this fleet has.

Today's challenges include lighter winds, current and a smooth boat handling! The windward-leeward course will make the fleet fight for the buys.

GO PELIGROSO!

Photo by Kimball Livingston

2010-02-28T15:00:00.000-08:00

Setting sails for MEXORC - COPA MEXICO

2010-02-28T09:32:00.001-08:00

Just after lasts night award ceremony for PV'10, the Peligroso crew is now focusing in the start for the first leg of the course. A splash of a humpback is welcoming the fleet!
The whole fleet consists of 31 boats and our class is integrated by 6, Peligroso is the only mexican boat in the class.
We will have honor to have President Calderon firing the starting gun.
VIVA MEXICO! ... VIVA PELIGROSO! ... and fair winds for everyone!!!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Winner Winner...

2010-02-28T05:55:00.001-08:00

Peligroso is ready for Mexorc!!

2010-02-26T11:23:00.001-08:00

Being the first mexican boat to win the PV, is the best way to honor Roy Disney, the team spirit, hard work and commitment full time were key elements to win in a foto finish.
Now the experience aquired plus this great results will inspire us for the Mexorc-Copa Mexico, this will be a complete diferent regatta, with more boats and more challenging competition.

Congratulations to the best crew and let' go for it!

Lorenzo Berho

Little Summary

2010-02-26T11:18:00.000-08:00

The Peligroso Team just finished what must have been the best race ever to Mexico. With fantastic winds the entire 1000 miles and beautiful weather it surely will go down as the best SDYC PV race of all time.

For the great team we had on Peligroso, we started the race off Shelter Island in San Diego under beautiful skies and steady 12 knot winds. After clearing the North Coronado Island we sailed a southerly course of 180degrees with our competition, Akela, Pendragon and Medicine Man staying fairly close to our track. MM and Pendragon began sailing lower with Akela and Peligroso keeping a higher course. Alchemy and Flash, who started 15 minutes before us, were ahead and sailing about the same course as us.

The next few days were sailed in ever increasing winds with the maximum winds being about 30 knots as we approached Cabo. A brief wind shadow rounding the cape gave us a quick start on the close reach across the gulf to PV. Akela was a few hours ahead of us at this point and finished at 9:15 PM. and we finished at 11:30 PM. Unfortunately, the beautiful new Pendragon had some issues and had to drop out in Cabo. We were anxious to see how this Laurie Davidson speedster performed.

As with all handicap races we needed to wait awhile to see how we did and to our complete surprise we corrected out not only first in class but also first overall. Having sailed in almost 30 Mexican races aboard many large boats this is the first time winning both class and overall. A huge thrill for me and our terrific Peligroso crew.

Lorenzo Berho recently purchased Peligroso from Victoria Campbell after my friend Mike Campbell passed away. Lorenzo put together the crew which included many of his prior crew from Rain Cloud but also some young, eager Mexican dinghy sailors who were a total pleasure to have aboard. These "kids" reminded me so much of the Morning Light movie kids we trained and I'm told that one of Lorenzo's primary goals with Peligroso is to teach young sailors more about ocean racing which is such a wonderful gift to big boat sailing in Mexico. We had 14 crew and although I would love to list all their names I'm sure I would make many spelling errors to I won't attempt it. But I can say that the entire crew did an incredible job in every respect. With this being a windy race the crew were certainly challenged and all of them really rose to the occasion.

A big thank you to the Berho Family for putting this race together and for inviting me to be part of it and a very special thanks to Lorenzo for dedicating this race to the memory of Roy Disney.

Robbie Haines

The winning team

2010-02-24T15:32:00.000-08:00

1st Place

2010-02-24T15:22:00.000-08:00

Congrats to Lorenzo Behro & Peligroso on 1st in Div 1 and 1st Overall!

Peligroso just finished

2010-02-23T23:47:00.000-08:00

Peligroso finished 2336 PST. In total 3 days, 11 hours and 36 minutes! Congratulations Peligroso and lets await for the final, corrected results!!

News News News

2010-02-23T23:30:00.000-08:00

Akela just finished at 2112 pacific time, and holds the course record! Peligroso is just behind her, so after the corrected times are specified we will see who won! Congratulations Akela.

On the other hand Relentless, Horizon, Bad Pak, Medicine Man and Allure are expected to arrive between 6am and 8am local time!

