Well look. I'm a development engineer so I understand that what we will achieve are not absolute results. I do think it will be interesting to see how round beams, seated beams, non-seated beams, curved beams, and hull construction affect the relative stiffness of the platform. As Rick pointed out, I'm not sure how what we are measuring affects anything; it's not going to be easy to apply any of this information directly to what makes a boat fast. Most of us like to sail a boat that is stiffer and obviously the designers design work towards it as well but I don't intend to answer why that is.

We can show that the only energy available on a sailboat comes from the wind and since we're racers, we're particular focused on using as much of that energy as possible to move the boat foward. Flexing something requires energy so it's natural to assume that a flexible boat absorbs some of the precious energy we need to be fast. However, who's to say that in certain circumstances that flexing the hulls help the hulls align themselves into a more aquadynamic angle and/or help them distribute the buoyancy more efficiently allong the length of the hull? Or maybe it tweaks the rig tension and sailplan angle to make the sailplan more powerfull in spurts as the boat tries to get through a wave?

I don't know if a stiffer boat is faster - but that's not what we're trying to figure out here. I do know that I prefer the feel of a stiffer boat and it feels faster to me - but who am I? I'm really intersted just to know what makes a boat more solid with a twist thrown in for hull construction for the sake of conversation.