Tell him he's nuts. LOL. Actually, when I was in Europe during the 80's, I actually met a man who had worked for ABU. And from what he had told me, lefties were originally made mostly for the Pacific Northwest, since we used them so much. I guess there is a high demand for lefties back then from us (he had worked for them during the early 70's). It was nice BS'n with him, I heard alot about different reels. But it's actually common sense. In a spinning rod, you don't reverse crank do you? same difference actually, just one reel is on top, one on bottom. I've always had lefties (even had a left handed penn 209). It's all I use now too.