Heres another vote for Excalibur, they are strong and accurate, and simple. Thats the biggest advantage to them, simple, maybe ppl don't change their strings in the field very often, but less moving parts means less stuff to break.If the season ends and I don't think I'll be shooting it for a while I remove the string to relieve the tension from the limbs, even if it is only once every three years, I don't need a pro shop at all.
I once questioned why any x-bow would be a compound since its not the shooter thats holding back the weight, the answer was that it was easier for manfacturers to make a compound than to build a strong trigger like xcal uses, to me that says alot right there. As for your dad being a lefty, I just took a look at my bow and besides what side you mount your quiver on it shouldn't matter at all with a recurve x-bow.