To paraphrase the old Reese’s commercial, there’s no wrong way to go boating. Some people use their time on the water to stalk fish, others jam out at the sandbar, and still others use their boats as vehicles to get to and from their favorite waterside restaurant.
Cruising—and spending weekends aboard—is the aspect of boating that most calls to me. It also seems to be the part of our pastime most in decline. On most summer weekends, our home marina will see a half dozen transients passing through, but among the seasonal slipholders you can typically count on one hand the number of people staying aboard. There are many reasons for this. Perhaps their bed or shower at home is more comfortable. Perhaps life at home is more comfortable. Increasingly, though, I’m beginning to suspect that the decline in staying aboard—and cruising writ large—comes down to busyness.
It feels as if culture today directly correlates busyness with success and leisure time with laziness. It’s always a contest to determine whose calendar is the most filled. Whenever I catch up with friends I haven’t seen in a while, and ask how they’ve been, nearly all report some version of: “Busy, man. Kids, work, life … you get it.”
And I do get it. I’m now entering the stage of fatherhood where the pressure is building to sign Connor up for various sports and activities. Not yet even enrolled in kindergarten, I see his peers already committed to soccer, gymnastics, dance, swim, and/or T-ball and becoming slaves to ever-expanding schedules. I’m sure I’ll cave to those pressures in time, but for now I’m going to do my best to guard our precious family time, time we enjoy spending on and around our boat.
Boatbuilders are clearly aware of this trend, and more and more are pivoting in their designs. Where once a 20-knot boat was more than fast enough, the average dayboat today is laden with four-plus outboards and considered a trawler if it does less than 30 knots. Builders that made their name creating family cruising boats are now almost all launching their own lines of dayboats. Case in point: Cruisers’ new VTR line, which I report on on page 66. The same is true for builders such as Sea Ray, Bertram, Tiara, Azimut, and so many others. Later this year, Princess Yachts is even launching a line of dayboats aimed squarely at the (busy) American market.
Where is this all heading? Thirty years from now, will the pools, grills, and shuffleboard courts of our favorite marinas be paved over and replaced by automated boat storage facilities that drop your boat into the water like a can of Coke from a vending machine? I certainly hope not.
More than ever, I think the world would be a better place if more nights were spent in the cockpit looking at the stars and fewer spent binging Netflix or mindlessly scrolling on a phone.
In “Slowing Down to the Speed of Joy,” author Matthew Kelly writes, “When we work too long and too hard, we lose sight of who we are and what we are here for. Leisure reminds us of who we are and what we are here for. Leisure fills us with energy and enthusiasm to return to the world and carry out what we know in our hearts to be our mission in life.”
At the time of this writing, I’ve just flipped my calendar to the New Year—a moment when resolutions still shine and goals hold such promise. I hope this upcoming boating season (for us northerners) and year (for my friends in the South) is one in which you aim to protect your leisure time and spend more days—and nights—on the water.
See you on the water,
Dan
daniel.harding@firecrown.com
@danhardingboating
This article originally appeared in the April 2026 issue of Power & Motoryacht magazine.
