I sailed with Stan Honey in college, and a few years ago asked him how he won all those Trans Pacs in an older boat - and why did he do such a long race with only 4 people aboard. He replied that weight is an under-appreciated factor in performance. I think of that statement these days as I lug a liferaft, 2 drogues, 350 ft drogue line, spare anchor, spare transmission, storm sails, and all sorts of other paraphanalia aboard.

In some ways this may point out one of the disadvantages of scaling down to a smaller displacement boat. A 4-person liferaft weighs ~90# but is carried more manageably on say a 45 footer than on a 32 footer. You need to have a lot of gear like that but it carries a lot better on the heavier-displacement boat.

I don't recall from past reading but it would be interesting to recall how cruisers in small boats (say the Pardeys and others) managed the weight issue wrt safety equipment.