I'd have to have some sympathy with that view.

Would a liferaft survive a fire or a collision? How likely is total loss of a boat anyway?

People have survived all sorts of weather in open boats and if you've got a sensible way to summon help you'll usually be rescued in the the Channel within a couple of hours.

If a LR is so essential why do people risk taking only one? Would it not be wiser to have one on the bow and one on the stern where they are more likely to survive an incident.

I'd want to see some figures on the occurance of total losses of yachts followed by a lengthy time in the water before I could support a view that LR were essential.

Mind you, hard to think of a reason apart from cost and weight not to have one (or two!).

When I consider the risk of the drive to the marina I find it hard to get excited about the miniscule additional risk of not carrying a LR.

Let's not forget a dinghy has significant advantages over a LR as well as the disadvantages.