I look at the N17's as being half baked... Not quite optimized for the inclusion of curved foils. A cats have been driven by lots of designers optimizing the curved boards shape, location, etc etc and now they are landing on a solution of curved boards and T foils on the rudders. (They can't use the AC foil designs legally) The N17 is frozen in time as an Olympic class.

For Olympics... it won't be an issue... since the class is so tightly controlled (can't even move cleats) that the sailors will stand on their ear if need be to max the boats performance..

For the US rec racer... There are lots of questions.. Where do you race this boat? The Olympic class must be of mixed teams... so most rec racers would have trouble forming a team in this class. You can count on a Miami OCR regatta and a North Americans in this class.... So, is that enough racing to warrant 25K for a boat? Set aside the gran prix circuit... Do you continually tweak the N17 or upgrade it like the Nacra carbon 20 or the A class to optimize it? Does the boat draw in new racers from keel boats or other dinghy classes... and or does it cannibalize the F18 fleet? What happens when the Flying Phantom is produced for consumers and boats now fly but N17's don't?

I could see a life for the boat IF we had a North American SCHRS Handicap class schedule of events for these new designs that won't get a critical mass for one design. The gearheads and folks that demand to be cutting edge would have events to go to... beyond some distance races. Mix in some sailors with one design boats who slum it in open class and you would have a viable national circuit that would make the boat a viable race boat.

Help me out seeing the future of this boat. Is there a NA class president / class association?