The Route Du Rhum Is Under Way: Alberto Bona's Big Dream on Class40 IBSA Has Started

After eleven months of planning and preparation, IBSA's project Sailing into the Future. Together has begun its operational phase. In fact, the transoceanic regatta Route du Rhum started yesterday at 2:15 pm from Saint-Malo, Brittany, with western winds between 12 and 15 knots. Skipper Alberto Bona, aboard IBSA, is one of the 55 solo sailors in the Class40 category. Bona has been sailing for over 24 hours, making good speed, and has chosen a daring route, which will lead him to face winds of over 30 knots on his route between France and Guadalupe. Emotion and determination characterized the start of the regatta which, for the small Class40 ? with their approximately 12-metre hulls ? will last about three weeks.

The starting weather conditions were perfect, showing how correct was the decision to postpone last Sunday's start, due to a powerful disturbance on the English Channel and in the Atlantic.

"After 11 months of preparation, IBSA's challenge has begun", declared Arturo Licenziati, President and CEO of the IBSA Group. "Alberto Bona brings to the ocean our values, our determination and vision, and our commitment to sustainability. So far it's been an intense and engaging journey for our company, which supports Alberto in this enthralling adventure where innovation, technology and human ability are crucial ingredients, the same ones that we apply every day in our work".

At today's 2:00 check, after 24 hours of navigation, Alberto Bona, together with the other Class40s, was off the Breton coast of the Bay of Biscay, having already travelled 150 of the over 3,500 miles of his route.

"I'm ready", announced Bona before setting sail. "Weather conditions are optimal, today as well as generally, in the coming days. I'm happy and excited, and I want to thank IBSA and all my team for the great work they've done these 11 months". Meanwhile, the moment to make strategic decisions is approaching: in the Bay of Biscay, in fact, Alberto Bona will have to choose his own approach route to the island of Guadeloupe, which will be decisive for the regatta. It will be a decision made according to the weather conditions the sailor expects to find in the Atlantic, with two incoming disturbances and the need to choose between a route with less wind and a simpler situation in the South, or a more difficult weather and a more direct route to the North.

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THE PROJECT: Sailing into the Future. Together started in January 2022; the partnership between IBSA and Alberto Bona was born on common bases and values, and aims to use sailing as a vehicle for corporate communication, towards the market and the nautical world. Ingenuity, courage, innovation, responsibility are elements that unite IBSA and Alberto, and the challenge of the Route du Rhum, in addition to the sporting race, also metaphorically represents the company's history, philosophy and vision, which are always oriented towards the future and are part of a path that brings IBSA increasingly closer to the topics of environmental and social sustainability, inclusion and integration. The transatlantic regatta is the first stage of the three-year programme "Sailing Into The Future. Together" that the Swiss pharmaceutical company started with Bona.

THE BOAT: the boat with which Alberto Bona will participate in the Route du Rhum in November is a latest generation Class40, with a scow bow. Designed by French naval architect Sam Manuard and built by the JPS Production shipyard, the boat is a Mach 5 model, the latest evolution of Manuard's Class40.
The characteristics: rounded bow, created with the aim of increasing performance while running; water lines and appendages designed to make the hull an all-round fast even upwind; large and protected cockpit to face navigation in the most comfortable and safe positions possible.

THE SKIPPER: Alberto Bona is from Turin, and has a degree in philosophy. As a university student, he won the Panerai trophy with 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 5^th, 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 formerTelecom Italia, he participated in the Transat Jacques Vabres, where he is forced to withdraw when he is in sixth place. In 2019 he was aboard the Maserati Multi 70 trimaran, one of the fastest boats in the world, 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, he finished 7^th among the rookies in the first year and 16^th overall in 2020. In 2021 he won the Italian offshore team title and the Europeans in mixed doubles aboard the Figaro 3. In 2022 he starts the new project, with the support of the IBSA Group.

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 17 subsidiaries located in Europe, China, and the United States. The company has a consolidated turnover of 800 million CHF, and employs over 2,000 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.