I'm surprised that no one (especially you, jeff!) has yet commented that sailboat design, including hull and
rigging design and all the other bits and pieces of the whole boat, is still AS MUCH AN ART AS A SCIENCE.
Considering that "real computer power" has only existed for the last 20-30 years, and that so much design was done before then, frankly I'm in awe of how some designers got some hulls just so sweet. And having read Marchaj and a batch of other texts (some of which simply hurt) along with the more interesting books, I'm surprised NA's don't run away screaming at the thought of having to run equations.
The boat is going to move in three dimensions (actually four once you count time) and about three axes (roll, pitch, yaw) and then you've got to figure the hydrodynamics of the hull, which change every time the submerged area changes as the boat heels/rises/pitches, the more pronounced airfoil efects on the keel, and another whole set of similar variables on the sails from the wind. Times multiple sail plans and trim combinations.
Good lord, doing all that with a set of drafting curves and "Well, I think this might work" and getting it right--borders on a black art. And when I say getting it right, I mean a boat that doesn't slam in a chop, holds her own rudder when trimmed on any point of sail, and doesn't for a minute make the crew think they are on a roller coaster. There are such things, but for every one of them there's a slower rougher boat that stalls out in a short chop or finds other ways to abuse her owners.
"Horses for courses" and all that other fine stuff, there are many boats that fill many needs very well, and let's face it, very few that are really "poor" for any use. The really sweet ones, the ones that take anything with aplomb and make you wonder why you've never been on them before--that's a bit harder to find. And I've even heard some Big Name Deisgners admit that on some designs, they simply got lucky, because the boat was sweeter than anything else they'd done,and they had no idea why. (But promptly scaled the same form for other sizes.
)
Jeff, is there any commercial software that even attempts to solve the multi-variable analysis that a complete hull and rig entail? I'd be afraid to even ask the price of it, because I suspect it would be one HUGE programming job requiring years of fine tuning. Which leaves real Good Design still in the realm of the black arts (OK, experience counts!) and not just something anyone with a buck can crank out.