only being of European dissent, here goes. Mine is an '85 and well taken care of over the years, sail (original pin-head) in excellent condition.

The boat weighed like 255 (when new) so handing on the beach and righting will be no problem for them. Mine came with 6:1 Harken 2.5" blocks, no complaints there. The downhaul set up is kind of goofy, but I only pull out the wrinklies. The only other string to pull is mast rotation, which is nice to have (vs. H14/H16). Boat has lots of freeboard (again vs. H14/H16) and I've never gotten close to burying the bow. One drawback, the boom attachment is way low on the mast, ala H17, but if only reaching up and down the beach (no cans) would be manageable, especially for young girls. Haven't had mine out in a really big blow, but with 250 on board I'd think they'd have no problem keeping it flat. I weigh 160 and think it's a fun little boat. It doesn't load up (like H14) when trying to fly a hull when there's not quite enough wind to fly a hull, if you know what I mean? The girls will become very good at tacking quickly (or end up in Mexico?) I've never wanted for a jib, but the P16 jib is/was a popular candidate. Prindle did a nice job with their iteration of the beach reacher.

Don't let the DPN fool you, it's not as fast as an H16, but MUCH closer than the H14. Sail it like an H14 on the race course, DDW from A to C. When I win the lottery, I'm putting a square top and hooter on mine.