one sail to rule them all...

There are a lot of fans of the junk rig who, being fans and all are true believers when it comes to their preference of rigs. The junk rig is superior to all other rigs or in common parlance the junk rig is "the shit".

Me? Well I certainly think that the junk rig is a good rig but, where sailing is concerned, there really is no one rig that is the best in the general scheme of things. There are lots of rigs and they all have their strengths and weaknesses and while one rig or another might be "best" in a given situation for someone in particular, I hesitate to call any rig the best in the general sense.

But, as it happens, in the particular situation where someone is considering a rig for frugal cruising on a small (let's say thirty-feet or under) sailboat the junk does have a lot to recommend it.

1. It's an inexpensive rig if done right.
2. You don't need a lot of interior space devoted to sails,
3. It's a docile rig
4. The rig is very DIYable.
5. It's very easy to reef.

For folks of the VolksCruiser persuasion sailing small boats the main points are that it's inexpensive, can be built/maintained easily, and you don't lose precious interior volume for a full set of sails. 

So yeah, it is an excellent rig for a VolksCruiser.

The question is whether or not it is excellent enough to replace a preexisting rig is something of a conundrum but, more about that in the next post.