Jere Lull wrote:

On the boats I've sailed with aft-lead halyards, I invariably discovered
it was faster and less effort to haul the sail most of the way up right
at the mast. On some boats, it seemed to take 5 minutes to get the sail
up because of the drag.

It's always a compromise. I prefer the sail set I get with straight slab
reefing though it requires a couple of minutes at the mast. A single
line reef led back also puts considerably different strains on the
gooseneck than it was designed for.
SNIP

This is a bit of a religious debate but let me wade in anyway.

My boat (Paceship 26) is set up for short handed sailing with all lines
led to the cockpit. Works well for me when I'm out with my kids. Other
setups will work better for other folks

The drag issue you mention is easily mitigated by using the right
hardware when the system is set up.

As for the reefing line putting strains on the gooseneck that it was
not designed for, I respectfully submit that a boomvang will put more
strain on a gooseneck, with roughly similar vectors than a reefing line
ever will.

Cheers

Matt