Viking on the beach…

Yeah, but at least it would keep you onboard, should you lose your balance for any reason.
I mean, c'mon, there must be good reasons why in any boat designed for serious offshore cruising there are high rails everywhere.
The only reason why among SFs there are exceptions is that some of their owners rate form over function, and builders are willing to bend over backwards to please also these buyers - nothing else.

Nothing else? It does remove a maintenance item, both in terms of maintaining the rail itself as well as the fasteners into the vessel structure. Eliminating the bow rail doesn't mean purely form over function. Further, less davit is required to manage a tender mounted up front. Is there a trade off? Yes, but that trade off regarding safety can be navigated.

Just as many other things go in and out of style, IMO so will the current foolish lack of bow rails fad and the return of forward salon glass. After covering the glass on previous spt. fish with fiberglass I found it a "day & night" improvement in keeping out heat from the sun. To my list add the mega outboard large center consoles, which I believe will be the first to pile up on the repo sites as economic conditions go south.

By this rate, just steer clear of boats altogether.
That's the ultimate method to get rid of a maintenance item!

Fad....seems like bow rails have been disappearing for perhaps twenty years. I know everyone sought the Rybo look, or a variant of it.

Certainly not EVERYONE as there are those of us concerned about function.

Pardon me for perhaps being rude to you while you were being perhaps rude to others. Bow rails missing is not a fad. Form over function has debates as well. You like rails. I'm not criticizing you for this preference. Those that prefer not to have rails have plans for how to navigate function.

You seem to imply that going for form over function is somewhat derogatory, but that's not what I meant when I used that expression.
There's plenty of things in life where some people are more attracted by the form rather than the function of anything - even people! - not just boats.
Freedom of choice is a great thing, and there's nothing wrong with it.

That said, if you wish to pretend that a completely unprotected deck on a boat isn't a clear-cut example of form over function, frankly you're making me smile...

My spt fish has a typical on deck railing and my CC that basically has no deck has factory hand rails and I would not have any interest in a boat without them. When a "monster" cruise ship I was on ran into posted 18-22 ft. seas out of Miami, crew members installed temp hand rails in all of the corridors where there was 0 chance of anyone falling overboard. I simply "expressed" my general opinion and if anyone finds an opinion rude that's their problem. Your comment used the word "everyone," implying "everyone sought the Rybo look, " and that is simply not true.