Bob,



I sailed a FX-1while vacationing in the Med and even got to race it in a small regatta. During this vacation, I also sailed an A-Cat and a couple of other cats.



This Hobie FX-1 was set up with a spi and snuffer. The boat was finiished well, but was terribly heavy (350Lbs+ as weighed). The A-Cat I sailed weighed 162 lbs on the same scales and was MUCH faster and responsive on the water. More importantly, the FX-1 was more than I wanted to handle, by myself, up and down the beach. I pulled the A-Cat on th beach with little difficulty. This alone was all I needed to turn me away from heavy singlehanders like the FX-1 or Inter 17.



I have to admit that the spinnaker did make sailing downwind a lot of fun in the winds 7-12 ktns (average during my sail). While I did not know how to wild thing as well as the A-Cat owner, doing the 'thing on the A-Cat was fast too. Another advantage to the FX-1 was it can be sailed two-up with the addition of a jib, while the A-Cat is strictly a singlehander. You need the two people to move the FX-1 around the beach, without pulling a muscle!



Has anyone, here in the USA, sailed the I-17 and FX-1 head to head yet?