The Harding clan heads to the local ship’s store and showroom to escape cabin fever and scope out their next boat.
It was a cold, drizzly, gray spring day in Connecticut, and my crew was growing restless with cabin fever. I mentioned to Karen that I wanted to pick up a few parts at Petzold’s Marine Center. “Do we all want to go?” I asked. Out of the house, away from the Bluey re-runs—Karen packed the kids into their raincoats with abandon.
We strolled the aisles. Then Connor needed a bathroom break. Then we returned to shopping. An efficient run to the store this was not.
After checking my items off the list, we were walking back to our truck when Connor asked (begged, really) to check out the boats in the showroom.
“Can we please go see the boats?” he pleaded.
“Well, I’m not going to say no to that.”
Not wanting to turn a yacht showroom into a total jungle gym, I told him he could go on one—OK, maybe two—boats, and that he’d have to choose carefully. He passed on the pontoon boats and marched right up to a sporty little Regal 26XO.
“Good choice,” I told him as we made our way aboard.
When reviewing any boat for the magazine, I always try to put myself into the boat shoes of the person in the market for the vessel—and also imagine how I would personally like to use it. With Connor rotating through every seat on deck (twice), and Karen holding an 8-month-old Caleb, the latter didn’t require too much imagination.
While he was having fun topside, Connor’s eyes grew wide when he discovered there was a “downstairs.”
“If this was our boat, you guys could sleep here,” he said, laying down on the convertible V-berth. He just had to test it out—you know, for journalism. “And this could be the kid room,” he added, before nearly faceplanting (his feet not quite keeping up with his motor mouth) in the amidships berth—which, admittedly, would be perfect for a pair of boat rats. He was especially excited that the “room” came with its own window.
“I like my bed down there, but it’s not my bed, even though if it was my bed and if this was our boat…” came the official, albeit wordy, verdict.
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Before too long, young Caleb grew restless watching his brother have all the fun. Still drizzling, a sparkling Chris-Craft Launch GT 35 caught my eye.
“I guess we have time to check out one more,” I declared.
“YESSSS!” Connor shouted.
The four of us carefully climbed aboard the sleek and sexy dayboat. On the Connecticut River and Long Island Sound, it would be hard to find a boat that would let you cruise our home waters in more style. Karen sat down on the aft settee with Caleb and a smile that seemed to agree with my assessment.
Connor was less than thrilled to hear that this boat didn’t have a “downstairs” like the Regal. But when I opened a hatch to reveal a hidden head to port, all was right again.
“Oh my God, there’s a toilet. Mom, there’s a toilet up here!”
Living out our potty-talk era, Karen just smiled and said, “Wow, that’s great.”
I snapped a picture of Karen, Connor, and Caleb, and amazingly captured them all looking at me and smiling at the same time—not an easy feat.
Before long, the clouds had begun to clear, and we were heading back to our regularly scheduled programming. In the months and years ahead, I’ll be fortunate enough to travel the world to review some of the most elite yachts. But something tells me that years from now, I’ll have forgotten most of the newest yachts from Cannes—yet always remember that afternoon we escaped cabin fever with an impromptu stop at our local showroom.
See you on the water,
Dan
daniel.harding@firecrown.com
@danhardingboating
This article originally appeared in the August/September 2025 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
