The answer is going to piss you off.
All the lower numbers are very low hp. It's not until you get near WOT that any horsepower is being generated.
Your not spinning a prop that has a pretty good bite on the water, you are squirting water at high pressure to create thrust. You could hold your boat back with a fairly small rope. Whereas the prop boat can't be held back as easily.
The thrust required to get the hull freed up from the drag of the water is on the higher horsepower, it has zero to do with actual rpm.
Your understanding of impeller cut is 100% backward, the C cut impeller is much smaller than an A. You can cut an A to a C, but not the other way around.
The more impeller, the more HP it takes to spin.
The reason an impeller is "cut down" is to get the engine the ability to turn it's optimum rpm to get the most hp out of it.
In short, rpm is not speed, hydrodynamic drag, nozzle volume and velocity determine the speed.
And that Spectra bottom is like the cute chubby chick at the bar, built for comfort, not speed. Lol
GT