I was a sailboat charter captain for almost 20 years in Hawaii, I also raced my Cal 33 sailboat on a lot of offshore races. Though my boat was older (1971) and heavier than the newer boats we did well with our handicap. But the new boats have really pushed the envelope in lighter construction, using less and less glass by stiffning it in a sandwich of glass ply-foam or balsa core-glass ply.
I have two comments about pre-glassing panels before bending them. 1) I believe it would be stronger if you bent the panels before lay up, especially if you plan on glassing both sides. Bending the panels will try to compress the laminate on the inside while trying to stretch the outside curve. If you bend then laminate these stresses will be in equilibrium, tending to hold the proper shape and stiffness. 2) It would be interesting to see if Sam Devlin's design could be built using the ultra-light foam core sandwich with stiffners as needed.
To benefit from this light weight boat, you would need to keep the weight of all you carry to a minimum. Such a boat with a minimal load and perhaps a Go-Devil motor would have been helpful to Eric in his driving a Broadbill over multiple beaver dam adventure.
