I don't know. I'm extracting some clues about those who sail Junk rigs which raise an eyebrow.
a) Contrary to all the hype, they are primarily fair weather sailors.
b) They enjoy the simplicity of raising/dropping sails (good feature)
c) Being fair weather sailors, they are content with using more delicate sail cloth, lines, etc.
For me anyway, I see a yacht as a survival vehicle. You never know what weather you'll get stuck in while on a voyage. If you do get stuck in a storm, a good insurance policy is needed literally and figuratively, and rock solid rigging is part of that.
If I were in warmer, fair weather climates for a good period of time I would probably settle for a Junk rig. I really do like the way the look. For a serious voyage though I would not consider it. That's just me.
I would be interested in reading more about how well they do in storms that are routinely dished up in the North Pacific, Southern Ocean & places of the like. 50 advantages or more, if they don't hold up well in storms all those benefits go down the drain if you can't sail home.
Gentlemen,
The vessel is awash with guesswork, suppositions and misinformation. It's time to pump the bilge out.
The spectrum of junk-rigged vessels ranges from daintily-rigged daysailers to husky, go-anywhere ocean cruisers, just as it does with other rigs. I tend towards the latter with my vessel, and so far, have sailed her 80,000 miles under junk rig and junk-rig-based wing sails, in the Atlantic between Iceland and Norway in the north, and Capetown in the south; and in the Pacific between Alaska in the north and South Island NZ and Tasmania in the south. There are fairweather junk rig sailors, and there are husky, go-anywhere junk rig sailors, just as there are with other rigs. Joseph, it's your misfortune not to have crossed tacks with the latter, but they're out there, quietly and competently crossing oceans.
Of course, I've seen some bad weather. I got knocked down in the S Atlantic, and broke some dinner plates and wine glasses. By way of contrast, do you recall how Jeanne Socrates got knocked down approaching Cape Horn, broke her boom (good quality Najad yacht, with a good quality rig from Selden Mast), and had to put into Ushuaia and get a new boom sent from Sweden?
I spent my working life designing hardware for bermudan rigs, so I am well aware of how poorly made and "down-to-a-price" the lower grades of production bermudan rig can be, and how unfit for serious offshore use. And of course, at the other end of the spectrum, how fit for purpose a bermudan rig can be, if money is no object. Having done a lot of fatigue testing of rigging components, I know full well how short-lived the bermudan mast's rigging can be. In contrast, an unstayed mast, if it's designed right, and built right, is long-lived and invulnerable to mis-handling and lack of maintenance.
My preference, for a vessel that is to go anywhere, will remain for a rig with unstayed mast(s), carrying strongly-built and easily-handled sails in which the stresses are low, being well distributed over strong spars. What rig would that be? I think you know the answer to that.
