Actually, most 17's are heavier than what Dan's talking about. Class minimum is 340#; most weigh above 350#.

They are good sized fleets of 17's on the upper Atlantic Coast, the middle of the country and in the Pacific Northwest.

An A-cat will smoke a H-17 around the buoys with the exception of upwind in blow. Trapezing from the wings on a 17 allow the rig to carry a lot more power than trapezing from the hulls on an A.

The H-17 is a pig off the wind. Just not enough sail area. Then again, it's durable as hell and the only boat I'd want to be on when it's blowing a steady 25. They're realatively cheap, too. A brand new one is only $10K. Used ones go for $2K-$4K, depending on condition.