I ditched the boom on our w32 because it did whack me on the
head. Good thing my wife is a good seamstress.
I never found it a problem short tacking with the loose footed staysail. The staysail can be sheeted to the opposite side as soon as the
boat gets close to head to
wind, that period of time where your waiting for the jib backwind. Leaves plenty of time to
work the jib on a tack. I tacked up a lot of narrow channels using the vane to steer while
single handed. Personally think, besides being dangerous, staysail booms ease of tacking is greatly overrated.
Aloha
Peter O.
Pearson 35