Mono or Multi?

Virbac-Paprec 3 is a new Open 60 designed to participate in the 2012 Vendée Globe. A few weeks ago, this video of the rollover test was posted on Sailing Anarchy:



Watching the video, I was surprised at just how much this monohull is like a catamaran - it has a very wide beam for greater righting moment, and without the swing keel, is completely stable when upside down. This reminded me of a righting pole on a beach cat. The monohull obviously has an advantage in terms of planing ability, but also has to carry all that lead around, and has more wetted surface. A similar length catamaran probably would not be able to plane, as far as I know, but may have the hull speed necessary to be competitive with this boat. And it could have even more righting moment, and thus more sail area. I wonder what the future of high-performance boats holds in store - wider planing monohulls that behave more like cats, or multihulls that push the limits even farther? How does this relate to smaller beach catamarans? The hull speed of an 18-ft. boat is certainly limited, but the latest F18s have wider hulls that do plane downwind, at least.