Gull, Graduate, Wanderer or Enterprise

A left field option might be a Snipe. Fairly rare in the UK, they do feature a notably high boom. But a significant drawback is they are a largish old school boat and pretty damn heavy.

An option for you, if racing is not a key aim, would be to get several inches cut off the bottom of the sail of an otherwise suitable boat, and have the gooseneck moved up the mast to match, creating a higher boom. It would depend, unfortunately, on the fine detail of the mast construction whether this was a fairly simple operation or so complicated as to be impractical.

Just went looking through Apollo Duck for inspiration, and its surprisingly hard to pick out a boat that would fit the bill.

Edited by JimC - 14 Jul 20 at 8:11pm

Originally posted by 423zero Enterprise would probably do it, cheap as chips leaving enough money for a few mods, I have seen 6 footers crewing them, boom will slide up mast with a smaller sail.

Lighter to pull ashore, too, with the trade off of less stability.

Thank you for all your answers we have decided to keep looking out for a Gull. For the short term in the summer we will probably use a club Wayfarer possibly with Firefly sails or reefed. Also I am going to take a club Hartley 12 out on my own to see how that might be. One of the Hartley 12s was turtled within 5 minutes of launching yesterday, fortunately he drifted onto the reeds after 20 minutes of trying to get back in it (he didn’t have a wetsuit on) so I will test it a lot before risking my daughter in it. 

Another left field suggestion. Have you considered a Hansa 303W. I normally sail a 29er and RS800 but love taking a special needs lady out in our Hansa.

Great performance in the light and when it's blowing old boots. Reefable, will not capsize. The rig is a work of art and so efficient. I just love it.

Edited by cad99uk - 19 Jul 20 at 8:20pm

I believe the main complaint with the Rondar mk3 is the higher centre of gravity due to the double floor. I suspect the disadvantages are pretty small but maybe worth considering if you don't capsize much. From a cruising sailors PoV the extra headroom/legroom might be more significant. Not sure how high they float though.