A relaxing weekend on the water with two young kids. It should be as simple as changing a diaper right? Right…

Who doesn’t love a good comeback story? Remember the Titans, The Karate Kid, Rocky I, Rocky II—okay, pretty much every Rocky movie. This past summer was supposed to be ours. After taking a summer off when young Caleb was born, I was dreaming about the day we’d return to the water. Quiet nights at the cove, a glass of wine in the cockpit after the kids went to bed. Reading books to the kids on the forward berth. Long, meandering dinghy rides that would spark a love for the water. It was all so perfect and peaceful.

Then I woke up.

When people ask how our Comeback Summer went, the word that comes to mind is: tiring. It felt like 90 percent of the summer was spent packing and hauling stuff. For a single overnight, it seemed as if we packed for a week. Bottles, pacifiers, diapers—so many damn diapers. We’d load up two vehicles and then tackle the unpacking in waves. Connor, Salty, and I would lead the first offensive while Caleb took his morning nap at home. Later that afternoon, when Karen arrived in Essex, she’d bring even more bags. I swear, some people set out on the Great Loop with fewer supplies than we carried for our family of four plus a dog.

We were tired, sweaty, and cranky—and the weekend was only just beginning. I’d love to tell you, dear reader, that once we settled in, we enjoyed boating bliss, but alas, that would be untrue. You could practically set your watch by it: I’d unfold the deck chairs in the cockpit, and Connor would declare, “I’m hungry.” Karen and I would reply in unison, “Of course you are.” After eating more than any other 4-year-old in history, Connor could usually be coaxed into joining Caleb in watching maybe 20 blessed minutes of Ms. Rachel on the iPad.

Karen and I would then sneak up to the flybridge to savor a few minutes of semi-silence. In one last fleeting moment of calm, I rushed to crack open a cheese platter and uncork a bottle of rosé—an attempt to remind ourselves of the respite boating once offered, and hopefully will again. Karen smiled, took a sip, exhaled, and let her shoulders sink. Ahhh.

“Mommmmm … something happened!” shouted Connor as his show cut to a commercial. Caleb seized the opportunity to start bouncing in his pack-n-play, banging his head against the hatch above. “Next year … next year is going to be our year,” Karen said before donning her proverbial helmet and reporting back to mom duty.

The sinking sun should have marked the end of a long, stressful day, but no. Any parent of young kids knows that when the sun sets, the real circus begins. Even Barnum and Bailey couldn’t dream up the chaos contained within the cabin walls of our 28-footer at bedtime. I remember one night in particular: Karen had Caleb in what could only be described as a jiu-jitsu hold while trying to wrestle him into pajamas. Connor was whining about something, and Salty was banging into the walls, chasing her tail. You had to laugh to keep from crying.

Eventually, Caleb went down, and Connor climbed into the forward berth where I was hiding. Crouching beside me, he peered out the hatch—first to eavesdrop on our neighbors, then to gaze at the stars. For once, he wasn’t talking. He was just looking up. I think it was the first time he truly stargazed on his own, without being prompted.

I don’t know what he was thinking—maybe about the vastness of space, or maybe just how if he looked cute enough he could stall bedtime for a few more minutes. Either way, it was a moment I’ll never forget. If we’d stayed home and thrown on a movie, our lives would have been a lot less stressful. But then we wouldn’t have that memory, the one I’m doing my best to sear into my brain.

I guess that’s the thing about a great comeback: Without adversity, without the challenge, there’s nothing to make it memorable. Did our summer have some great moments? Absolutely. Did we have to work for them? Hell yes. And yet, I wouldn’t trade it for the world. 

See you on the water,
Dan
daniel.harding@firecrown.com
@danhardingboating

This article originally appeared in the February 2026 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.