In criticising rotating rigs I was thinking about the bearings/bushes/whatever which must carry the weight and the tension of the rig, and must also minimise friction in order to continue working. That sounds like sophisticated engineering to me, and we know about Mr. Murphy. Perhaps I’m mistaken and it’s simple and robust? Ditto inmast reefing and the other nightmares I mentioned, but I see you didn’t disagree there…

You’re right about gaff rig downwind, of course; nobody would argue, really. And on a round-the-world voyage, unless you’re mad like the Chay Blyth lot, most of your sailing will be downwind. The other side of the coin is miles and miles of string, and some large heavy spars that don’t get smaller as you reef, but just get nearer to your head – unlike a Bermudan mainsail which gets progressively smaller and more handleable as the reefs come down.

I wonder if in fact the best solution is a cutter-headed rig, probably a ketch, so you have lots of little sails to play with; many variations possible, nothing too large, a “spare” mast in case you lose one, and of course make some special arrangements for downwind. Cruising chute, twin headsails, whatever. Seems to have worked well for quite a few round-the-worlders; the Hiscocks spring to mind.

I’d be wary of junk rig because if you ever do have to go to windward, heaven help you – that rig won’t. But this may just be ignorance; I’ve never sailed a junk-rig and I know that people who do, some of whose boots I am not fit to polish (Richey, Hasler, I’m thinking of you), do swear by them.

btw my rig is not super-tall, or unstable. Are you thinking of out-and-out racing machines again? Apples and oranges…