Fair winds!

Standings 2/23/10 0600 Report

2010-02-23T11:39:00.000-08:00

Peligroso is doing 2nd in its division and 4th overall.
More here:
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Tracking system working again!

2010-02-23T00:37:00.000-08:00

Last position 23/02/10 at 0205
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0600 Standing PELIGROSO

2010-02-22T16:00:00.001-08:00

Akela and Peligroso taking the inside track (tracking devices not working) and are approx 100 miles behind div 3 boats at 0600 check in

Sailinganarchy.com provided some news

2010-02-22T10:04:00.000-08:00

b class blues

Jeff Thorpe, Quantum Frisco, is pushing the TP 52 Flash to Puerto Valarta from San Diego. Here's his first report from yesterday...

7:30 PST TWD 337 TWS 15 kts BS 14.2 TWA 147 Heading 114

Here we sit rumbling down the line with Cedros islands 90 miles abeam. Well for last night?? We were sitting with Akela & Peligroso off our weather beam. At sunset all of us running MHG'S & GS's going 2 knots above wind speed heading offshore for the Northwesterly's with Pendragon to leeward and ahead with Medicine Man to leeward and abeam looking great and surprised with our reaching speed to be able to stay in touch with the longer waterline boats.

After dark we saw the wind sneak forward to a more southerly direction a few times but it kept coming back to the WNW so we were content that we were working offshore enough with our current sail plan...Boy were we wrong! Even though we were working out past our weather routing waypoint to avoid light southerlies, we had large cloud come over us and we lost sight of Pelegroso's lights the wind glassed off so we ended up beating and slating for 4 to 5 hours Drifting as best we could.

So At morning roll call we find out that both Akela & Peligroso, being a mile to weather of us, was the difference of 30 miles down the track. And our single class competitor Alchemy who was the western most boat of the fleet, smoked us for 12 miles but at least we had 30 miles to the east of them which would allow us to cross them by around 5 miles this afternoon.

So our goal now is to extend out on Alchemy now that we are in the same weather and take some handicap time back from Akela & Peligroso

The weather now looks pretty standard for some baja style racing! We press on racing in a 2 boat class. What's up with that?? Guess if you buy the awards you need to have the class. I just don't get what these Race committees are thinking with class spits? We always seems we are in the B-Class no matter what boat we sail...time for sleep

Preliminary results

2010-02-22T03:22:00.001-08:00

Here are the preliminary results. Peligroso 2nd in its division.

Update

2010-02-21T08:33:00.000-08:00

This is their last location at 4 am.
For live tracking Click Here.
:

The Start

2010-02-21T00:43:00.000-08:00

Here is some media thanks to the SDYC!!!

Practice day

2010-02-19T23:22:00.000-08:00

We had a very exciting day today. After many hours of hard work from the crew and especially Alex and Chris, Peligroso was ready to take out for a quick warm up sail and systems check. The crew has really come together well. Lorenzo appropriately called it a blender of talents given all the different skills that each crew member is bringing to the program. If it is a blender of talents I hope a cold margarita and a win in PV is what awaits us!

We are all very anxious to get racing and feel we have a great opportunity to win this race. The forecast predicts that we will be sailing upwind for the first 8 hours or so. We expect rain to greet us in the morning but finish later in the morning or afternoon.

I know that many fans are will be following our progress on the SD website and in the Peligroso blog. We would like to thank all of our followers.

Good sailing to everyone.

nigel

VALLARTA...here we go!

2010-02-18T12:50:00.000-08:00

We are just about to start another wonderful journey, this time racing against great boats in a 1000 NM regatta that has a very special touch.
The regatta starts in San Diego next Saturday, Feb 20th and ends in the wonderful Banderas Bay, Puerto Vallarta, MEXICO.

We have worked very hard to organize a great crew full of Mexican young sailors who are competing to classify for the London Olympics like Jorge Murrieta and the Brockman brothers, teaming up with Morning Light navigator Piet Van Os and team leader Robbie Haines (who worked for years with Roy Disney), other crew members include experienced sailors like Yon Belausteguigoitia, Raul Velarde (Co-Navigator), Jorge Garcia and Andres Akle (Bowmen) Cris Doolittle, Geoff Nelson, then from Australia Mark Callahan and from Canada our Tactician Nigel Cochrane and last but not least Loren Berho as our hidden secret weapon and Lorenzo Berho as Captain.

