Single Handed Heaven?

Well, at best it has to share that title with an A-cat and the F-16.

If I did not make any major mistakes on a windward-leeward course and sailed my boat well, I could beat Bob Curry (who I believe is considered the best F-17 sailor to date) sailing his F-17R in light to medium air by 1-1.5 minutes elapsed. He still typically corrected out with that margin between us. Obviously I was faster upwind and he was faster downwind. The example here is the 2005 Alter Cup Area D Championship. It might have been somewhat different if in this regatta the race course had been set where we sailed the full length of the beat on Leg 1. With a potentially bigger lead for the A-cat, it would have been harder for Curry to close the gap to correct out. The RC set the course in this regatta with a split beat/run.

I'll settle for the overall performance of the A-cat because at the end of the day, I haul a 165 lb boat out of the water and have a lot less strings to rig and pull.

But if you have to have the chute, the I-17R could be your boat. If I was in that market, I'd like to see two evenly matched sailors race the I-17R against the F-16 singlehanded with chute. On paper, the F-16 sure looks better.

Bob Hodges
USACA
USA 230