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When a multihull buries the front of a pontoon in the water, it's called "digging in," and it often results in spectacular cartwheels, pitchpoles and capsizes. Nico Elshout caught this shot of the Extreme 40 Tommy Hilfiger racing in the iShares Cup earlier this year. Despite the acrobatics, injuries are fairly rare among these pro sailors. Riding the fine edge between speed and disaster is

Puntland, Somalia - With as many as 100 mariners currently held captive inside the country, and ransoms reaching millions of dollars, piracy has become big business in Somalia. It's no longer only commercial ships at risk, as criminals have begun targeting private yachts in the hope of a ransom pay-off - the profit is not in the ship, but in the crew. The value of human life in war-torn Somalia is cheap, the piracy risks low, and the payout enormous. Without any form of real government, little industry, and a wrecked economy, it appears Somalia is becoming a pirate state.

Honolulu, US - With the hundreds of thousands of tons of plastic debris floating around in the Pacific, it would have been difficult to spot the one collection of garbage moving with a purpose. A bunch of plastic bottles, strapped together with old aluminum spars and topped with an airplane cockpit and a mast, would have barely stood out from the mass of plastic garbage in the Pacific Gyre, yet this questionable craft has carried two brave men across the Eastern Pacific, and into the history books. An elated Marcus Eriksen spoke with YachtPals just moments ago

A couple of incredible new sailing trimarans have hit the water in the last few days. In France, the enormous 131 foot Banque Populaire V, the largest racing multihull ever built, was launched. More than a third of the way around the world in Washington State, champagne crashed against the bow of the new BMW Oracle boat, which the team hopes to be the next America's Cup winner. While certainly big and beautiful, these boats weren't designed for aesthetics - they're built for speed.

Queensland, Australia - While many in the Northern Hemisphere are stuck in what is less-than-affectionately known as the month of Foggust, or as the Dog Days of Summer, depending on your latitude, it's mid-Winter south of the equator, and the big boats are racing at Hamilton Island, Australia.  Hamilton Island is hardly a wintery spot.  Enjoying the same latitude as Hawaii, it's not like there's ice in the rigging of the race boats, but there are big seas, big winds, and big action on the waters off Queensland, as the Audi Hamilton Island Race Week is

Corsica, France - A luxury yacht was attacked by pirates on Sunday near Porto-Vecchio (Corse-du-Sud), off the French island of Corsica, according to the gendarmerie. The Tiara mega-yacht, which flies the flag of the Cayman Islands, had just sailed from Sardinia, and had only been anchored in the Bay of Santa Giulia, near Porto-Vecchio for a few hours when four masked men, armed with rifles and revolvers, approached the

Qingdao, China - The 2008 Olympic sailing is now behind us. The medals have been awarded, the fireworks have been fired, the sails have been furled, and the party's over. Qingdao will be hosting the 2008 Paralympic Sailing shortly, but love 'em or hate 'em, the 2008 Olympics are done. In what has been called the worst Olympic sailing venue ever, the races were run - successfully for the most part - and despite all of the difficulties with the conditions and the host country, the Olympic sailing was just that: successful if not ideal.