Dazz,
I see the logic in your arguement against sailing when it's blowing hard enough to need a smaller sail(s). But I wanna go sailing at every possible opportunity, as we suffer here from a lot of high pressure/lite air in the summer. And I like the challenge of mastering a boat in 20+ knts of wind. And I like the the idea of a main with a shorter luff(and foot), with a 2 or 3' tether from the masthead hook to the head. My concern is that the new, lower head will want to pull out of the luff groove when the main is sheeted in hard. Seems like I need a strop of some sort wrapping around the mast, through the headboard, cinched tight, to resist the aftward forces acting on the headboard, that are normally handled by the hook at the masthead.
Anyone have any thoughts on this? I'd really like to try an A cat main on my HT, but it's an expensive carbon mast, don't want any surprises. Foolish to try?

Dave