Just by accident I had the opportunity to sail a Nacra F17XXL (2004 model) in my usual conditions and I was surprised at the difference as such - and that I am able noticing it with my pretty little experience. At that point I decided to give the FX One a try too. Again a considerable difference, much better than my Nacra 5.0 - but not as good as the F17. The F17 gives me the impression being a double-hander with single-hander option, the FX One a single-hander with double-hander option. And since I do 95% of my sailing with (a pretty light-weight) crew, I guessed the F17 being the right boat for me.
IMHO the FX1 is a much better suited for doublehanded sailing than the I17 (I own an FX1 for two years now). The FX1 is a LOT more buoyant and it doesnt really care about the extra weight. This year I sailed the Texel race on an FX1 with crew, we both weight about 75-80KGs and were just fine. About the weight, those 15-20KGs are not going to make much of a difference when righting and moving around on the beach. On the rare occasions that I do go over the wind and waves are usually strong enough to easily right the boat solo. Also, for my taste Nacra changes their models too often which is not good for trade-in value.
