we sail with headsail only, or perhaps a triple reefed main also

Hood installed our reefs to bring the end of the boom progressively up, and we have never hit the water with it in 30,000 miles including Transatlantic etc.

We often use the spinnaker pole to holds a jib out when fairly straight downwind. In such cases the pole has its own afterguy so that we can simply roll in the jib and leave the pole up or take it down at our leisure.

The clew of our jib is about 10 ft off the deck, which is a great advantage for this kind of sailing.