Leg 4 sees the return of the fleet to the northern hemisphere with a 5,550-nautical mile (6,387-mile/10,279- kilometre) passage from Itajaí to Newport, Rhode Island on the eastern seaboard of the United States. It is the final major south to north passage of the race and the teams will depart Brazil in autumn and arrive in the USA at the beginning of spring.
As they race north, the crews will try to dodge the effects of the southerly-running Brazil current, as well as avoiding the light winds of the Saint Helena High weather system they last encountered on Leg 2 from Cabo Verde to South Africa.
The approach to the Brazilian city Recife on the country’s north eastern corner often sparks a strategic split in the fleet as the navigators have to choose between heading offshore in search of stronger steadier winds or taking the shorter, more direct route along the coast.
As well as negotiating the final Doldrums and equator crossing of the race, the crews will need to be on constant watch to avoid becoming entangled in the huge clinging clusters of Sargassum seaweed that litter the racecourse.
Once across the equator the goal will be to hook into the northern hemisphere trade winds which should whisk the fleet north past the Caribbean archipelago and on towards the Florida coast.
The fleet’s route north takes the boats through a notorious area of the Atlantic Ocean known as the Bermuda Triangle. Formed by San Juan, Puerto Rico in the south, Miami, Florida in the west, and Bermuda in the east, the triangle is infamous for the mysterious losses of numerous ships and planes over the years.
After Miami there will be a strong likelihood of multiple storm systems emanating from the US mainland, and the crews will also need to pick their way through the complex effects of the meandering warm water currents known as the Gulf Stream before they reach the finish line off Newport’s Fort Adams State Park.