The hooter can be used both upwind and downwind. When you are sailing upwind, it is treated like a jib and you head upwind for puffs. When you are sailing downwind, you head downwind for puffs. There is a middle ground where it is hard to tell whether you have to head up or down in a puff. If you feel you are in that grey area, you need to do a small test to see if it heats up or slows down if you head upwind or downwind. Always be aware of your exit strategy, it can change as your course or wind direction changes.

My hooter/screecher hounds are well below my spinnaker hounds and I can sheet out on the main a little in an emergency but the traveler is the better tool. We used the screecher in the Keys 100 a few months ago. It was blowing 20-25 mph, gusting to 30 mph and we were running dead downwind in 3-6 foot seas. We were able to hold our own with a Nacra 6.0 with a spin. We had different angles but when we crossed tacks we were always within 100 yards of each other for 70 miles. The N20 seemed to have about the same speed as us but was able to sail a little deeper.