Fighting the pirates
Not the VOR this time but real-life piracy. The threat of armed piracy off the coast of Somalia to yachts and shipping has become so serious that private security firms are now offering a service for yachts transitting this area. They will put a team on board, with the appropriate weapons, to deter would-be pirates. We talk to one such company about their operation.

G’Day!
The May issue of Yachting World has a distinctive Australian accent with stories from Down Under.

First we’ve the account of the incredible voyage of Berrimilla, a 33-footer that Alex Crozier and Peter Whitworth sailed in the 2004 Sydney-Hobart Race. They then put their crew ashore, loaded up on stores and sailed, via the Great Capes, to the UK to take part in the Rolex Fastnet Race, after which they again stocked up and sailed two-handed non-stop back to Sydney for the 2005 Rolex Sydney Hobart.

Then we meet Australia’s Mr Speed, Simon McKeon, the driving force behind the one-time world speed record holder Macquarie Innovation and a man very, very keen to get it back again

The class of 2006
The hot racer-cruisers of the year are undoubtedly the Bénéteau 34.7 and the X-35. We put them head to head in
our Yachts on Test

PLUS
Volvo Ocean Race Leg 4: full report. And we test the world’s first fully portable broadband satcom system