Jackie, Voice of practicality here, although a sexy basic black dress (most are pretty skimpy these days!) is appealing.

Within the Cal 2-27 range, your PHRF is based on headsail size. I assume you have a 125% rating, so a larger sail would mean ponying up the PHRF fee plus adding 3 seconds per mile to your handicap. The PHRF year is up Dec. 31, so you'd need a new certificate for the next 3 months to get you through this year. If you applied for a 2014 rating with the genoa, because it's still winter, and later decided to go back to the smaller jib for summer, the 2nd fee would be there again.

But even more practical. The smaller sail is easier to tack or jibe - much less effort. Less sail to haul in, pole out, or manage on deck when it's down. Do you really want to grind in the extra sheet on each tack? I sailed my Newport 30 with 125% jib for just that reason. A pile of sail on the foredeck only attached to the boat by the halyard, tack, and clew can become a sea anchor very easily. Sailing singlehanded I was often so pooped by the time I got to the Lightship or the S. E. Farallon Island that I turned on the autopilot and lost the race when I used the genoa.

And what about your whisker pole. Can you effectively sheet the poled out genoa with it? The PHRF doesn't take into account the length of the whisker pole, It does limit your spinnaker pole (which is usually your "J" measurement). If you're doubling up and using your spinnaker pole for a whisker pole, it probably works fine for a 125% jib, but would be pretty short for a genoa of, say 140 -155%. Poling out a 125% jib shorthanded is a lot easier than a larger genoa.