In my advancing age, I have developed a sensitivity to the sun.
Therefore I am installing a bimini on my Sea Sprite 23. I purchased a
stock bimini and modified it so that it doesn't interfere with the
sheets or winches. Now I need to raise the boom about six inches to get
a couple of inches of clearance.

I asked two sailmakers and got two completely different answers on how
to do this.

One sailmaker said that I should cut the six inches off the foot. He
said modifying the head usually results in many problems, mainly
interference with the backstay. However, to me, it looks as though it
shouldn't interfere. The masthead assembly appears to keep the backstay
far enough from the sail. I can't get an exact measurement though,
since the mast is raised.

Another sailmaker said that I should modify the head to get the six
inches. My current mainsail has a headboard with a top width of 4 1/2".
He says that he will use the same headboard and re-taper the leach of
the sail from the top batten to headboard. The sail has four standard
battens.

Could you please give me your opinion on this? How would shortening the
head and raising the sail effect how the boat sails and its stability?
This method would of course mean losing much less sail area.

I use the boat mostly for coastal crusing.