It seems that the weakest point of junk rig is upwind pointing angle. What's the best solution to improve? Does putting up a Bermudian jib help?

Since we're on the subject of Bermudan bashing, I'll relate some observations of the bermudan cruisers when not within easy reach of repair facilities. One cat set off from Broome and was back a few days later with the mast missing, towed by his dinghy. A swage fitting in his brand new shrouds let go, must be a fault, so the whole mast came down. He saved the boom, mainsail, but had to dump the mast overboard. He is up for $30,000 replacement including the rigger flown from down south, all because of one faulty SS fitting. Also his main engine died, good thing he had a powerful dinghy.

Another cruising cat at Broome has gerry cans lining his deck.  His furling foresail suffered a rip, then his main too and since no sailmakers within 500miles, his boat became a powerboat, thus all that fuel on deck to get to Darwin.

We did sail in company with one boat for a few anchorages, a 36' John Pugh, similar length to Ashiki. In light winds we kept pace, he with his huge sails (14T displacement vs our 5T). On a windward leg he started sailing ahead, thrashing us in fact, which gave cause for concerned, I thought till then Ashiki was ok going to windward and here we were lagging. I asked him afterwards if he was motorsailing, we couldn't tell, his answer was a definite yes, no wonder he walked away from us. Its because his bermudan boat doesn't tack without help from the engine, so he just keeps it running in gear.

Next day was a downwind run, he ran up his 100+sqm gennikar, us wing'n'wonged (54sqm total sail area) and matched pace the whole day. He was impressed, especially since we didn't do any work, compared to his complicated launching and dousing procedure. But he had to douse sail 3 miles before the anchorage (because of rounding a pt), and motored the rest while we sailed right up to the anchorage. He has to be very careful with his sails because the spreaders on his mast will readily rip the sails, causing thousands of dollars damage. Thats why these guys motor a lot.

To me, this makes bermudans totally unsuited to voyaging. Within a day of the home marina yes, but anything beyond...

I've been reading a lot of Sponberg lately. I really enjoyed the articles on free standing masts, slightly less so when I read the last one. On "Nai'a" they replace a older heavy junk rig with a new composite mast and bermudan rig. 

And you know what: in a few years, everyone will be coming up to us and lecturing us about how lucky we are to have an unstayed rig and that they knew all along that we were on the right track, but of course, we should make our rigs more complicated and expensive.  Then we'd have a proper boat.  (Apologies to those who are fans of wingsails!)

I think someone should write a letter to the Editor about the JRA being 35 years old and that some of us have been aware of the folly of pointy sails for a long time!

Interesting article about Wingsails becoming mainstream on Sailmagazine.com, with the following quote:

"BECAUSE A MAST is supported by wires fore and aft, which make two triangles, its sails must also be triangular in shape; and the triangle is the worst possible planform for a sail that must propel a boat to windward, thanks to a phenomenon called induced drag, which comes as a product of any surface generating lift. You don’t see many birds or insects with triangular wings, nor aircraft, except very high-speed fighter planes aboard which the triangle planform actually comes into its own at supersonic speeds.

"Worse yet, these inefficient triangles are held aloft by a rig that’s trying to push the mast through the bottom of the hull while pulling the ends of the boat up like a banana: a highly tensioned assemblage of wires, turnbuckles and myriad other small fittings, even the smallest and cheapest of which could cause the whole lot to crash down on your head should it fail. Seems crazy, doesn’t it?"

Anyone feel like saying "I told you so!"?