Small Boats

Dinghies at Old Leigh, originally uploaded by Bay Photographic.

As Mies van der Rohe once observed 'less is more', and never was that more true than in boat ownership. Although my avaricious instincts have always pointed me towards a bigger boat, with more berths/facilities/engines/masts/equipment I have often found that enjoying the experience of being on the water is not necessarily a function of waterline length (or price).
The smallest boat I ever owned was the Optimist dinghy that I learned to sail in. The biggest was a 62 foot narrowboat and although the Optimist didn't have a woodburning stove, a bath or a DVD player, it was loads of fun, cost nothing to own and I spent much more time using it than I did painting it, mending it and polishing it (unlike the narrowboat).
I have just sold my cruiser 'Henry' on the Lancaster Canal with the purpose, for once, of downsizing. My new boat is a 16 foot Orkney Longliner. No berths, one engine, two oars.
Which just might be one of my better decisions.
Only time will tell, but predictably I have already started to 'desimplify' the Orkney, by installing an electrical system, polishing the hull, making a cover for the fuel tank...

So even if less is indeed more, small may not be simple. But as Mies van der Rohe also said, 'A chair is a very difficult object. A skyscraper is almost easier. That is why Chippendale is famous.'