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Paducah said..
Is there a reason that you would usually use a 71 in "similar conditions"?
Short answer: water depth.
Long answer: there are some "rock bars" a few hundred meters from shore that are up to half a meter higher than the surrounding sands. That makes it quite difficult to just walk out to where the water is deep enough. The wind can be very up and down here in a totally unpredictable way, so you can't rely on just foiling a bit higher. If the water level is low when I start, or the tide is going down, I'll pick the shorter mast.
The chop changes near to shore with the water level, but much less so further out where it is deeper, hence "similar conditions".