: Many folks I run into are paddling with more volume
: than they need for most of the trips they do.

I'll second that ! I built a scaled down (95.5%) version of Squeedunk's
Cormorant as a hybrid, at 15'3" x 20.6", and an overall volume of
265 litres or thereabouts (can't do that in gallons, US gallons
aren't the same size as ours :-). Its a little overloaded on a four
day sea trip, with my weight at just over 160 lbs, but not much,
and it almost ignores headwinds ! With all this paddling, I'll get
my weight back down to 140 lb and she will be perfect :-)

I also paddle Geyrfugl as a dayboat on inland waters - at 14'2" x 20",
(this is just a Great Auk scaled linearly to 5/6 published size, built
for my daughter, currently weighing about 40 lbs and expected to be
around 95lbs as an adult) it is extremely fast as a dayboat, and my
wife (at c 100 lbs) find it great on the sea - she really struggles
with headwinds in any commercially built boat she has tried.

Low volume boats perform really well if they are scaled down from full
size boats to have a narrow beam, even though the waterline length
would seem to work against them - they have a low wetted surface and the
narrow beam lets them cruise fast and not be pushed about in the wind.

Andy