We have a guy sailing his A in our club race series. (21 races in 2004 with on average 14 boats per race; sometimes 10 sometimes 23). We do get some nasty chop sometimes as the North sea in quite shallow (max depth = 33 to 50 foot) and I very muich expected him to suffer in the more extreme conditions. However this guy is succesful in the heavy stuff and short high chop as well. When he sails he typically scores 1st and 2nd's with a very rare 3rd. Maybe lightweight boats do suffer in these choppy conditions but it may well be much less significant than it is sometimes maked out to be.

One ting is for sure the A-cat can handle it (Same story in several races this year over here) ; also clear from the A-cat worlds video clip form the 2004 New Zealand worlds. This is independent of the overall speed in these conditions although this seems to be good just the same.

Wouter