It took Ian Lipinski and Alberto Bona 4 days, 23 hours, and 21 minutes to cover 991 miles at an average speed of 8.31 knots on the course of the very first CIC MED CHANNEL RACE. Arriving at 12.21 in Marseille harbor, the Franco-Italian duo masterfully won the first of what could well become one of the great ocean racing classics, the Mediterranean version of the highly demanding CIC NORMANDY CHANNEL RACE. The two skippers put all their talent, energy, and experience into overcoming the Var crew of Mikael Mergui and Kini Piperol aboard their CENTRAKOR: over five days, the gap was mostly minimal, the tension extreme, and the battle uncompromising.

A happy Ian Lipinski, who is turning the page on his wonderful story with this boat (the 158) before starting others (with his new boat, the 202), the “Normandy” in May, the GLOBE40 in August. “Symbolically, it’s great. It might be the last race I’ll do with this boat. It’s the first in the Mediterranean, but the last on the 158, which started by winning the Jacques Vabre (in 2019). It’s a great ending. What’s more, this race, the little sister of the race held in Normandy, really lived up to all its promises. We had a great time. The course was great, we were spoiled with the conditions, we saw some magnificent scenery… In terms of strategy, we had plenty of challenges, moments where we had to avoid getting caught out.”

Alberto Bona, 2023 Class40 champion on his IBSA, has also shown that he is an essential skipper in the Class40 in particular and in ocean racing in general. He is embarking on another highly ambitious project, but we should see him again on this course, which highlights the quality of the Italian sailors and the beauty of the Mediterranean landscapes, and in particular the breathtaking beauty of the islands of the Maddelana archipelago, one of the “most beautiful landscapes in the world,” he tells us, without exaggeration of course. In any case, the small island of Spargi will have left its mark on the minds of the skippers, painful for some.