It’s the Team that was needed to take Mexican sailors to the next level and promote sailing in Mexican waters.

The level of commitment and dedication to prepare and the high energy and adrenaline is shared by all the team.

As we mentioned one month ago, we will race this regatta honoring “ROY DISNEY” who has inspired this New Peligroso Project.

FAIR WINDS TO EVERYONE AND WE WILL SEE YOU SOON IN PUERTO VALLARTA.

Lorenzo Berho

Click here to see our current tracking status.

PELIGROSO WINS IT’S FIRST REGATTA IN 2010 1ST OVERALL AND 1ST IN CLASS

2010-02-18T01:50:00.001-08:00

On January 30th Peligroso raced the Cabrillo 2 regatta, it’s a 65nm race starting in SD, goes to Mexican waters around the Coronado Islands and then around Sugarloaf in Rosarito where all boats begin to return to SD going upwind.
We had wind almost all the time, a beautiful sunset, shooting stars and the biggest full moon of the year arising from East Tijuana a lot of dolphins escorting us too.

It took Peligroso 1 hour and 30 minutes to be leading the fleet, but that wasn’t enough to win due to handicaps, it was unexpected to have winds up to 18 knots and they started to die just 1 hour before crossing the finish line, Condor and other boats were very close behind doing an excellent race but in the last hour everything was defined and Peligroso won by 48 minutes to the 2nd place or 16 minutes corrected time.

It feels great to sail Peligroso with an outstanding crew, but it’s even better win for the first time in 2010.

Congratulations! And thank you all for the hard work and fantastic team spirit.

Lorenzo Berho

Après 33. Americas Cup

2010-02-16T14:13:00.000-08:00

Here is a very interesting article about the possible outcomes of the 34. Americas Cup.
Consider San Diego for America’s Cup defense.

By Bill Center, UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER

Monday, February 15, 2010 at 12:04 a.m.

Officially, the America’s Cup now belongs to the Golden Gate Yacht Club.

Which raises some questions: Where does BMW Oracle boss Larry Ellison go from here with the sailing prize he has labored a decade to win? Where does the San Francisco-based team mount its first defense? And when?

It is a question that interests San Diego civic and sailing leader Malin Burnham.

As great a city as San Francisco is, it might not be the best site for an America’s Cup defense.

“Staging the event on San Francisco Bay would be spectacular for spectators,” Burnham said. “But for the sailors, San Francisco Bay would change the dynamics.

“The strong tidal system forces you to be on one side of the course or the other. That would create lopsided or one-dimensional racing. Plus, commercial shipping by law has the right of way. And there is so much commercial shipping on San Francisco Bay that it would interfere with the racing.”

And in case you are wondering, racing outside San Francisco Bay is not an option. The conditions are well outside accepted parameters.

So if not San Francisco, where?

What about San Diego?

Burnham said he plans to ask Mayor Jerry Sanders to draft a letter to Ellison asking the BMW Oracle leader to consider San Diego as the host city for the next defense.

San Diego has experience at the game. The city hosted three America’s Cups (1988, 1992 and 1995) after Dennis Conner’s 1987 victory off Fremantle, Western Australia.

For 16 months leading up to the end of last year, San Diego hosted Ellison’s team as it prepared its massive 90-by-90-foot trimaran for the 2-0 rout of Swiss defender Alinghi that was completed yesterday off Valencia, Spain.

Ellison is on record praising San Diego for its hospitality regarding BMW Oracle.

And Ton Ehman, one of BMW Oracle’s top aides and a key figure in San Diego’s running of its three America’s Cups, recently said San Diego figures to play a role in future Ellison efforts.

He said the team could set up a permanent training base here — winning helmsman James Spithill is from Australia but calls Point Loma his year-round home — and would back San Diego as a site for an International America’s Cup Class stop on the Louis Vuitton tour.

Could this lead to San Diego again being a host city for the main event?

America’s Cup followers criticized San Diego for its light winds, its lack of a central village and the small size of its spectator fleets.

But San Diego had fewer days lost to the weather than either of the two sites — Auckland, New Zealand, and Valencia — that followed. The teams visiting here became parts of the communities where they set up shop.

“We did a good job hosting the America’s Cup,” said Burnham. “And San Diego is conducive to close sailing. We’ve got the experience.”

