Towards the Route du Rhum: Alberto Bona tells his story. VIDEO

The Route du Rhum 2022 for Italian sailing is one of the most eagerly anticipated ever: there will be well 4 skippers (Bona-Beccaria-Fornaro in Class 40, Pedote in Imoca) with tricolor aft departing on November 6 from Saint Malo, and among them will be Alberto Bona with the Class 40 IBSA. The challenge to the French is of the highest level, as the 40s have become the de facto antechamber of the Imoca 60s and gather the best ocean sailing talent around in the class.

The Route du Rhum is the highlight race of the season, 3,542 miles solo from Saint-Malo in Brittany to Pointe-à-Pitre in Guadeloupe. The sailor from Turin came to greet us at the Genoa Boat Show, and it was an opportunity to chat with him and have him tell us about his new Class 40 IBSA and how he is preparing for it.

Alberto Bona – Towards the Route du Rhum

Alberto Bona – The Project

“Sailing into the Future. Together” began in January 2022; the partnership between IBSA and Alberto Bona was born on a common basis and values, and aims to use sailing as a corporate communication vehicle, towards the market and the boating world. Ingenuity, courage, innovation, and responsibility are elements that unite IBSA and Alberto, and the Route du Rhum challenge, in addition to the sporting competition, also metaphorically represents the company’s history, philosophy, and vision, which is always focused on the future and part of a path that brings IBSA ever closer to the theme of environmental and social sustainability, inclusion, and integration. The transatlantic regatta is the first stage of the three-year program “Sailing Into The Future. Together” that the Swiss pharmaceutical company has initiated with Bona.

Alberto Bona’s boat

The IBSA hull with which Alberto Bona will participate in November’s Route du Rhum is a state-of-the-art Class40 with a scow bow. Designed by French naval architect Sam Manuard and built by JPS Production shipyard, the boat is a Mach 5 model, the latest evolution of Manuard’s Class40s. The features: rounded bow, made with the aim of increasing performance in carrying gaits; water lines and appendages designed to make the hull a fast all rounder even upwind; large and protected cockpit to face sailing in positions as comfortable and safe as possible.

The skipper

Alberto Bona , from Turin, graduated in philosophy. As a college student he won the Panerai Trophy with Stormvogel, a 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 participated in the Minitransatarrivando5°, one of the best Italian results ever in this category. In 2015 he switched to the Mini 6.50 prototype category with Promostudi La Spezia: he won the Italian championship and finished second in the Ocean crossing Les Sables – Azores. In 2017 he arrived at Class40: on Giovanni Soldini’s former Telecom Italia he participated in the Transat Jacques Vabres, where he was forced to retire when in sixth place.