He was right that "The Magnus effect doesn't gain you anything other than the helpful drag of a tall cylinder when going in the same direction as the wind."
In fact, the Magnus rotors will not provide any usefull thrust is both upwind and downwind scenarios.
No, you are, unfortunately, incorrect.
> Without tacking, no wind power systems will help when going straight upwind.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windmill_ship