And nothing catches my eye. Most of us have already owned smaller boats so it's not like we don't know what it's like to sail a smaller boat. They each (larger vs smaller) have their personal attributes for me(everyone will be different and size will be relative).

Need and want are difficult too. I don't need as much boat as we have now that my wife and I are doing most of the sailing these days, we were a crew of 4 for more than 2 decades.

But we want this much boat, right now. Part of that size for us is more the boats capability in the area we sail and the range it affords us. The other part is just enjoying the feeling of simply a proper sized sailboat for how we sail. It's hard to describe, but I bet many feel the same.

Our present state of boat affords a bit beyond what our last boat, a stout 28 Cape Dory could supply us. So the simple downsize back to that range and enjoyment, would either make our sailing a bit more difficult, or we would have to downsize how we sail today. And in my sailing area and how we sail, that's not a choice I want to make, yet.

Going even smaller than our last boat, would be too much of an endurance trial for us here. But a very small boat would work well for us in a different sailing area. Or, if we sailed on a different schedule, maybe?

In my case, it's not just the boat, it's the coastal area we live in. How about you?