When I am sailing and want to douse the jib for a few minutes, all I do
is pull on the downhaul line (not releasing the jib halyard) and this pulls the jib
up against the forestay without taking the sail down.
The following is a "crude" drawning of how the system works.
I have not released the Jib (Genoa) halyard, but have released the Jib (Genoa) sheets. I then pull on the downhaul line from the cockpit and the Jib (Genoa) is pulled to the forestay. As you can see, the Jib (Genoa) is doused, i.e., will not catch the wind, and the boat slows down. This is useful if you need to slow the boat down when you are out or to slow the boat down when you are coming into the dock.
