The Class40 IBSA measured and ready for the Transat CIC

The Transat CIC is one of the most important and demanding regattas that Alberto Bona will face in 2024, but it is also the test bench to evaluate the performance of the Class40 IBSAalmost two years after her launch. The regatta will be a real challenge for the Mach 5 designed by Sam Manuard and launched in La Trinité-sur-Mer in August 2022, which now has to compete with two new generations of Class40s, launched in 2023 and in the first months of 2024.

A challenge that Bona knows he can face in a competitive way, thanks to the strategic structural works carried out in the shipyard at the beginning of the year, which concerned in particular the repositioning of the ballasts and which were so significant that they also required a new tonnage measurement of the boat.

The tonnage measurement procedures of a vessel include complex technical measurements and calculations, aimed at verifying her full compliance with class rules, and therefore her eligibility for competitions. In the case of the Class40 IBSA, the criteria to be satisfied are defined by the box rule of the Class40 Association, which establishes the main characteristics required of boats. A commission examines static and dynamic parameters, with particular attention to weight and size, and then releases the tonnage certificate, thus officially allowing the vessel to compete.

The Class40 IBSA was therefore measured again after a few months of refitting in the shipyard, and is now ready to undergo the latest security checks required by the Transat CIC Organisation for all participants. After that, it will really be time for Alberto to leave aboard his trusted Class40, albeit with balances and performance potentially very different from last season’s, thanks to the improvements made based on the experience gained during the first two years of regattas of the project Sailing into the Future. Together.