wood or plastic

Again it depends on the class - some classes seem to be faster in wood.

In the Contender the jury is out over whether the all wood Bonezzis are faster than the composite or all glass boats.

For looks the Bonezzi wins hands down - those of you at the dinghy show will know that.

Some classes were designed to be made from plywood, for instance the Wayfarer and Scorpion.  The chances are that boats in that class made from wood will be faster.  Other boats are designed to be made from fibre glass and are difficult to make any other way ie Laser - notice the round bilges.  There are a few classes that were designed to be made were the laminations of wood are formed in a mould.  They look beautifull in wood but can be expensive and their shape makes it easy to also mould in fibre glass - there's probably not much difference in perfomance - just maintenance; Fireflys, Albacors and that beautiful Contender fall in this category.  Then there's a question of resin.  Epoxy is more expensive but better in many ways, and then there's the type of fibre, glass is cheap but not as strong as carbon, kevlar and others. 

So like everything in engineering its a compromise between price and performance.