When I was trying to evaluate spin vs Hooter, for me it came down to 2 issues: Stress on the rig and lift of the leeward hull. What got me into spin sailing was an article in Performance Sailor starting off about 'what gets you to beach first, corrects out DFL, and puts a permanent smile on your face? A spinnaker!' and the observation by a fellow P-19 sailor that sailing with the spin just pulls the leeward hull 12" out of the water. So, I tried it for about $400 (Randy S sold me a used spin for $250) and found the reports true.
So, when it came time to update the rig I talked to the West Coast guys that had Hooter's and Calvert Sails. The consensus was that it does add stress to your rig, which may not be as serious as I thought, but in a good blow the spin can pull your whole boat out of the water, and my knee jerk reaction was to not add to that load. And I was told by Calvert Sails that the Hooter would tend to press the bow down and the Hooter sailors out here said the same thing. The Hooter sailors out here sail Nacras or similar so a little bow pressure doesn't hurt. But the last thing a P-19 needs going downhill is something driving the bows down.
Now, I do know that a spinnaker does help pull the leeward hull out of the water, and I assumed it was because of the fullness of the sail compared to the Hooter. But now after reading the Assymetric thread and reorganizing facts and semi-facts, the leeward hull lifting thing may be due to the angle of the luff of the spin, in which case similar results could be expected of a Hooter. I have never sailed a Hooter, so all I 'know' about Hooters is from experienced but non-racing sailors and 'experts' . So I now question what I 'know' and throw this issue out, not seeing any comments on this issue in the years I've followed this forum.
Additionally, as far as cost, ease of handling, and windage go, I believe it is a wash. There are ways to deal with each drawback of each system. It does not cost $3000 to get into a spin, and I doubt any but a very few spent over $1000 to get into their first spin.
Hooters ought to be allowed to compete and appraised. Maybe the ISAF hit is justified and the sail is so much faster but the techniques aren't being used to fully use it. Maybe it has conditions in which it is outstanding and conditions in which it is a substantial detriment. But if it has the potential to make us go faster and improve our understanding of the physics of wind and sail, as catsailors we need to be breaking down our comfort zones and learning some more. Obviously when you have an organization there are political considerations, they don't have to be evil, and they may need to change in the light of new ideas. Sometimes in these extended discussions I find myself aligning myself with what I like or believe and discarding the rest so that I get into a cycle of reinforcing what is comfortable to me and completely rejecting and tuning out the rest. I would sure hate to be 70 and find that sailing a Hooter improved my enjoyment of sailing and I could have done that when I was 40.
