back in the 80's and some woman on a "big cruising boat", probably a 40 footer back then, waved me over. I came around to see what she wanted and she asked me if I had "Really sailed the boat from Los Angles"? I said "Yeah, I did, why do you ask?" and she said I thought you might have just put LA on the stern but sailed it over from Florida". She just kept shaking her head. I didn't get it back then. I do now but the reality is that it would be easy for me to do it again even at my age. In fact, it might even be easier because everything was so small I didn't have to work at anything. This entire thing about cruising, especially coastal cruising within 300 miles of land is just a comfort thing. The larger the boat, the more comfortable you are. When you start cruising longer distances off shore you need to carry more stuff and that's where a small boat has it shortfall. If you can figure out how to be comfortable in a small boat, there is a lot to be said for cruising that way. By today's standard, our 38 footer is on the small side of the fleet in any anchorage or marina we pull into. That's just fine with me. Denny and I are very comfortable and see no reason to go any bigger. It would just cost us more and we don't believe we would be much happier. Sure, it would be nice to be able to carry more tools, some water toys and the like but not to the point I'm willing to go to the extra expense and effort to start over with another boat