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.

In Merlin Rockets plastic and wood are equally quick, which is precisely what the rules are intended to achieve. Wood for new designs (it is a development class after all), plastic to allow low-maintenance copies for those who want it.

I know less about Solos, but from what I've heard plastic and wood perform much the same there too.  

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.

the fireballs look nice but loads of ropes

Lol yeah just maybe.

I do liek the look of a well maintained wooden boat but they can be in such a pain in the a** to look after. i supose it does depend on what class you are considering as to if wood or plastic is faster.

and how much diference does it make, because if they are the same weight and design, shouldnt they realy be the same speed.

For Mass production once you have the molds it is cheaper to make foils out of fiberglass with a foam core in two halfs and stick them together This can make quite a good blade but if done badly they can be terible and care has to be taken to keep the weight down.

For smaller production runs and better performance it is eisier to shape the core out of wood you can mix the types of wood to give different ammounts of flex in different areas of the foils. the blade can then be sheithed with glass or carbon for improved strength. You can make quite light foils this way.

If you want to go realy light then you need to use Carbon sheith over a foam or possably light wood such as balsa, although you usualy need a wooden peice in the center of the foil to stop the foam from crushing around the bottom of the stock. The carbon cloth also needs to be placed carefully to get the right ammount of flex

So ultimately it would appear that composite construction would be fastest as you can build a lighter, stiffer boat...and I am conveniently ignoring all the class specific issues with that generalisation!

There is a big difference between the resin types used and the effect that they have on a boat life.

When the boat flexes both the resin and the fibers strech the problem with Polyester resin boats is that the resin is not quite as stretchy as the glass so as the boat flexes you get micro cracking of the resin. this is largely what makes a boat go soft with age.

Epoxy is much better as it can strech futher before failing plus it absorbs much less water than polyester resins and does not smell as bad when curing. Unfortunately it is more expensive.