You might check out ffstirling or Fiona Stirling in this news group.
Fiona has a BSC and is very familiar with hydrodynamics. She wrote a
simple, non scientific sounding discription of how things work. She did
leave out a couple of details " buzz words " but they were covered well
in the fulness of the piece.
I know this lady well. When she is here she borrows one of my boats.
Kevin is right on . Im not sure he is right about effort in a longer
boat at lower speeds , my experience is a little different.
That said turning a long boat, ballancing it and the fear of a swim can
make an apparently slower boat much more efficient than a rocket that
you can't eat a sandwich in.
This is all kayak experiance from me as my canoe experience is
restricted to an Old town 169 with the kids , a stripper that I built
and a wood canvas boat. None of them were fast and my canoe training is
limited to CRCA 3 ( Canoe )
Kayak is a little more thorough.
Hope this helps.
Alex McGruer