(Double points leg)

Leg 5 sees the fleet return to Europe via a double points, 3,500-nautical mile, (4,028-mile/6,482-kilometre) transatlantic dash from Newport, around the top of the British Isles, and into Denmark’s second largest city, Aarhus.

Racing across the Atlantic always holds a special significance for professional yacht racers and with double points on offer the crews will be racing flat out on what could likely prove to be a key stage for teams with aspirations of overall victory. The leg sees the fleet return to Europe for the first time since leaving Alicante four months previously and is the last of the race’s long open water passages.

Immediately after leaving Newport the crews are in for a bumpy time as they cross the stormy cloud line and choppy waves generated by the Gulf Stream. In an ideal scenario the goal is to hook onto a storm system to fast-forward you eastwards at high speed.

The most direct route takes the fleet in a northerly arc and the race organisers will likely impose a virtual ice gate to keep the yachts away from the iceberg littered waters of the Grand Banks. After rounding the top of Scotland the crews will traverse the upper reaches of the North Sea before rounding the headland at Skagen – Denmark’s most northerly town – where they will turn south towards Aarhus.

Although now back in more enclosed waters there will be no let up for the weary crews who could have to deal with strong currents and light winds as they make their way down the Danish east coast towards the finish line.