One solution is to go to jibs that are set on a merriman type furler behind the jib stay. There's a wire in the luff and the luff will be less straight than if set, whether hanked on or in a foil, on the stay. But judging from the pix your jib stay is not all that tight anyway. Just make sure the sailmaker understands so he gets the luff right.
I found it easy to rig an outhaul under the drum so the whole thing could be sent out to the end of the bow sprit or pulled back to the bow. The upper swivel usually has a bale to slip over the headstay to keep it alligned. If you make the halyard a two part - truck to a block attached to the upper swivel and back up to another block and thence down - and if you put the dead end and the block on the mast a bit apart, the halyard under tension will keep the swivel alligned just fine and you can saw the bale off. That means that as the sail goes up and down the peak is not sliding on the stay and you can hook up or release it from deck.
The sails go up and down as a snake, very easy to control in any wind. So have three - genny, jib and big reacher-drifter. The only problem is stowage since the sail-as-snake needs to be coiled and it's very hard - given the size of the rolled fabric and the fat luff wire - to get the coil to have a diameter less than four feet. Since mine had nice UV cloths on the leach and foot, I just coiled each down around the skylight. That was back far enough that I lashed the unused jib in place only in the very most severe weather.
G'luck
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12-31-2011, 12:08 PM
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