Burnham said he believes the return of the America’s Cup would give the region’s economy a boost. Studies of the 1992 and ’95 events showed each pumped $500 million into the local economy.

“These are 2½-year events with each team bringing in or employing a hundred-plus people,” Burnham said. “They fill rooms, buy meals and require services.”

What happens next — when and where — is up to Ellison and how he handles the challenge. The 34th defense might again be held in Valencia because most of the teams already have established facilities in Spain.

Ellison, of course, has strong ties to San Francisco and recently purchased property in Newport, R.I. — for a century the traditional home of the America’s Cup in the United States.
America’s Cup thoughts

Alinghi head Ernesto Bertarelli completely misread the legal situation and the strength of Ellison’s program going into the 33rd defense.

That led to his embarrassing rout.

Bertarelli tried to stack the deck against the challengers in what is historically a challenger-driven event — which is what led to Ellison’s original legal challenge. Eleven times, the two teams went to court, and 11 times, Bertarelli lost. But all along, he refused Ellison’s offers of compromise.

Then he built a catamaran that was outgunned by BMW Oracle’s trimaran on every level, from the fixed wing to the curved daggerboards to increase lift.

This was an all-around whipping.

Off to Mexico

Thirteen boats will be in the fleet when San Diego Yacht Club’s 30th biennial international race into Mexico starts Friday and Saturday.

Two local boats — Lorenzo Berho’s Dencho Kernan 70 Peligroso and Tom Holthus’ J-145 Bad Pak — are in the 1,000-mile San Diego to Puerto Vallarta fleet. The noon starts both days will be in San Diego Bay off Shelter Island.

Cabrillo Results

2010-02-13T05:47:00.000-08:00

Here is the link to our results!

Cabrillo Start

2010-01-30T12:24:00.000-08:00

Cabrillo Regatta

2010-01-30T11:38:00.000-08:00

Jan 30, 2010

Peligroso starts 2010 participating in Cabrillo Regatta in SD, this is going to be a very challenging 65 NM regatta departing from SD and going around the Coronado Islands down in Mexico, close to Rosarito.

All the crew is very exited and have been working really hard to get ready and start with the right foot our 2010 racing program.

It will be interesting to see how the fleet weathers the low winds, expected to be from 8 knots to 2 late at night.

Welcome aboard our crew and thank's to all our friends who follow and help this project come true.

Un fuerte abrazo and fair winds!

Lorenzo Berho

Raincloud Transpac 2007

2010-01-20T16:45:00.001-08:00

Roy Disney's Life Celebration fuels Peligroso's Project

2010-01-11T11:16:00.000-08:00

This past weekend was Roy Disney's Life Celebration. On Saturday, under beautiful skies and calm winds, we journeyed out from Newport Beach to scatter his ashes at sea. Aboard three beautiful boats, the SC 70 Pyewacket, the RP 60 Pyewacket 5 and Windward Passage, his sailing crew and families and friends watched as his immediate family did the ceremonies aboard the Galatea, a DeFever 50. Danny Akaka, the priest that married Roy and Leslie a little more than a year ago, came from Kona to preside. Beautiful flowers were scattered which ended a most beautiful ceremony. We all went back to Newport Harbor Yacht Club to have a BIG party, Roy's specific wish. 190 people were there and many spoke about the impact this wonderful man had on them and their families.

On Sunday, the Disney Co. paid tribute to Roy at the El Capitan Theater in Hollywood. 1000 people paid tribute to Roy. The three hour program included clips of Roy's past and also his love for animation and sailing. Seven members of the Morning Light Team spoke as well as members of his beloved Pyewacket team. Bob Iger, President of Disney, gave a wonderful speech honoring what Roy has done for the Disney Co. for over 50 years. On this Sunday was also his 80th birthday.

Roy loved life and especially loved being out on the water with his friends aboard the many Pyewacket's and Morning Light. We worked together for more than 20 years. He was the best boss anyone could wish for but more importantly he was my friend.

Robbie Haines

Robbie Haines will participate with Peligroso in the PV and Mexorc regattas.

