Class 40 all-Italian: Bona wins 2023 Championship, Beccaria second

The Class 40 is always becoming a conquering ground for Italian sailors, and this year 2023 is proof of that. In fact, Alberto Bona was elected 2023 Class 40 Champion in light of the sum of the results accrued throughout the season. In second place was Ambrogio Beccaria, who, however, sailed one less race than the Turinese. The two were absolute stars at the last Transat Jacques Vabre, where they finished first and third.

Class 40 – A season to frame

Arriving in Class 40 in September 2022, Alberto Bona is leading the project aboard IBSA on the Mach 5 designed by Sam Maniard. Bona has been in the top 10 since the beginning of the season, scoring two big wins at the RORC Caribbean 600 and Les Sables-Horta, with third place finishes in the year’s two transatlantic races: the Défi Atlantique and the Transat Jacques Vabre Normandy Le Havre.

“We are really happy with this victory in the championship,” said Bona, “it was our first full season in Class 40 and this is a great reward! We managed to be at the start of all the regattas, to be consistent, with good results. We are super proud. I was happy that there were a lot of regattas even though the schedule is very busy. I was a little stressed at the beginning of the year because there was not much time to take care of the boat and make it evolve, but it went well. They remain simple boats. We only did 20 days in the yard between the end of the Challenge and the CIC Normandy Channel Race … and we’re off again.”

Class 40 – the Italian ocean wave

Alberto Bona then won the RORC Caribbean 600, the Les Sables-Horta and the Class 40 2023 championship. Ambrogio Beccaria on Alla Grande Pirelli won the Transat Jacques Vabre, the 40 Malouine Lamotte and the CIC Normandy Channel Race. Italy can therefore be proud of its offshore racers.

“What is important is that we are able to create something so that those in Italy are nurtured the passion, the love for ocean racing, and opportunities are created to do this great activity. It is not a France vs. Italy issue since everything I have learned, I have learned by sailing in France in contact with skippers, coaches, meteorologists, who have always been fantastic with me. It is now up to us to pass on the experience we have accumulated and perhaps create something in Italy. The goal is transmission,” concluded Alberto Bona.