Certainly the racing trend is to do away with the roller furler. I used to think that I always wanted to have one until I really needed it in a squal. The best we could do was to get it in one nasty knot with the top flapping away relentlessly. The F18 class is moving away from the roller furling requirement as is the Nacra 20 class. The Nacra 20 class even has a jib available now with two full length battens near the top that prevent it from furling all together.

It's kind of like building a bare-bones racer (like how race cars don't usually have sideview mirrors and other non-essentials)..certainly if you are racing in a fleet it's not a big deal to go without the furler.