Hi Marudo.
It seems that dousing a flying jib or drifter would be difficult, but with a little practise it's not much harder than a hank-on. Just a different technique. I doused my 300 sq ft drifter in a very sudden nighttime 50-knot blow, and though it scooped a little water from overside, it came aboard all right and could be immediately bundled below without my having had to go to the bowsprit end to unhank it. So I didn't have a bundle of wet sail bogging down the bowsprit end--I just eased out the line that hauls the foot out to the cranse iron, unclipped it, and my bowsprit could rear and plunge all it liked without shovelling tons of water back. One of the advantages of setting sails flying is that since you never need go to the bowsprit end, you can eliminate all the weight and clutter of nets and footropes and walkways and pulpits, with all the windage and drag and expense they can cause.
Still whatever you end up with, by all means eliminate all roller furling, which is a plain invitation to trouble.
Ben
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