solent clown
RIP
I'm not so sure - a larger boat reacts more slowly so you have time to see what is going on, and you can spend much more time on it as you are able to go much further afield. I think there is also a lot more to cruising than the sails and you learn a lot of that on a bigger boat that has to be house and hobby.
yes we are more of that view being competant dinghy sailors and tourers, we have sailed and camped all over the place in a dinghy, but a bigger boat makes most things easier, if less immediate and involving, and involves a whole new set of challenges beyond the raw theory and practice of sail. Berthing, manoeuvering under power, anchoring, passage planning and execution, maintenance and repair, cooking, ablutions, establishing a routine for spending extended periods onboard, all these things are what we are most interested in experiencing and refining next. So keen are we to get it right eventually we have rehearsed small space living 24/7 for the last three years in a shed at the bottom of our garden, eschewing the luxuries of bricks and mortar and leaving the house as the kids' domain. That has taught us a lot about space management, storage, and a tidy disciplined routine, but it is still very easy on land compared to on a boat, so we will begin living three days a week on the boat within a very short period as we refit it, that way at least we will have some actual experience of it internally to hone the layout as we go.