I've tried the gamut of knots that are usually recommended for attaching a jibsheet, and can't honestly say I have found any that works significantly better than any other. I use bowlines to attach the jibsheets for cruising as well as for racing.
I also don't backwind the jib during a tack, because 1) it's not necessary (there are better ways of getting the jib across and past the shrouds), 2) it doesn't really help, and 3) it causes adverse effects. (backwinding the jib is the equivalent of putting on the brakes and kills boatspeed; also, the jib tailer only has a few seconds to haul in the jibsheet and when you delay the release of the working jibsheet, you are using up more than half of the time that the tailer has to tail the sheet on the new side. As a result, either the sail luffs on the new side until he can grind it in, or the helmsman has to bear farther off the wind to get the jib driving. Either result costs speed and time.)
Regardless of the knots you use, the sheets seldom snag during a tack in moderate or stronger winds. The wind is strong enough to lift the sail clear of the shrouds after the bow passes the eye of the wind. It only becomes a problem in lighter air.
There are techniques you can use that work better than backwinding the jib, without the adverse effects. On any boat, moving crew weight to the new leeward side during the tack causes the boat to heel. (In light air, that's where you'll want crew weight to be after the tack anyway.) When the boat heels, the top of the mast will tilt to leeward, and, when combined with a little lift from whatever air movement you have, gravity will help the sail fall away to leeward of the stays. A small unballasted, or lightly ballasted boat especially responds well to the shifting of the weight of only one person.
Whenever you have crew, one of them should be sent to the foredeck in light air to walk the sail around the rigging. On a small boat, you might be able to grasp a sheet and flip the sail past the shrouds without leaving the cockpit.
I can't think of a good reason to ever backwind the jib, unless I
wanted to kill boatspeed for some reason, or make the jib tailer look inept.
