"I saw that you chose a Schooner for the Exhilarator. Are there any benefits to the Schooner compared to the single sail, besides the lower center of effort?"

More like
the ability to lead the centre of resistance with the centre of effort
Boats need to be balanced to sail without constant trim load (resulting drag)

In order to use say, a cat sloop rig,
the the centre of resistance has to be moved aft

whereas trimming the sails favourably on a cat schooner allows the same thing,
but yes with less height for light air

so there are other ways to do it
but not much closer to a cost effective method allowing for quick shunts

To add the completely superfluous
virtually all vehicles lead the centre of resistance with the centre of effort
of the more memorable that didnt. the Volkswagen Beetle
which was most stable in reverse, and would always attempt to accomplish that on every corner
without a doubt one of the most dangerous cars ever created, with a high death rate to prove it