Design a boat for bigger sailors

Sort of prompted by some other posts I've been mulling over in my head what it might take to design a mass market boat for two reasonably substantial adults, and it strikes me that its a remarkably difficult proposition.

Mass market popularity seems to indicate performance roughly in the Albacore area. Faster boats are not popular.

No-one likes hauling a wayfarer round the dinghy park - a boat needs to be light. Otherwise you might as well have a Wayfarer.

Weight carrying capacity mandates size, probably particularly length.

The boat needs to feel agile and responsive and as if its going fast. No-one likes a clumsy tub.

There needs to be enough sail area that two lightweights don't just blow away the intended crew, but too much sail area also seems to be a turnoff.

I suspect an emphasis on light airs performance would pay off, especially if it would feel good in such conditions.

All in all the big challenge would seem to be in getting the boat to go slower, not quicker, but without compromising the feel, and it strikes me as quite a challenge...

Something I've obviously pondered in my own search for such a boat. Like you I think length is probably one of the most important factors in order to distribute the weight more easily. Other than that it gets tricky to avoid creating a boat that will be mostly faster for light weights without relying on oversize sails.

Edited by rb_stretch - 01 Jan 15 at 12:38pm

Originally posted by Daniel Holman Maybe an X1/x0 with a bucket tied to the back :-)

Mmm. So how do we get the bucket effect without the boat feeling as if it has the bucket? If we want a boat that feels fast without being fast...

Rocker kills performance and adds flexibility and weight carrying... A lot of rocker especially distributed aft might bring the ends of the boat out too far for lightweights. But boats with lots of rocker also tend to the bucket towing feeling IME...

What boats can people think of that feel faster than they really are? Are there any clues there?

Define 'bigger sailors'.
It seems to cover anything from 14 stone bloke plus 11 stone wife upwards.
There are dinghy sailors at 17stone or more.
I think sailig is more accommodating to heavy people than most sports?
Possible exception Rugby?

sounds like you are describing a kestrel