Zane wrote:
I'm going to chime in here with some (perhaps controversial) comments from the angle of a newbie to both types of rigs.
The issue with the junk rig to me, as despite this website, the helpful people on it, and PJR and Arne and others writings -- if you do not have an "engineering" mind where the mechanics of rigs, be it Bermudan or Junk, are easily understood, or you have been involved in sailing and rigs for so many decades that it all makes sense to you after a short introduction to the junk rig - then the great advantage of a Bermudan rig is that their are a multitude of Yacht Riggers and Sailmakers available at the drop of a hat to come down to your boat and help you sort out and explain what is going on - almost anywhere in the world. Yes, this will be at a cost -- but if anyone tells you that a decent junk rig is low cost if you are not one of the type of people I mention where you can read PJR and read a few Arne articles and then you are all set to go and DIY it yourself -- then they are in la la land.
The problem with Junk rig is that you are often reliant on the good will of other people on a non-commerical basis, and even on a commercial basis the people that know what they are doing with JR are so few and far between that you may be waiting a very long time for anything to happen.
If anyone just says to me again "Oh just go read PJR" -- I think I will go spare.
Let me explain -- you know how the first thing you learnt in school was that "a" comes first in the alphabet, then "b", then "c"...if you didn't understand that from the blackboard, then your primary teacher came over to your desk, they showed you what "a" looked like, they drew it, they held your hand and showed you how to write 'a', they "baby-sat" you through the whole process of learning the alphabet - well, sorry, no one has that much time, and there are not enough commercial junk riggers around for this to happen in the junk rig world.
To be very clear here, I have had much help with my two JR rigs from Paul, Marcus, Annie -- and I am tremendously grateful -- but they all have their own lives to live and only have so much time to give. A bermudan rig is much easier to understand - it's held up by wires and really you just need to make sure that wire doesn't break.
Whereas I look at my junk rig, and it looks like a maze. There are so many components to it, it (to me) is very complex.
Underway of course, a JR is MUCH easier to handle. But I have to be honest -- the next boat in my life may well be Bermudan for the very reasons I mention above.
Well, yes, bermudan rigs are commoner and some might feel that this would make them easier to understand. (And I hate to disillusion you, but actually, in many parts of the world there won't be anyone who knows anything about yachts and their rigs - particularly in the middle of the ocean.) However, at the end of the day, sorting out a boat and in particular her rig, runs, as it were, on a continuum. At one end you have an investment of (intellectual and physical) effort; at the other end you have an investment of cash. At one end, you have someone who designs and builds their rig of whatever type; at the other end you have someone who employs a skipper to ensure that the boat sails well.
I do not have an 'engineering' mind. I have no sense of direction; I have incredible difficulties in envisioning things in three dimensions, to the extent that having just made something, I will juggle it three times in order to make it fit the recess I have just made for it. I learnt to sail by concentrating and observing: it certainly did not come naturally. I have gone through enormous grief trying to do the simplest jobs building the boat that I am hoping will be launched in the foreseeable future. No-one taught me how to sail: I read books and observed. Equally, no-one has taught me how to build a boat: I didn't read a few books and then find myself a master craftsman, I flogged away at something that I found extremely difficult and challenging because I wanted to achieve acertain goal. Of course, I could have just gone out and bought another boat.
Not that long ago, many people taught themselves their ABC. There was no patient teacher; they never had the opportunity to go to school, but they wanted to learn to read and so they found a way to do so.
Your original attraction to junk rig was not to find an easy way to go sailing: you wanted to create a small, easily-handled boat to go and sail long distances, ideally to remote places. You thought junk rig would facilitate that better than bermudan, with its complexities, extra sails, etc. I am bewildered that you should find all the wires, fittings, tracks, extra sails and extra spars of bermudan rig more simple than a junk rig. I am astonished that you think all it requires is that the wires don't break: have you even thought about the tangs, the rigging screws, the split pins, the cotter pins, the split pins, the terminals, etc. I confess that I have never got my head around Code Zero or Cunningham lines or most of the other pointy-rig subtleties. I like junk rig because it is so simple, because there is only one sail, one set of lines: even my mind can understand it.
In truth, Zane, I think what has happened is that you told yourself that if you bought the boat and the rig, all the rest would fall into place. But sailing isn't 'plug and play'. That is a major part of its attraction: there is always more to learn, always new things to discover. Most people never learn to sail much more than adequately, because it takes a large investment of time and effort: hence the popularity of large diesel engines (and a radio to call for help!). Actually, you've done the easy part - you have a rig that (more or less) works. Now you have to go out and learn how to use it and it won't make any difference if you change over to a pointy rig: you will still have to learn how to sail with it. Or, of course, employ a skipper.
The original discussion is how to compare the two rigs, but you have made a good point: it doesn't matter which rig you choose, you still have to know how to get the best out of it before you can think of sailing independently offshore.