John, Concerning the 4-way jib setup. Yes, that cross-wire is a bringer of pain. However, it is unlikely that your fixed position eyestrap is in the right place. It is very dependent on the cut and condition of the jib. The fore-aft setting is pretty constant based on foot length and clew angle. You keep the foot and leach balanced which doesn't change much day to day.
However, the in-out DOES vary with sailing conditions and the belly on your jib. My basic rule is that if the jib luffs before the main, bring the jib blocks inboard some more. The hull-mounted jib blocks are usually WAY too far out and the jib flogs too early going to weather. On a medium day you'll want to have the jib blocks traveled in quite a bit. In bigger air, especially solo, you'll travel out a bit on the main and you'll have to do the same with the jib. When I had one, I used the 4-way in-out every sailing day, although only changing it once or twice a day. You're too busy solo, anyway.
The condition of the jib can wipe out all of the benefit. If you bring the blocks inboard with a 4-way setup you may find that a fat-belly jib will backwind the main no matter how much you haul in on the sheet. If it's a flat jib the slot works great when the jib is far inboard, balanced with the main, and you'll point high with speed. My Mystere 5.0XL had a new flat jib and I ran the jib blocks in until they hit the hiking strap. Unfortunately, my current Nacra 5.0 has both bad situations, an old full jib and the blocks are fixed out on the hull. The jib luffs early and yet still grossly backwinds the main going to weather, actually denting it. My fix will be getting a new flat jib and building a temporary in-out system to find the best location for the block, then reinforcing the tramp somehow to mount it in one spot. The early Taipans used a set of grommets with a line woven through them to allow you to re-hook the jib blocks to new locations as needed without the painful cross-tramp wire. However, you need to know where to put those grommets. I'll try to post a photo of the Taipan tramp. I'm working toward that setup as a cheap yet adjustable solution.
Giving up the jib altogether and using a spin is one alternative. No foil, no furler, cleaner deck, etc....
