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Regarding sail carrying ability, a couple of examples;
Upwind, our current boat can carry the #1 and full crew to about 17 to 18 with 11 or so upwind boatspeed at 28 app. Our smaller boats were at a #3 and full main (traveller down, max twist, full crew hiking hard) with that ws across the deck. When my wife and I cruise the big boat we back down to the #3 (not as quick in the light stuff) but we still carry it to 30 or so across the deck. One sail covers a huge wind range, we could not do that with our smaller boats.
Downwind, with higher boat speeds and longer waterline we can easily carry more sail since the boat unloads, ie app wind is lower. On our smaller boats the most we could carry kites was in the low to mid 40's, at that ws we tended to drive the bow down and you would soon find the back of the boat trying to pass the front of the boat. (you knew it was time to back down when the pulpit was being drivin under)
Waterline and weight makes bigger breezes easier to deal with and the range of sail carrying ability expands. If you haven't sailed larger boats it is hard to describe. A mathmatical explanation can be reviewed in Skenes Elements of Yacht Design.
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