I have watched other sail downwing with their chute up, round a mark and then proceed to sail the next leg with the chute up on a beam reach. We would usually drop the spinnaker and use our jib, but they definitely had the advantage in certain conditions. Toward the end of last season, we decided to give the technique a try. Reaching with the spinnaker worked fine, but we ran into problems when it can time to lower it. Our spinnaker pole was almost all the way forward and lowering it on the leeward side seemed impossible because we were heeling too much for the crew to move to the leeward seat to pull the chute in. We were forced to bring the chute down on the windward side, but that was a minor disaster, as the wind wrapped the spinnaker around the forstay as we brought it in.
I would appreciate any input on how to handle the spinnaker in this situation.

Thanks
John