Roy Disney

2009-12-17T09:19:00.000-08:00

Dear Peligroso Crew and friends:

This morning I learned about Roy Disney passing away and I want to share with you that my decision about creating the ”PELIGROSO SAILING TEAM” was inspired in 3 things, our past sailing project “RAINCLOUD” and 2 persons that I admire very much for different reasons.
One is MALIN BURNHAM who has been a great friend, a fantastic partner, an impressive human been and a fun sailor from which I started taking sailing seriously and I believe it is a privilege to have him close to our project and as part of our team.
The other person is ROY DISNEY who I shortly met during our Transpac in 2007 and his vision about taking young sailors to the next level touched me deeply and from that moment I started to think about doing something similar but with Mexican young sailors and in a permanent way (not only for one regatta) and all of this were the origin of our “PELIGROSO RACING TEAM PROJECT”.

Roy left us with a unique Legacy and I would like as a tribute to him offer our next Regatta PV2010 and make sure that our young Mexican sailors find opportunities in Sailing and in Life.

Un abrazo

Lorenzo Berho

"Share the values that we share"

2009-12-01T12:31:00.000-08:00

John Gerzema says there's an upside to the recent financial crisis -- the opportunity for positive change. Speaking at TEDxKC, he identifies four major cultural shifts driving new consumer behavior and shows how businesses are evolving to connect with thoughtful spending.

Mexico's Sailing Future

2009-11-30T13:27:00.000-08:00

Ricardo Brockmann, ex-commodore of the Acapulco Yacht Club, and passionate sailor comments on Mexican sailing status and the future.

Ricardo, family and friends after the 2009 Transpac Race

"The Peligroso project without any doubt will come as an excellent way in allowing many young Mexican sailors to fulfill a dream of sailing offshore that would be very difficult to do without an initiative like the Berho family is putting together. It is known by all, that Mexico lacks a culture in all related to ocean sports but with a huge potential so this is truly great. Many efforts by local clubs, the Mexican Sailing Federation as well as from the Navy are underway but mostly to encourage local children to venture into sailing, Peligroso will also help especially if when in different ports children can easily visit the boat and not to say with a possibility to sail on it, I can not imagine the motivation this could bring to them.

We also have a nice group of sailors between the ages of 15 and 25 that have been more active participating in International competitions and even preparing themselves for possibly the Olympics, I can very well see some of these sailors forming part of permanent Peligroso Crew.

I was honored to be invited to sail on Peligroso in the first race of this new era, and all I can say is that having a boat like Peligroso in the hands of a fellow Mexican is great, Lorenzo and his family will have all my support and look forward to many successes both on the race course as in touching many life's of young Mexican sailors.

Ricardo"

Advice from a great Leader

2009-11-26T09:52:00.000-08:00

Malin Burnham has been the key influence of the Peligroso project and we were honored to have him at the helm of Peligroso for the first race. His vision of sailing goes beyond cruising and racing, in the magazine Sailing World, Malin speaks about the seven virtues of sailing which will be the backbone of this project. In this Blog you will find Malin’s opinion about Peligroso and “the seven virtues of sailing“.

"Peligroso's performance in her first race under the Berho ownership was outstanding, considering we chose to be somewhat conservative until the team gains a better sense of sail selection and maneuvers. I was very impressed with how the 22 crew members worked together since we only met each other the day before. It all started with Lorenzo and Captain Mark Callahan sitting down and assigning each person a particular place and duty. Of my seven sailing virtues, planning ahead and teamwork were the keys to Peligroso's initial successful performance. "

From the July/August 2009 issue of Sailing Magazine by Malin Burnham

Commitment: This means setting goals and taking responsibility. For example, you have to show up on time at the starting line. They are not going to wait for you.

Dedication: It takes perseverance-you must work every day to excel, be it business, family or sailing.

Hard work: The winners in yacht racing today have been at it for some time. When I was growing up, I did all the sanding, painting, and rigging with my own hands.

Teamwork: It’s important to spread the load. I have never accomplished anything favorable or positive in my life by myself. I have always been part of a team. Sometimes I have been the head of a team, other times the middle, and even the caboose.

Follow through: You have to put things in motion, and keep going until you are successful.

Playing by the rules: One of the most important things in life is playing by the rules, and not cutting corners. We have so many ethical problems in the world today, in our own society, in our own business. Ethics is very important. This should be taught up front so it stays with us our entire lives.

Planning ahead: You must have both short and long term goals. Once I got out of junior sailing I had to think ahead, what do I want to do next? I think it is just as important to think out the next 20 minutes, as it is to plan out the next 10 to 15 years. I picked that up in sailing.

