Hull Efficiency
Where speed begins — the hull's contribution to the performance equation.
Hull form is the first authority in FleetEdge's dimensional analysis. Before rig, before rating, before crew — the hull defines the envelope of what is physically possible. Every design decision a naval architect makes about the hull constrains and enables everything that follows.
Six parameters that define hull performance.
FleetEdge extracts hull efficiency dimensions directly from the ORC certificate — length-displacement ratio, sail area to wetted surface, prismatic coefficient, righting moment at key heel angles, waterline beam to canoe body depth, and displacement-length ratio. Each captures a different aspect of how the hull converts power into forward speed.
These are not abstract quantities. Length-displacement ratio describes how easily the hull parts the water at speed. Sail area to wetted surface captures the fundamental trade-off between the power available and the drag surface that absorbs it.
Prismatic coefficient describes how volume is distributed along the waterline — a parameter that determines whether the hull favours light or heavy conditions.
The same speed, different strategies.
Hull efficiency is not a single number. A GLIDEFORM hull achieves its downwind advantage through low wetted-surface coefficients and favourable waterline-to-beam ratios — smooth acceleration on reaching angles and speed retention through lulls. An IRONWIND hull takes the opposite trade: more wetted surface in exchange for stiff, high-RM displacement stability that holds the platform predictable under load. Both strategies produce competitive boats.
The archetype framework captures these trade-offs as structural coordinates, not rankings. When you examine where your boat sits on the hull efficiency dimensions, you see the specific choices your designer made — and how those choices position you relative to every other boat in the fleet.
L/Disp¹ᐟ³ · SA/WS · Cp · RM@25° · BWL/TC · Δ/L
Understanding your hull efficiency profile.
When you examine your boat's hull efficiency profile in FleetEdge, you see where it sits relative to the fleet on each dimension — not just an aggregate score, but the specific trade-offs your hull designer made.
A boat with high L/Disp¹ᐟ³ and low Cp is optimised for speed in flat water. A boat with high RM@25° and moderate wetted surface is built for stability in a seaway. These dimensions feed directly into the archetype model.
Hull efficiency features account for the largest share of variance in the first two principal components — they are the primary axes along which boats differ from one another. Understanding your hull efficiency profile is the first step toward understanding your archetype assignment.
Hull efficiency dimensions are derived entirely from the ORC certificate. Every boat with a valid certificate has a complete hull efficiency profile in FleetEdge — no additional instrumentation, no sensor data, no manual input.
See Hull Efficiency in the Italy ORC fleet.
Italy ORC racing brings hull efficiency into sharp relief — see how the physics meets the fleet's regime and rivalries.
Explore Italy ORCEvery hull tells a story. FleetEdge reads it.
Six hull dimensions, derived from the ORC certificate, feeding the most detailed fleet analysis in the sport.