I've done some casual racing in our club.
Our H280 has a wheel and wing/shoal keel - no experience with a tiller version. We love the wheel but for racing, the keel dictates tactics. You can point pretty high with the inboard-tracked jib but slip gets to be an issue. Our boat has a higher handicap than the 28 and that seems about right.
If you have the fin keel, you should be able to hang pretty close to the "hotter" boats as long as your sails and bottom are in thoroughbred form. As with all boats that compete, watch your weight. Holding tank and water tank probably needs to be empty. The swept spreaders don't allow a lot of DDW which is usually OK anyway - she runs pretty well at 140*-150* apparent. We don't use a spinnaker but one could be worth the penalty, depending on your sailing grounds and typical wind.
