Thanks for all of the help and advice guys. I have done a lot of scanning of old posts and discussions and I’m happy with my understanding of board design, but as I was saying above, the discussions here often tend to be discussions about single parameters in isolation (e.g. concave vs. flat, or the theory behind hydrofoils and lift and whether the formulas have been misinterpreted). Seeing as it is all broken up into arguments in these isolated design aspects, I was hoping people might be interested in talking more about the bigger picture. Obviously not though, but fair enough.
Thanks for the offer of the book as well, but seeing as I’m in Australia it might not be the easiest to send it over and back, etc.
So far surffoils and kcasey seem to be talking more about this bigger picture, I’m learning a lot from your posts, thanks 
What I’m thinking is that there almost seems to be more about board design when you think about the dynamics of surfing (e.g. kcasey’s discussion about the peak pressure point around the front foot of a shortboard, the angled waterflow under the board, and how the water is spent and passed out the back of the board), and how the design elements of a board might synergise together to take full advantage of this (rather than design element shopping as kcasey points out in one of his posts).
Several types of boards that seem to take advantage of this “peak pressure-angled flow-spent water” dynamic seem to come into mind in this regard. One my own boards by Pridmore called the Swinger which seems an ingenious mix of design elements which seems to balance drive, release and curves for something pretty damn special (despite looking unusual). The modernised Mini-Simmons are another that comes to mind, such as Dan Tomo’s interesting modern applications of the theory.
What I’m getting at is that I think there may be a design tangent or revolution quite close, and I wouldn’t be surprised if surffoils, pridmore and some others are scraping into it. Something that can be described in terms of understanding the dynamics of the water flowing under and around the board, and what elements produce drag to that water, and how to minimise that drag. So far it seems everyone is guarding their unique understanding like a leprechaun and his pot of gold, which is totally understandable to me. Never the less, if fair enough.