Pegaso History

C&C Yachts Limited

Mechanical engineer George Cuthbertson and aircraft designer George Cassian teamed up with builder Erik Bruckmann to create C&C Yachts Limited (officially in 1969) building a number of notable sailing vessels with the “new” fiberglass material.

Every Canadian Canada’s Cup contender between 1969 and 1978 was a C&C product.

Between 1970 and 1975 seven 61′ racing sailboats were built: Sorcery (1970), Robon III (1971), Ketch (1972), Sassy (1972), Joli (1974), Helisara (1974), and Grampus (1975), that were notorious in international racing. In 1982 a Custom 62′ variant (“Pegaso”) of this hull was built by raising the freeboard and outfitted as a luxury cruiser. Robert W. Ball was the designer.

C&C advertised the “Pegaso” design later as “What do you sail when you want to make 200-mile-a-day passages in supreme luxury? The new C&C Custom 62.” As far as we know there were no others built.

Pegaso new in 1982

Jorge & Herta Altamirano

Jorge Altamirano commissioned C&C in 1981 to build a cruising 62′ variant based on the 61′ hull design. It has been reported that Jorge was an experienced sailor and regularly attended during the construction of “Pegaso”. The specific customization included double balsa-cored laminate, and structural enforcement to mitigate risk when sailing in northern climates.

 

The ownership of Pegaso Yachting Ltd., the owner of Pegaso, changed hands in 1992.

Bill & Alicia Blodgett

In 1992 Bill and Alicia Blodgett took possession of Pegaso and started their circumnavigation. Alicia wrote a book about their adventures. It contains somewhat of an outline of their travels and gives evidence of some of the places that the Altamiranos visited. The Blodgetts sailed Pegaso until 2001 and ended up “donating” her. Pegaso went with the Blodgetts from Florida, through the Panama Canal, the Marquesas, Tuamotu, Tahiti, Cook Islands, Tonga, New Zealand, Fiji, Vanuatu, Australia, Indonesia, Bali, Singapore, Phuket, Sri Lanka, Maldives, Oman, Sudan, Suez Canal, Cyprus, Malta, Sicily, Spain, Canary Islands, Barbados, Puerto Rico and back to Florida.

Pegaso in the Chesapeake Bay

Pegaso Yachting Corp

In 2019 “Pegaso” was found at Herrington Harbour North in Maryland, abandoned and on the hard for 15 years at the time. A new corporation was founded that purchased “Pegaso” and a 3-year process was started to rebuild the boat and bring it back to seaworthiness. “Pegaso” was re-launched in the fall of 2022 and is currently being lived on and sailed/tested in the Chesapeake Bay and surrounding waters.