For real speed in cruising - outside of multi hulls - there hasn't been a lot of speed increase for the cruising sailor in similar sized boats. Until now? Boats like this Pogo 30 in the vid. , can get up on a plane, and go a lot faster than a similar sized coastal cruiser. Not a distance cruiser, more a very spartan coastal cruiser or weekender. Cruising 'light', more like extended daysailing. I don't see that as much of a drawback. Most sailors aren't extended cruisers and use their sailboats as weekenders with an occasional extended coastal cruise. I could see a family of four comfortable for a few days on one of these. Kids would love it with the open transom for swimming, big cockpit. And it is very shoal draft. Fit in any anchorage.

Back to the speed. It starts to plane off the wind in what looked like 10 knots of wind or so. And it DOES go a lot faster than the typical similar sized monohull, and much faster than most monohulls up to 40 or more feet I'd guess. At times it apparently can be planing at 15 knots, maybe more. Now that is fast in a monohull!

I'm trying to imagine - in the real sailing conditions I'm used to - how much that speed difference could change, where we would go, and in what amount of time. The difference between 6 and 7 knots isn't that much if you're sailing from anchorage to anchorage along the coast. The difference between 6 and 12 knots could be a game changer. That is, depending on how often that extra speed potential could be utilized. In our cruising area, it's not unusual to go east and west - along the coast, mostly on a reach. 30 feet, 15 knots,...

http://www.yachtingworld.com/reviews/boat-tests/pogo-30-on-test