I say, bring your boat without a jib and I'll beat you on the upwind leg in such a way that no downwind disadvantage will make up for it.
I thought the jib was only an advantage over a unirig when reaching and that up wind it didn't make much difference.
Going down wind with a spinnaker I'm not sure a self tacking jib makes much difference vs. a uni rig - as the sail area tends to be rather small compared to the main and spin. That said, they also look after themselves when gybing and tacking so I'd rather have one for the all round flexibility when distance racing.
Chris.
