Howdy,
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<br>I had a WAVE for the last year and really had a blast on it. As mentioned, it is definitely the fastest boat getting onto the water and getting off...and TRUST ME - that can be very important to having a good time.
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<br>I recently went to the I17 mainly because most of the local races seem to be the "distance" type things that are impractical on the WAVE, plus I was looking for a higher performance boat that had a Portsmouth Number closer to the range of boats that are more frequently raced in my area; but, I'm already missing the extra hour it takes to put the I17 together and apart, plus the almost insurmountable problem of solo mast-stepping a bigger boat.
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<br>I used one of the WAVEs from KeySailing last winter that had the backrests and they make hiking out practically impossible.
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<br>In response to Todds comment: I had a Laser and the WAVE and the only thing about the Laser is that if you are anywhere close to my weight of 175 (180?!) the Laser, being a flat bottomed boat is just too sensitive to weight distribution in anything but heavy air - it really takes a lot of the fun out of it - or at least it did for me. The WAVE was 100% more fun, and I sold the Laser shortly after getting the WAVE.
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<br>Enjoy,
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<br>Mark MacNeil<br><br>