On barber haulers. (For those who don't know what that is: it's a line ending in a block. The jib sheet goes through the block and you pull the line sideways, so that the middle of the jib sheet gets pulled in closer to the center line, hauling the clew of the jib in).
When I got my new jib (two years ago), the sailmaker sent me these instructions:
Position jib blocks on coaming (or gunwales), 107" from forestay. Attach cleats for barber haulers 5" from the center line on cuddy face. Extend them to 17" for winds between 6-12 knots, 30" for lighter winds, less than 5knt and 18" to 30" for really high winds ( >12kt).
With my previous jib, I had problems to keep its leech from fluttering in high winds. One day, I jury rigged a barber hauler (just a loop of line around the jib sheet and cleated off on one of the cleats on top of the cuddy). The effect was immediate and since then, I'm sold on Barber haulers. (Those of you who don't have them, you can try this jury-rig and see for yourselves).
If you click on the picture, you can see the cleats for the barber haulers. They end in the lightest, cheapest blocks I could find that would fit my jib-sheets (I think they were Laser parts) and I connected them with an eye-splice. I gave them a wrap with rigging tape, so they don't bang the deck during tacks.
In light to medium airs I have slight weather helm. In the light winds of my last test, I was sitting on the seat (solo). In the earlier tests, I had crew (more than doubled the total human ballast, so we sat on the seats).
(And no, I never had my boat weighed).
Wayne: what's your setup, weight etc.? Have you sailed since?