Nigel Cochrane on Peligroso

2009-11-25T16:12:00.000-08:00

Nigel Cochrane. The 48-year-old tactician of Peligroso faced a very difficult task, but with his experience both as competitor and trainer in Olympic Games he knew exactly how to handle this crew and was kind enough to give us some feedback on the boat and the sailors onboard.

What is the most significant feature of the Boat?

It's size. The boat's length is what is most striking. After about the first 10-15 mins. you start to begin to get used the incredibly length and sleekness of the boat and then you look up at the mast and the whole process of being overwhelmed is repeated all over again. The mast seems to stretch to the heavens. It even seems taller when one of the crew goes to the top of the mast to check fittings or make repairs. I just can't imagine how big the boat will look when it is on the hard. The keel must be equally impressive as the mast is tall. The other major feature I noticed was the lack of wake the boat made as it moved through the water. The boat seems to just glide above the water without any resistance what-so-ever. This must be due to how light the whole boat is and how well it is designed. Knowing that it is almost completely custom made of carbon fibre - including the head - makes it seem like more of an performance aircraft than a sailboat. Once you get underway, standing on the boat under full sail, you get the feeling that you are on a windsurfer not a 70' maxi boat. The boat is just so light and responsive that you get a work-out just trying to match the motion of the boat while it seems to effortlessly glide through the pacific ocean swell.

What do you think about the Peligroso project and their goals?

It is a great project to be involved in. It is so nice that the vision for Peligroso is more than just entering sailboat races but also about raising money and awareness for important causes that effect us all. Peligroso will also give so many Mexican sailors a chance to compete on one of the most impressive maxi boats on the west coast if not the world. Without Lorenzo Berho and Malin Burnham's vision for Peligroso, these young talented sailors would never have had a chance to develop the skills needed to sail a race a boat of this calibre.

Being able to race on the first race, how did you felt the crew and their teamwork?

It turns out that the training that we did on Raincloud, a J-145, was a perfect way to prepare for racing Peligroso. In many ways Raincloud is a harder boat to sail and race competitively. Having some key positions filled by experienced Peligroso crew made the whole day a very enjoyable and professional experience. I was very impressed with how the crew quickly adapted to the new skills that were required in racing Peligroso. It will be fun to watch the crew learn and improve as we mover forward from this point on. It was definitely a learning experience for me, as tactician, as well. The responsibility of the calls becomes so much more important when you have 70' of carbon fibre steaming along at 12 knots before the start of a race that has over 100 boats in the fleet. Picking the wrong approach into the leeward mark could easily result in destroying a $25,000 sail at the very least. Just being on the boat is an exciting place and I am glad we made it around the race course in our first regatta without too much fanfare!

Finally the Results!

2009-11-24T08:50:00.000-08:00

Click here to see the Results of the Hot Rum Regatta

Windy?

2009-11-24T08:40:00.000-08:00

Stars and stripes

2009-11-22T14:34:00.000-08:00

Dennis giving us the welcoming
Enviado desde mi oficina móvil BlackBerry® de Telcel

Our main guy!!

2009-11-22T11:40:00.000-08:00

Enviado desde mi oficina móvil BlackBerry® de Telcel

Our first briefing!

2009-11-22T11:35:00.000-08:00

"Burnham returns" now as skipper of a Mexican flag sailboat,Peligroso!

2009-11-22T11:11:00.000-08:00

Peligroso, a fantastic 70 feet sailboat was aquired by "the Berho family" who joining forces with past Peligroso crew and their past crew from Raincloud their previous mexican sailboat and with Nigel Cochrane as their tactitian from Canada will begin a new sailing era today.
One of the main goals of this project is to promote young mexican sailors to international Maxi Yacht competitions.
The boat will sail under the mexican flag with Malin Burnham at the helm.

Malin knows the San Diego waters like no one else.

Fair winds! and un fuerte abrazo to all Peligroso friends!

Lorenzo Berho
VESTA

Fotos

2009-11-17T03:04:00.000-08:00

Fresh new start

2009-11-17T02:27:00.000-08:00

The new start of the Peligroso Racing Team will be in San Diego, Ca.
The Hot Rum series will be the first Regatta Peligroso will race
having Malin Burnham in the Helm.
Good luck.