Honoring Olympic & Multihull Sailor Charles ‘Carlito’ Favre
Charles Favre sadly passed away last Thursday while sailing an A-Cat. I saw condolences for from several sailors, and realized he was a beloved friend by his peers, and he got plenty, just analyzing the boats he sailed : Olympic 470 & Tornado, X40s, D35s, M2s and A-Class among others.
I didn´t knew him as I know other sailors in Europe, but I do remember him from 2014 Bordeaux A-Class Europeans, Why? Because he was always smiling and was the most cordial sailor to us newbies/rookies of the Arg team.
On some mails I exchanged with people who knew him I told exactly that to Arno earlier today before getting Kris Jonsson words minutes ago.
Reading how Kris describes his friend Charles, confirms the impression I had from him.
There is a good picture from that event taken by Paula Kopilowicz on Favre getting inside Waterhouse & Landy at the upwind mark at Bordeaux Europeans 2014.
First image left: At helm onboard Tilt M2 by Loris von Siebenthal. 2nd Pic: Sailing A-Class , image by Gianluca Mini.
Sail On Charles.
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Below words by his fellow A-Cat sailor & friend Kris Jonsson:
He was out practicing on his new A Class, one of three new boats we recently received. We had spent a good deal of the past week-end together preparing the boats. We were all very excited about the new boats and eager to get on the water. While I had to travel during the week he had already been out on Wednesday trying it out. I got a happy email in the morning from him explaining the previous day of sailing. This was Charles’ third A Class having sailed already on two earlier generations.
There were several boats on the water during the afternoon on Thursday but when the others went ashore early evening Charles decided to do one more tack over towards the other side before reaching back to Corsier. I recall many times where one of us would stay out a bit longer to take advantage of the conditions to get another run and then to find our friends back ashore after a good day of sailing. This was not the case Thursday unfortunately.
Charles was found shortly thereafter next to his capsized boat off Corsier Port, on his back unconscious still hooked in to his trapeze, and later passed away.. The exact cause of the accident is not known. The guys did an exemplary job rescuing him by boat, trying to save him followed by transportation in helicopter to the University hospital – but It was too late. Charles left us and his family, far too early.
When I speak to Charles’ friends that grew up together there are endless stories about friendship, regattas and championships. I was fortunate enough to get to know him over the past years, first during the D35 series during after sail recaps at Madame L’Huillier’s cabin and then later when we started sailing A Class together a few years back.
Many memories stand out, one of my favorites being coming from windy and cold November conditions on the A Class jumping straight in to Schneiter’s outside jacuzzi and sharing on the water experiences with jokes and smiles – shared passion. He was such an enthusiastic and positive person, fun to be around, and as we know he could also be quite serious on the water at times with a certain temperament!
He had a long career in sailing including the 84′ Olympics in Los Angeles in 470 and then the 92′ Olympics in Barcelona on Tornado and many victories on the lake and abroad. He raced with numerous teams and boats on the lake through the years. He was tactician on the yellow Alinghi when it all started, he was with Cardis’ D35 team and with team TILT on various boats. Highly appreciated he was regularly invited back by the teams he had sailed with for the occasional regatta.
The father of three children and the father figure to another three, our thoughts go to his family – he will be immensely missed by us. We will remember him and keep being inspired by him. “
Funeral was done on Wednesday 20 and it was very emotional.-
Sail On ‘Carlit∞’
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