A 1' foot boat can float fine all the way around the world and back...until it doesn't. Best case scenarios under perfect weather conditions are great...until they're not. Engineering safety factors are developed for worse case scenarios, not best case. Sunny, flat calm days are awesome until a rogue wave shows up outta nowhere. I'd rather have enough boat for the worse case scenarios that tend to show up when least expected and not have to rely on everything going perfectly for my life to continue. Maybe that's just me getting older, but I've been in a couple of hairy situations which forced me to rethink what is smart and what is not. Going just about anywhere off the WA coast in an underpowered 12' boat is just not very smart IMO.