SANTOS VEGA

“...Manuel Campos is the internationally lesser known of the two Argentinean pioneers of yacht design in Buenos Aires, though it might have been his designs that first placed Argentina as a sailing nation in Northern Hemisphere minds. However, it is the other designer, German Frers, whose name to this day—through his son and grandson, and their continuing performance design—remains identified with Argentine sailing. Frers went to the limits quicker, in lighter boats with more sail, which were subsequently faster. Influenced by Ricus van de Stadt, he soon drew popular hard-chined, short-keeled classes and types that prompted Campos to comment: ‘You can’t eat your soup at more than 20 degrees of heel.’ For him it was not speed but seakindliness that rated high, his designs following the edict of ‘Who will take care of you if not the boat?’...” ~extract from “Manuel Campos: Argentinean yacht designer,” by Thies Matze, WoodenBoat magazine No. 196 (May/June 2007).