For a day-sailer . . . I envision a sheet's bitter end attached to the leech end of the uppermost batten (the batten immediately below the yard).  The sheet is run downward through pulley blocks attached to the leech end of each batten below it.  From the pulley block on the leech end of the lowest batten, the working end of the sheet would run forward along this batten to another block placed mid-span and directed downward into the cockpit.  Is this simple system undesirable in practice?  Or is it not so simple?!!!  

Oscar Fröberg wrote:

Thanks for the insightful replies! I just had a random thought and instead of thinking it through myself I let you guys do the work. :p Yard and boom strength is one issue, the other is what happens once you start taking in the first reef. Bottom line is that you either choose junk or lug, not a combo, as they don't mate well but do their own role splendidly.

Next question would be whether someone has used a hybrid rig like a schooner with a junk main and lug foresail, perhaps one that also has a jib?

If you look at old Vietnamese sailing craft, they often had a bewildering combination of lug and junk rigs seemingly at random, and often on the same boat. I'm sure the reasoning behind them appeared sound to some person at some time. 

I have some experience with lug rigs. However, Michael Storer is perhaps the leading light in the lug rig community, and there is a vast amount of technical information out there for rigging and racing his popular Goat Island Skiff. As Arne observed, downhaul/vang/kicking strap tensions need to be very high with a balanced lug sail. Mr. Storer recommends Dyneema line for the kicking strap/downhaul as well as the halyard.

Yards for lugs need to be beefier than those I see recommended for junk rigs. While the lug rig shares some strong similarities with the junk rig, there are fairly significant differences as well.

In my opinion, both systems have distinct advantages over Marconi rigs. However, I would suggest where ease of reefing is a primary concern, it's best to take an a fairly classic approach with a junk rig. For applications where ease of reefing is outweighed by ease of line handling, and in smaller vessels, a balanced lug has a great deal to recommend it, including significantly less spaghetti in the cockpit. 

It's interesting to note that "Mystery" a 37' Cornish Lugger sailed from Cornwall to Melbourne, Australia 1854. She made the 11,800 nautical mile trip in 116 days, which was really "hauling the mail." In fact, she was commissioned to do just that between Cape Town and Melbourne. British Adventurer Pete Goss recreated the voyage in 2008-2009. There is some inspiring footage of "Spirit of Mystery" available on Youtube

The balanced lug sail manages well with a single point sheet. I have no experience with lug sails but I assume twist can be controlled with a kicking strap (or sheeting point)? The question is, couldn't a junk sail also do away with just one sheeting point?

As far as I see it, the advantage of having multiple sheeting points on the junk rig is that twist can be (more or less) exact. On the other hand, after you choose your sheeting method the twist is defined and static. Unless you have upper and lower spans that is, which gives you more tuning options. But, what's to stop you from just having one a single sheet, like the lug sail does?