I've done a lot of
racing on boats with laminate deck sweepers. One of the bowman's jobs is to be ever vigilant about the need to "skirt" the sail--dash forward and
lift the leech up and over the stanchions so it can be sheeted in hard when beating. Have seen a few torn
sails when the grinder goes at it,
head down, and the skirt didn't happen.
My boat came with a low-cut 135 that was on the
furler when I took
delivery. It was a fairly new North sail and I left it on for a year. What a PITA it was. Could not see under it, was a b!tch to tack or furl, and couldn't point with it for beans. I ended up taking it off and putting on a yankee that was in the inventory.
Lost a bit of speed on a beat off the wind but going hard to windward, with the staysail up, it's a better sail and is certainly easier to manage single-handed in all conditions.