Some needful reading...

Phil Bolger once told me when I asked him to design Loose Moose 2 that he was currently swamped with design work and, at best, it would take him at least a couple of years to find a hole in his schedule big enough to design it. He then added that, as I knew what I wanted, had a lot of experience with boat building, I could read, and had basic common sense, there was no reason I could not design it myself...

In hindsight he was right but at the time I took the consensus view that the design of sailboats was more akin to some arcane lore I could never really master. So I went to another designer to design the boat which I was never happy with so never built. Luckily, Phil found a hole in his schedule and designed LM2 for us... Anyway, I mention all this simply because Phil really nailed it when he pointed out that reading is a needful skill in the design of sailboats because everything you need to know is accessible in books.

Like this one...

Which is a reference book that you really should have right alongside this one...

Nestled up next to this one...

And, of course, can't forget this one...

There are lots of others but those certainly cover most of what you need for starters.