If I had unlimited funds, I would only sail very high performance multihulls. When I go on OPBs, its virtually always a very high performance
multihull.
The thing is, I do have a specific, finite amount of
money, to buy, to operate, to maintain, to and to live on.
In order to live and
cruise, there is an amount of volume, and an amount of payload mass: living space and weight of people, clothes, dinghies,
fuel,
water,
food,
equipment, ...
The cheapest way to enclose that volume, and provide the
water plane area to absorb weight changes, is a
monohull. The closer to a sphere, the better: minimize surface area (construction material), maximize moment of inertia, and therefore minimize the amount of structural material. Therefore, the least material, the least weight, the best performance potential.
Yes, performance is dominated by weight, far more than shape.
We all know that most cruising
boats are pigs to sail. Way, way to heavy, too much wetted surface, too little sail area, and generally horrible
helm feel. Nice
helm feel is exemplified by Soling or Tornado: light, responsive helm, where the performance changes quickly, so its fun to sail, instead of just a slow, expensive, uncomfortable way to get around.
Also, the secret of sailing multihulls in big seaways is to keep only one
hull in the water. That really drives the load and cost through the roof, and eliminates any sort of "comfortable cruising."
So, while if one was comparing off-the-shell cruising
boats, such as Gunboats, Lagoons, Farriers, Jenneaus, Hunters, Hinkleys, and so on, they all are such horrible trade-offs: Gunboats and Farriers are fast and fun, but only if you have an unlimited
budget and/or don't take anyone or anything with you; The others -- mono or multi -- are sluggish pigs.
Therefore, for me, a mono is the way to go. But a custom mono, not one derived from a
race boat (such as a retired TP52, say), or designed to look like a
race boat but handle like a barge (all production monos and multis this side of, say, a Gunboat).
Custom mono so its very light, so the loads are very low, so its very fun, yet can still carry the volume and weight needed, at the lowest cost to build, own, and sail.
La de da
) I am not one. Seems reasonably valid to me. Quite a number of cats have seen a documented 
Linear Mode
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