I'm currently sailing a Hobie 17 and would appreciate input on a few issues related to optimizing shroud adjustment:

1) I currently sail with the shrouds fairly loose, ie, very non-restrictive mast rotation to 90+ degrees. This does mean that the lazy shroud is fairly floppy. I've assumed this is a good way to rig a unirig since I don't need to worry about jib luff sag and I get better mast rotation for downwind sailing. Do most people set up unirigs this way? What is the case for tighter shrouds?

2) I'm curious what shroud hole setting most people use for the H17? The manual says to use hole #4 from the top on side and bridle adjusters. I recently bought new standing rigging from Murrays and the shrouds were WAY too loose when I did that. I'm currently on hole #7 from the top on all adjusters (still with fairly loose rigging as stated above). Are my shrouds just longer than the factory shrouds? What holes do other H17 sailors use?

3) When I bought my boat, the previous owner had it set up (for racing) with a very raked mast. The mast on the H17 is fairly raked to begin with using the baseline setup. When I first sailed the boat that way the amount of weather helm was significant - ie, if I let go of the tiller on a beam reach I was head to wind within just a few seconds. I can't imagine it was faster than a less raked setup. My current setup has only a mild weather helm. So why did he have it set up that way? Do most people have an exaggerated rake on on the H17 like they do on H16s? If so, is that for all conditions or just for heavier air? Even in heavy air, is it really worth it - I'd think the weather helm would be hard to manage in those conditions.

Thanks for the input,

Jerry