The Return Transoceanic to Europe – the 10th
Race of IBSA’s Project Sailing into the Future. Together – Has
Started
For the Class40 IBSA it’s time to return to Europe:
sailing the boat during the wonderful Transat Québec Saint-Malo is
skipper Alberto Bona, together with Pablo Santurde del Arco and
Luca Rosetti, in a regatta that turns out to be a real conundrum,
due to the expected weather conditions.
This press release features multimedia. View
the full release here:
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240701084720/en/
Started after the storm, at 2:15 pm local time (8:15 pm
Italian time), as expected the 10th edition of the Transat Québec
Saint-Malo immediately proved to be very complicated. The St.
Lawrence River, in fact, features currents, very unstable winds
that change with the passage of a single cloud, and many variables
to dominate.
A few minutes before the start, there was in fact a violent and
rapid increase in the average wind speed (squall) with rain and
hail, followed by a gusty and sustained wind up to 15 knots, which
allowed the crafts to set off running with the wind, offering a
great show as part of a very tactical first leg of the
race.
Immediately after the start, Bona and the Class40 IBSA
chose to keep to the right side of the race course, starting
around mid-fleet and choosing to be very sparing with their
manoeuvers, thus obtaining a good advantage. Indeed, those who
gybed several times lost contact with the leaders of the fleet,
accumulating a bit of delay.
The crew of the Class40 IBSA continued to keep to the right side
of the river throughout the first hour of navigation, always
remaining in the top ten positions, and even leading the fleet for
a stretch off Luzon. One hour and 45 minutes after the start,
Alberto and the Class40 IBSA were in third position in a race which
will however see, during the river navigation, continuous
changes at the top, variable wind with strong gusts and moments
of very little wind. Great resilience will therefore be
necessary.
“We saw a great start”, commented Antonio Melli, Vice
President of IBSA Group. “This very important regatta started
well and will lead us to Saint-Malo, where it all began, three
seasons ago, between IBSA and Alberto Bona. Sailing has given us
great satisfaction, involving many colleagues in Europe and the
United States in a story of sport and values”.
With increasingly unstable weather conditions, but with expected
winds up to 20 knots, the passage along the St. Lawrence is
still strategic. According to Bona, the first 140 miles will be
the most complicated, due to conditions and variables, and with
well-defined shifts for the team: Alberto will continue to take
care of navigation, keeping an eye on the instruments to define
the correct tactical choices based on the orography of the river
and the wind, while Pablo and Luca will have the task to sail
the boat and manage the manoeuvers, keeping an eye on
potential whale encounters.
For the first three days of navigation, the great river will
be the protagonist; then the fleet of 25 Class40s will tackle
the mouth and Newfoundland, before finding themselves in the
Atlantic Ocean, where they will look for the best way to “land” in
the English Channel, to then reach the finish line in
Saint-Malo.
Navigation is expected to last approximately 11-12 days.
THE PROJECT: The three-year project
Sailing into the Future. Together was launched in January 2022. The
partnership between IBSA and skipper Alberto Bona was born on
common bases and values, and aims to use sailing as a corporate
communication vehicle towards the market and the nautical world.
Ingenuity, courage, innovation, responsibility are elements that
unites IBSA and Alberto, and the oceanic challenge, in addition to
the sporting competition, also metaphorically represents the
company’s history, philosophy and vision, which are always oriented
towards and are part of a path that brings IBSA increasingly closer
to the topic of environmental and social sustainability, with a
particular focus on inclusive sailing projects for people with
disabilities. In November 2022, the Route du Rhum was the first
sporting stage of the project Sailing into the Future. Together. In
2023, Bona and the Class40 IBSA participated in six regattas,
including the Rolex Fastnet Race and the Transat Jacques Vabre.
With two victories and three podiums, the record for the highest
number of miles covered in 24 hours and over 15,000 miles sailed,
Bona won first place overall in the Class40 International
Championship. In 2024, between April and July, he will face two of
the toughest transatlantic races on the international scene: the
Transat CIC from Lorient (France) to New York and the Quebec
Saint-Malo (from Canada to France).
THE SKIPPER: Alberto Bona is from
Turin, and has a degree in philosophy. As a university student, he
won the Panerai trophy aboard Stormvogel, fast ULDB and historic
boat with which he crossed the Atlantic Ocean for the first time,
winning the ARC with a New Zealand crew. In 2012 he took part in
the Minitransat, finishing 5th, one of the best Italian results
ever in this category. In 2015, he switched to the prototype
category Mini 6.50 with Promostudi La Spezia: he won the Italian
championship and finished second in the ocean crossing Les
Sables-Azores. In 2017 he discovered the Class40: on Giovanni
Soldini’s former Telecom Italia, he participated in the Transat
Jacques Vabre, where he was forced to withdraw when he was in sixth
place. In 2019 he was aboard the Maserati Multi 70 trimaran, one of
the world’s fastest boats, where he practiced on the foils before
moving on to the Figaro Beneteau 3, aboard which he participated in
the Solitaire; the only Italian registered, in 2020 he finished 7th
among the rookies in the first year and 16th overall. In 2021 he
won the Italian offshore team title and the Europeans in mixed
doubles aboard the Figaro 3. In 2022 he started the new project in
partnership with IBSA: after an eighth place in the Route du Rhum
2022, in 2023 Alberto won the Class40 International Championship,
closing a season with three podiums and over 15,000 miles
covered.
THE BOAT: Designed by French naval
architect Sam Manuard and built by the JPS Production shipyard,
Alberto Bona’s boat is a Class40 Mach 5 model. Its main
characteristics are: scow bow – rounded and with a wider and
flatter shape than standard bows – designed to stay high above the
water and avoid being submerged; all-round hull, particularly
performing in conditions of strong tailwinds; and a large, shielded
cockpit, to face extreme conditions of navigation in as comfortable
and safe as possible positions.
IBSA: IBSA (Institut Biochimique
SA) is a Swiss multinational pharmaceutical Company, founded in
1945 in Lugano. Today, its products are present in over 90
countries on 5 continents, through the Company’s 18 subsidiaries
located in Europe, China, and the United States. The company has a
consolidated turnover of 900 million CHF, and employs over 2,200
people between headquarters, subsidiaries and production sites.
IBSA holds 90 families of approved patents, plus others under
development, as well as a vast portfolio of products, covering 10
therapeutic areas: reproductive medicine, endocrinology, pain and
inflammation, osteoarticular, aesthetic medicine, dermatology,
uro-gynaecology, cardiometabolic, respiratory, consumer health. It
is also one of the largest operators worldwide in the area of
reproductive medicine, and one of the world’s leaders in hyaluronic
acid-based products. IBSA has based its philosophy on four pillars:
Person, Innovation, Quality and Responsibility.
View source
version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240701084720/en/
For more information, visit
www.ibsasailing.com/en/ FOR
PRESS INFORMATION Francesca Capodanno –
francesca.capodanno@wordpower.srl – mob: +39 349 881 0482 Benedetta
Salemme – benedetta.salemme@noesis.net – mob. +39 324 800 7570