DaySailer.org Forum

Second year with a '73 DSII.
It feels like the boom is too low; however, the main is as high as it can go. I don't believe the gooseneck on this boat turns. I think it's stationary so I can't reef the sail nor do I want to. I believe I have original sails so I don't think the sail size is incorrect.
How far up from the deck is everyone else's boom? Is it me?

I believe the DS was designed by Uffa Fox to have its boom 3' above the deck (that's at the cockpit, not 3' above the cabin top). One of the boat's selling points back in '57 was that the crew would not have to duck under the tacking boom.

I wonder if your mast is standard. A standard DS mast is 22'6" tall above the deck. That includes the few inches of the pedestal that protrude above the cabin, if you have a hinged mast. If the mast is short but the sail is standard, the boom would have to be lower. The fact that you have a fixed gooseneck, rather than the standard sliding gooseneck, makes me suspicious.

By the way, a fixed gooseneck should actually simplify reefing, not make it harder. I was just about to post a query to the forum on that topic. A fixed gooseneck would also mean that to tension the luff of the sail, you would need to have a cunningham (a line through an eye above the gooseneck) rather than a downhaul on the gooseneck.