Just for interest, I have copied here the letter that I have sent to Cruising Helmsman re their December cover.
As the sailor of a junk-rigged yacht and a member of the Junk Rig Association (www.junkrigassociation.org), I was delighted to see the cover of December's Cruising Helmsman. Isabella, the vessel depicted, is a dory-style yacht designed by Jay Benford, and a sistership to the famous Badger sailed by Annie Hill (see her book, Voyaging on a Small Income).
It is incorrect, however, to describe Isabella's rig as gaff-rigged, junk style. it is 100% a junk rig. Perhaps you were confused by the position of the yard which makes it look something like a gaff. You can see, however, upon closer examination, that there is only one halyard, attached to the yard at the centre, unlike a gaff that has both a throat and a peak halyard. You can also see another line that goes from the halyard attachment point around the mast and back (and then down to the deck). This is the yard-hauling parrel which normally holds the centre of the yard in close to the mast when it is tensioned. Isabella appears to be either reefing or hoisting sail in this photo which is why the yard hauling parrel is slack.
I have included a few photos of my vessel, Arion, to assist in clarification. Arion is a Tom Thumb 24 aboard which I have lived and cruised the east coast of Australia for the last 17 years. In 2011 I converted the rig from bermudian cutter to junk sloop. Isabella's sails appear to be flat cut in this photo, but you will note that Arion's sails have some camber in the panels. This is the latest development in junk rig design and I am pleased to say that the result gives a rig that performs pretty much as well as the old bermudian rig did.
Off the wind the junk rig is far more powerful than the original bermudian main and jib combination. It is more like setting a spinnaker - without, I might add, any of the work involved in setting and retrieving that sail. Hoisting the junk sail is hard work, owing to the weight of yard and battens (this weight is offset by not having any standing rigging on the mast), but once the sail is up, handling the rig is almost effortless. You can short tack through an anchorage without handling sheets, gybing, if done correctly, is a tame affair, reefing is just a matter of easing the halyard and adjusting the sheet, and running off merely requires the sheet to be eased, Gone are the days of balancing on the foredeck wrestling with poled out headsails. Finally, the entire rig is very lightly stressed, which makes for relaxed sailing.
All rigs are a compromise - rather like life in general - but now that I am familiar with sailing under the junk rig, I'd be reluctant to go back to bermudian rig, or gaff for that matter!
Fair winds,
Graham Cox