A speedy new vessel owned by tech-billionaire Jim Clark is set to make some waves at next month's Sydney to Hobart sailing race. Not only is his super-yacht super fast, it's one of the most technologically advanced ships on the sea today.

If you've ever spent weeks at sea on a cruise, you'll know that using the Internet is a bit like stepping back in time by a decade or more. But that's all changing.

Every now and then, a bit of engineering comes by that is both deeply simple, and beautifully complex. This tool for hooking the mooring lines of boats onto a dock cleat is flat-out mesmerizing.

It's a problem as old as sailing itself. Ever since man set out sea, barnacles have been clinging like, well, barnacles to ships, growing into bumpy masses that slows down vessels and wastes fuel. Could the solution to this age-old dilemma be a new coat of special paint? It's not as simple as it sounds.

Even the best Eagle Scout prefers to navigate during the day. The Vikings, apparently, would have laughed at such a preference—according to new research, the North Atlantic seafarers' sun compass was so advanced it even worked after dark, thanks to clever engineering and mystical crystals.

This falcon-cam view as the predator hunts a crow is incredible — but just as incredible is the old sailing illusion it's using to do so.

On an epic two-year journey across the Pacific, a bait box in a Japanese boat turned into an aquarium when five striped beakfish made it their home.

The Cutty Sark is kind of a big deal. It's the last tea clipper in existence and is considered a national maritime treasure by the British. So when she was badly damaged in a fire in 2007, the British government spent £50 million restoring her. These are the results.

One sailor is dead and four more are missing (presumably dead too) after a rogue wave struck their yacht off the coast of San Francisco, the Coast Guard says. The search and rescue attempt is over.

GPS devices designed for land-lubbers work just fine on an engine-powered boat that can head straight across the water. But for sailboats who have to zig-zag—or tack— to catch the wind, The Sailing GPS is better suited as it understands that the quickest route from point A to B isn't always a straight line.

There's not much room for a cooler, but the Sailrocket 2 isn't designed for a casual afternoon on the lake. It's engineered to set a new sailing speed record, and it's in Namibia right now trying to do just that.

Christopher Columbus was kind of a bastard. Still, here we are 519 years later celebrating his accidental discovery of San Salvador. So in honor of navigation and discovery—things that actually deserve adulation—here are six awesome nautical exploration tools, past and present.

Oracle founder Larry Ellison takes his boat racing very seriously. His team's entry in last year's America's Cup, the USA-17, is actually capable of sailing faster than the prevailing wind. And not just by a little bit—2.5 times faster.

The Spinnaker chair, named after a lightweight racing sail used to give boats an extra oomph in breezy conditions, looks comfortable enough on its own. But the entire back is made from genuine, used racing sails—beautifully nautical.

Frank Taylor is sailing around the world, using a kite to take aerial photographs of the places he visits. In many cases, his photos are better than the ones in Google Earth. So Google's replacing its old shots with Frank's.