Well, we never raced.... and so the luffing up slightly worked fine. I use the same technique on my Day Sailer and can't see why it wouldn't work in a race. However, my usual advice when people ask about winches on small boats that really don't need winches is to say, "unless you are racing, or use a large genoa or spinnaker, you really don't need them." I find it comical when I see a small (15-22') sailboat tacking and can hear the "clickity-click" sound of winches cranking in the little working jib...... ah, the deslusions of granduer of we small boat sailors (yes, I suffer from those delusions at times myself, don't get me started about my old 9' trimaran with roller-furling genoa and a spinnaker!!) How many Day Sailers have covers for both sails, and the outboard? No RF jib, YET!
If I recall, the OEM optional winches for the CAL 21 were just "snubbing" winches, in other words, no handles.. they functioned more like a modern "ratchet block" to help hold the tension of the jibsheet while adjusting.