all sounds good reach/run, but into the wind??
First, I completely agree with Stu on this. Here is my experience at my sailing skill level whatever that is or is not:
I own a C22 with a masthead rig & a 135 RF. The sailing school here has J22's with fractional rigs and class jibs, I used to rent a season pass on the J22s. I have been caught out in both boats in high t'storm induced winds where there would have been no way to keep a single reef main up.
Under headsail alone:
In heavy wind, the J22 will barely make any headway upwind at best - it won't tack - in serious wind, stuff like waves, wind shifts and gusts means it probably will get pushed down often enough to lose ground to windward. The best I could do was a ~beam reach, which fortunately was all I needed to do. And the wind was not as great as I have experienced in my C22...
The C22 will go to weather well and tack with some caveats. If you can carry a full 135, then it does really well - very well upwind and tacking. As the wind builds and you roll sail up, then lee helm becomes a factor. In a storm earlier this year I rolled it down to about 1/2 at the foot - out of necessity - except I could have used the iron genny if I had 'wanted' to. I was still able to crawl upwind, sometimes losing but mostly gaining, and gaining over time more than I lost. I could still tack much of the time. The lee helm was huge, but I could still get upwind.
I am on a small lake, so factor small waves into my experiences here. No waves to push me back, but also none to tack on the top and back of.
A masthead rig can go upwind until you get forced by higher winds to carry too small a headsail & lee helm stops upwind progress.
OC