The purpose of this study was to investigate the resistance performance and the sensitivity of the panels placed on the free surface of the water using the potential-based Rankine source panel method. The potential-based Rankine source panel method was applied to predict a flow phenomena around a ship and the exact nonlinear free surface boundary conditions were adopted. The trim and sinkage state of the ship also were taken into account. In order to deal with complex geometries of the planing ship the panel cutting method was adopted. The R/V Athena ship was adopted as the high speed ship. Numerical analysis was carried out by systematically changing the range and number of panels in the free surface area, and the results were compared with each other.