That picture shows how some people rig the boat for recreational sailing, especially when you have a second person aboard. It is also used when teaching groups of kids on a Sunfish. But racers never ever have the rig that high.
they actually have the halyard lower. this pulls the sail up higher. if you want to rig the sail lower to the deck, you need to move the halyard attachment on the upper spar a little bit higher up the spar.
I'm a newbie, so take everything with a HUGE grain of salt, but ... I've seen Craigslists, Google pics, and even a couple of club members with higher booms on their Sunfish. I'm small and short, but the tall guy in our Sunfish lessons ducked under his boom pretty well by sheeting tight and using a guiding hand ... at least that's what he said. I'm basically jockey sized, but I had problems with the boom on tacking, because I didn't sheet in tight enough as it passed over. Two lessons later, I was sheeting too tight and having steering problems coming after a tack .. go figure!
