As part of learning about my new boat, a Viper F16, and how it behaves in various configurations, I tried the "jib only" thing in light air this weekend. The lee helm was pretty much unmanageable and even a beam reach was barely doable. I had a similar experience when caught in a thunderstorm many years ago on an 18' P-Cat on Fern Ridge Reservoir near Eugene, OR. I dropped the main to reduce sail, but then could make no headway to windward, and the lee helm was wicked. I ended up going with the wind and beaching on the side of the lake opposite of where I really wanted to be and waiting it out. Fortunately, it was a friendly sand beach and not a pile of big rocks. If you want to reduce sail heading downwind, jib-only is an option. Going to weather, forget it. I've also beached a Hobie 18 downwind (actually the beach I wanted to go to this time) with the main down and the jib furled. It was surprisingly fast in this configuration! I have no idea how strong the wind was, but it was way too much.

Anyway, good discussion. I agree that it's good to know what your options are when you get caught in more wind than you really want to be out in.