10% faster? Hummm. Than what? I would guess that would be the I-17. That seems a bit much but okay. The I-17 is a single-handed fun play boat. The I-17(R) is your racing edition of the I-17. It has a carbon mast which is about 2' longer than the 28' aluminum mast of the I-17. Also, the mainsail on the R is larger. Plus, it comes with and is setup to handle a spinnaker. The I-17R became the F17.

The F17 will sail downwind boat for boat with almost anything out there under 22' ...............that is, if you know a little bit about how and where to sail it. And, you know how to handle the spinnaker, are in the correct location on the boat(proper weight distribution), you have made all your correct adjustments for downwind sailing(pulling the proper strings, raising the boards, reseting rotation/downhaul,etc), the prebend is correct, and you are not sailing into the tide or on the side of the course where there isn't any wind.