A good summer camp offers plenty of activities that appeal to kids: swimming, fishing, bonding with friends, impromptu games, portable snacks, and lots of time outdoors. For Sailfish owner Kimberly Lucasti, those are precisely the capabilities that earned her 276 Dual Console the nickname “Camp Mom.”  

Kim and her children, 15-year-old daughter Alessandra and 13-year-old son Santino, love heading out together for long, fun-filled days of enjoying the water and each other’s company. “This is the kids’ way of spending family time,” she says. “They’ve never needed to go to summer camps because we’ve got the boat!”

Kimberly purchased her Sailfish at the Atlantic City Boat Show, where it was basically love at first sight. From the versatile dual console layout with ample seating and storage, to the sleek lines of the hull, to the amenities that made it well-equipped for action-packed days, the 276 DC checked all the boxes. Extras like a standard thru-hull anchor system, spacious head with Corian countertops, extended transom with exterior cooler, and optional dive door with ladder combined to form something she knew she needed s’more of in her future.

“The way the boat’s configured, it’s just so comfortable. You can sit 12 people easily,” she says. That capacity makes it great for social gatherings; sometimes she’ll head out with a group of girlfriends and cruise to dinner, or take friends out for a day of wakeboarding. But more than anything, it’s the family time she values.

“I take my kids tubing all summer long. We go to this river that’s not too far from us, and they can get a really, really long ride on the tube,” Kimberly says. “We’ll be out for the entire day. We make lunch on the boat and blow up all the rafts. They have so much fun, it’s great. They’re constantly jumping off the boat, constantly, nonstop splashing.”

 “Now that they’re older, they want to bring their friends more often than before, and they all want to go tubing,” she continues. “So at night I’ll take them tubing, but we also go crabbing, fishing, and beaching. We use it so much. My husband comes home half the time and he looks out back and sees the boat’s off the lift and the house is empty.”

Of course, her husband, Christopher,  joins in the fun too, especially when they head down to Florida where they keep their second home, a 56-foot sport yacht. When the kids are off school, the family enjoys cruising down to The Bahamas and island-hopping.

You might say boating runs in Kimberly’s blood. She grew up in Ship Bottom, New Jersey, where her father took her boating and clamming on Manahawkin Bay. “I’ve been on boats my whole entire life,” she says. “In the summers, my dad would raise the clams and I would sort them, then we’d sell them to local restaurants on Long Beach Island.”

Nowadays, her father has retired from his primary job as a State Police officer and bomb specialist, but the water plays more of role than ever. His part-time retirement gig, a boat hauling business, blossomed into driving boats for MarineMax and other area dealers. Ever the proud daughter, Kimberly describes, “He can park a boat anywhere. It’s amazing what he can do with getting them into a boat show, putting them within an inch of each other, not touching. It’s an art.”

Eventually, Kimberly pursued a captain’s license of her own, which means she’s certified to conduct charters. With the Sailfish, she’s taken groups fishing for flounder and striped bass in the bays around the area, and has hosted sunset cruises, daytime cruises and trips to Absecon Island, where Atlantic City is located. But more than chartering, she appreciates how much her captain’s training courses and Master 100 Ton certification have given her the confidence, expertise and freedom to explore far and wide.

“I didn’t get my license to make money. It’s about the knowledge. Even being in the intracoastal and spending more time in the bay than the ocean, it’s worth its weight in gold,” Kimberly says. “I can’t emphasize it enough. Especially if people are going to be spending a lot of hours offshore, get your captain’s license! It’s really the best thing I’ve ever done.”

She encourages anyone who wants to learn how to drive a boat to get out there and do it, especially her fellow female boaters. “I try to encourage the women I meet who go boating with their husbands and say, ‘Oh, I wish I could do that.’ I’m like, ‘You can do that! You just have to practice!’ I want people to feel more confident actually trying it.”

She credits the 276 DC for its excellent stability and smooth handling, even in rough conditions. The boat features Sailfish’s 6th-generation Variable Degree Stepped (VDS) hull, meaning it’s engineered to deliver a soft, dry ride. Meanwhile, a spacious, ergonomic deck design provides outstanding flexibility for whatever the day may hold. 

“The whole design of the Sailfish is incredible. I mean, I have a lot of experience. I’m a captain and I’ve driven a lot of different boats,” Kimberly says. “This boat, even though I was a little nervous about buying it because it’s a bowrider, it doesn’t ride like a bowrider. It rides much better. I mean it, the whole design and the way it flares up… I’ve been in six- to eight-foot seas in this boat, and it handles amazingly. Just trimmed her up and that bow stayed up, and even though it was hairy, it handled beautifully.” 

That comes in handy when she and her crew are out on the hunt for fish. Even if they get into unexpected weather, they can rely on the DC to get them home safely. Features including high cockpit bolster pads, insulated in-floor fish boxes, a 30-gallon transom livewell, and convenient tackle and rod storage give Kimberly and her friends all the angling advantages they need to catch their fill.

“I would tell anybody who’s looking for a boat for their family and they like to fish and also go cruising and go to the beach and all of that, this model is the perfect boat,” Kimberly says. “It has so much storage for everything you want to do. I mean, we have big floaties and things to blow up the floaties, a beach umbrella, beach table, tow lines, blankets and towels, and it all fits into the storage compartments. It’s unbelievable what I can put in this boat. And then all my fishing gear, and stuff to keep it clean and entertain, like if I’m going to have a charter, I have an ice bucket and fancy napkins and champagne glasses and all this stuff under the seat next to the helm. It’s ready for anything at all times.” 

As someone who put 365 hours on her engines in the last year alone, she’s definitely qualified to make such a statement. “I’m on my boat every day that the sun is shining and it’s not blowing a gale,” Kim says with a smile.

And if you’re wondering whether the 276 DC can live up to the demands of two very active kids requiring many summers’ worth of entertainment, rest assured that Camp Mom has produced two very happy campers.