Although the Portsmouth site says the numbers are derived from ABC courses, keep in mind that they use real results to base the corrections and ratings. And the majority of the races they'd use results from are W-L I'll bet. So I'm willing to bet that the numbers are truly more consistent with pure W-L racing than ABC courses.

Of course, I might get lumped in with the spin boats now that I have added a spin to my boat. My opinion about W-L was formed well before adding the spinnaker. And to verify what others have said - adding a spinnaker has been a great learning experience and added a new dimension to an old boat, and has been well worth the cost (although I did take the cheap side on things). As for racing results with it, it's a mixed bag, but that may be due to learning curve and older stuff. Our commodore used to race a 5.5 with a chute and then a screacher/hooter - the boat's up to it for sure. The great thing about it is not that you don't ever reach anymore, it's that in addition to the great experience reaching now the downwind legs are even more fun then they used to be! It just adds a new dimension to the whole package - it doesn't eliminate any!