I have no experience with a foil but have used hanks for 14 years on my E27 and before that on a Cal 20. I have never, to my knowledge caught or damaged a spinnaker on jib hanks. We sail on windward-leeward courses and usually do windward takedowns. Another advantage of hanks, besides quick jib drops is that the sail doesn't have to be secured to keep it out of the water. I decided to go with hanks because somebody told me most J24s go with hanks rather than foils. We usually do our jib changes on downwind legs. The #1 can be depowered effectively with the backstay adjuster and the lead. We would change on a beat only in a long distance race. And if you practice a bit it's almost as fast with hanks as with a foil.d Only two out of 10 boats in our fleet use foils. (One of the ones that does is the top boat in our fleet--Air Force. I've never asked the owner, Peter Fortune, whether he would go with hanks if he were starting fresh. Peter, where are you? How about a defense of foils?)