I cruise the South Coast and France, so pretty much coastal.
This is done with SWIMBO and a young family - so most Definatly have our own liferaft.

I bet those three unfortunate souls from the Ouzo wished that they had had a liferaft. They may not have had time to put out a distress call, however a LR would probably have prevented them from expiring from hypothermia.

With family on board the consequences of not having a LR do not bear thinking about.