IBSA
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. |
To view this piece of content from cts.businesswire.com, please give your consent at the top of this page.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240701084720/en/
About Business Wire
Subscribe to releases from Business Wire
Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Latest releases from Business Wire
Xsolla Expands Payment Coverage in Portugal With MB Way, a Leading Mobile Wallet Trusted by 6 Million Customers, to Unlock New Growth Opportunities for Game Developers20.1.2026 16:41:00 CET | Press release
Empowering Portuguese players with Seamless, Localized Payment Options for a Smoother and More Trusted Gaming Experience Xsolla, a global video game commerce company that helps developers launch, grow, and monetize their games, today announced the expansion of its payments solution in Portugal with the addition of MB Way. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260120938007/en/ Graphic: Xsolla Portugal is a leader in digital transformation, with nearly 90% of its population online, high smartphone usage, and a strong adoption of mobile banking. Trusted by 6 million people, connected to 11 million cards, supported by 28 banks, and driving 496 million transactions in 2024, MB Way provides 95% market coverage, allowing most bank customers to use the service. MB Way is the leading mobile wallet in Portugal, with an estimated market share of 34%-45% of all e-commerce transactions locally. By adding MB Way as a payment meth
Balena Secures Strategic Growth Investment to Accelerate Edge AI and IoT Fleet Management20.1.2026 15:14:00 CET | Press release
New partnership fuels product innovation and reinforces Balena’s position as the leading hardware-agnostic platform dedicated to the security and long-term stability of device fleets Balena, the leading platform for deploying, managing, and scaling fleets of edge computing and AI devices, today announced a strategic growth investment from LoneTree Capital (“LoneTree”), a New York-based growth capital firm. The partnership will accelerate Balena’s product innovation with a focus on Edge AI workloads and security features to meet evolving compliance needs, while expanding resources for customer success and global fleet support. Founded in 2011, Balena enables customers to leverage the ever-increasing power of technology to solve real-world problems by providing software to manage the full lifecycle of edge computing devices. The platform abstracts away infrastructure complexity, handling critical tasks like secure Over-The-Air (OTA) updates so engineering teams can focus on their core pr
SIRBAI Launches Middle East’s First AI-Powered Autonomous Drone Swarm Technology at UMEX 202620.1.2026 15:11:00 CET | Press release
New platform enables coordinated, autonomous drone operations designed for modern defense environments SIRBAI today announced the official launch of the Middle East’s first AI-powered autonomous drone swarm technology at UMEX 2026 - a global exhibition platform for unmanned systems and autonomous capabilities - marking the company’s entry into the defense technology sector. Designed for unmanned aerial systems (UAS), the platform enables multiple drones to operate collaboratively with a high degree of autonomy, even in complex and contested environments. As the first company in the region to offer this advanced capability, SIRBAI is set to redefine the modern battlefield with innovative and scalable autonomous technology, establishing new standards for resilient and operator-friendly mission systems for modern defense operations. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260120186459/en/ SIRBAI Launches Middle East’s Fi
FlightSafety International Receives EASA and UK CAA Certification for Gulfstream G700 Flight Simulator at Farnborough Learning Centre20.1.2026 15:05:00 CET | Press release
Certification advances training support and builds on FlightSafety’s decades-long partnership with Gulfstream Aerospace Corp. FlightSafety International Inc. (FSI), a global leader in aviation training and simulation technology, announced today it has received European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and UK Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) certification for its Gulfstream G700 Full Flight Simulator (FFS), located at the company’s Farnborough Learning Centre. The certification of the simulator, which was engineered and manufactured by FSI, validates the advanced technology, accuracy, and fidelity of the flight training device, confirming it meets the highest European and UK regulatory standards. The FFS will be leveraged for initial, recurrent, and advanced pilot training to support G700 and Gulfstream G800 aircraft, further expanding global access to high-fidelity training. “The G700 simulator certification in Farnborough reinforces FSI’s long-standing commitment to supporting Gulfst
OPEX® and Peltier Partner to Deliver First-of-Its-Kind Cold Storage Solution for Automated Fulfillment Systems20.1.2026 15:00:00 CET | Press release
OPEX® Corporation, a global leader in Next Generation Automation providing innovative solutions for warehouse, document and mail automation, today announced a strategic technology partnership with Peltier, an innovator in cold chain commerce, to offer a first-of-its-kind, multi-temperature zone, multi-deep cold storage solution for automated fulfillment systems. This collaboration introduces advanced multi-temperature capabilities to OPEX Corporation’s industry-leading Perfect Pick® and Infinity® automated storage and retrieval systems (ASRS), empowering customers in the grocery, pharmaceutical, and life sciences markets to seamlessly store and retrieve chilled and frozen products utilizing Peltier’s actively cooled, AI-enabled totes, eliminating the need for costly freezer chambers or specialized infrastructure. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260120776429/en/ OPEX iBOTs efficiently transport and present Pelt
In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.
Visit our pressroom