I'd like to learn more about the advantages and disadvantages of uni vs sloop rigs. F16s use both, and one design will be uni only. In talking to Mark Talla, he says his Stealth sails great without the jib and he often just leaves it off. Obviously, the Taipan must work well uni/cat rigged; otherwise, I doubt A-cat world champs would fiddle with it. And now the Jav 16 is forthcoming as a uni only design. Sloops with big jibs are great for reaching, but much of cat racing is on windward-leeward course, so reaching speed alone is not that important. We see the F18HT class emerge as a uni class, yet the vast majority of all sailboats are sloops. (In keel boats, I can only think of the Nonsuch monohulls as cat rigs.) So...

Which rig is most efficient upwind, considering VMG?

Which rig is most efficient downwind?

If you had 2 rigs of equal total sail area, which would be more advantageous?

I realize there are a lot of variables here, like mast height, heeling moment, high vs low aspect sails, etc. But surely some science has been done on this. Yes, I've read Bethwaithe. He only really talks about sloop rigs, and I didn't really understand everything anyway. So I'd like to learn here. Not about boat handling--sloops definitely have a lot of advantages there--I'm interested in speed and efficiency.

Thanks,