You have to look at all additions in a different way. There is always a drawback assigned to a benefit. The important question is whether the magnitude of the drawback is smaller then the magnitude of the advantage. In case of the spinnaker the answer is well documented. The benefits on the downwind leg more then compensate for any loses upwind. Just sail a F16 without a spi and boom (A la A-cat) against one with these items, you easily spot the difference (assuming sufficient skills)

The next question is whether using the snuffer adheres to the same principle. This situation is less clear. I've done hand setting and doucing of the spinnaker back in the days and got quite handy with it; even solo. But that is not the main benefit of the snuffer, the snuffer allows me to get through a contested mark rounding noticeably better. I spend less time preparing for my sets and douces and there is less that can go wrong; especially in a blow as I don't have to go the far lee side of the boat to grap the spi cloth myself. For 2-up you can manage, but 1-up with spi you are pretty much hooked to the snuffer in any wind and sea conditions beyond calm.

So you don't really have a choice beyond having a spi or not having a spi. I personally feel the spi setup is faster then the A-la-A-cat setup even with the additional drawbacks of the snuffer. On crowded race courses I feel the benefits are even more convincing. In long distances races ... well the non-spi boats, including the A's can just as well forget about entered unless the vast bulk of the course is a beam reach or upwind leg.

So, my point here is to not hit yourself repeatedly over the head with some small drawback or performance hit without comparing it against the noticeably larger benefit. I mean what is the point ? You are never going to design out all performance hits, that is fundamentally not possible. The only thing you can do it try to entlarge the (benefial) gap between the performance hits and performance boosts. And I dare say that the current midpole snuffer present a pretty darn optimal balancing of these factors already. Many years in Tornado and F18 campaigning have guaranteed that.

Maybe that for a 5 boat race the bag setup or tramp based snuffer is slightly faster but not for a 50 boat fleet. Meaning that a mid pole snuffer alternative maybe slightly faster in SOME specific situations but not over a full spectrum of condition ones encounter over a longer period of racing with many different situations occuring.

But it is always good to keep trying though !

Wouter