Don't know if this will help, but here's what we did last year. The forward portion of the jib foot would sometimes drape over the bow pulpit and lifelines, which I always believed to create poor air flow. So I had the sailmaker cut the new jib about a foot higher to clear the lifelines, and he increased the length of the foot, thus making the overall square footage area about the same as the original. Seems to work well, and the extra benefit is that we can see under the jib while heeled over.
The sailmaker added 2 vertical stripes about 2' long, running upwards from the foot, and positioned several feet back from the furler. I use those as reef indicators -- at 20k wind I usually furl in to the first stripe or a bit more.