Eight Bells: Carlos Vilar Castex

A sad news for our Class. Carlos Vilar Castex has died yesterday.

Carlos was inducted – with his brother Jorge – into the Snipe Class Hall of Fame in 2019 for his dedication and victories in the Snipe Class.

Carlos Vilar Castex was born in 1930 and sailed Snipes from 1947 to 1957. Carlos and Jorge lived their whole life in San Isidro, Buenos Aires, Argentina and they were members of the Club Nautico San Isidro.

In 1948, after only a year of Snipe sailing Carlos, as skipper (18 years old), and Jorge, as crew (17 years old), won the Snipe World Championship in Palma de Mallorca, Spain. The following year they finished second at the Worlds in Larchmont, NY, USA, behind Ted Wells.

In 1951 in Havana, Cuba, Carlos, crewing for his brother, won his second Snipe World Championship. In the same year, the Castex brothers were Gold Medalist at the very first Pan Am Games held in Buenos Aires.

Carlos won 4 Argentinian Nationals as skipper and 3 crewing and Jorge viceversa.

In the 70´s Carlos started building the world famous “Vilar Castex” Snipes that won many regattas internationally and were one of the first fiberglass Snipes made in South America.

Jorge Vilar Castex sadly passed away in 2014, but “Carlos has continued to support sailing to this day – SCIRA Commodore Luis Soubie said when Carlos was inducted into the Hall of Fame – following every regatta on Facebook and SnipeToday, and being present in person in every National or International regatta prizegiving ceremony that takes place in Buenos Aire. It is a special honor for the currently active Snipe sailors to receive cups and medals from him in those events”.

Our sympathy and condolences to his family and to the Argentinian Snipe sailors.