Maybe it should also factor in 4 hands vs. 2 hands on board when dealing with a spinnaker!

And is it me or do all the F18's just dump their main sheet coming around A mark (see photos of the F18NA's)? I was always taught to dump the traveler as you come around A mark and head downwind, not the mainsheet, especially if you are about to hoist the spinnaker and load up the mast. The photos looked to me that most are dumping the mainsheet and keeping the traveler up high.

I have found I can steer the boat right around A mark and keep up good speed, by simply dropping the travler, which is what I do, as I go foreward to hoist the spinny., then I pull it up once things are settled down and the spinn is pulling. I think I only ease the mainsheet a foot or two at most.