You ask if the I17R has neutral helm with spinnaker flying. It better! Think about it a second. We have no crew. We are lowering the spinnaker as we approach " C " mark. My boat will track straight after I have dropped the tiller and am in the process of lowering the spinnaker. Sometimes the damn think will get stuck or the halyard will tangle and I have to fix it all this being done while the boat is sailing itself.
Another thing, I'll let the engineers explain the why's and wherefore's, but the I17 does great in heavy air with the spinnaker up! Actually, the only reason boats were flipping during the heavy wind days at the Nationals was because the wind direction was jumping around so much after the front had gone through!
Tom
ps. The big bows on the I17 have save me on countless occasions however. I have buried the boat half way to the front beam and brought it back out before due to a wind change while flying the spin. This was because of the boat not me!
