Not so, I recently took some real novices out. The wind was blowing, the boat heeled, we hiked, feathered the boat and released the sails when necessary. The novices did not panic, but gained a good insight of what makes a sailboat go and how to control it. Heeling is part of sailing and lets you know something is happening. If heeling really bothers a person, they would be more comfortable on a sofa.
Cats are fast.
Cats go slower heeled. Obviously Mr. Hoyt has never steered a Windmill off a large wave with 25 knots of true wind behind him. We know what a great job Hobie Alter did on marketing his speedy cats. How many potential stickers bought cats and found out they are fun for a coupla hours at the beach, not the local lake, there is no local fleet, few local regattas, and no strong national group. In my area, there are many cats for sale, not sail, both in the papers and in local boat yards.