I haven’t had this much fun in a boat since I was 16, driving a little D Class hydroplane, royal blue with a white centerline stripe, that I’d lovingly built over the winter in my brother’s garage. That little race boat was about 80 feet shorter than the Pershing 92 motoryacht that I recently tested and had about 5,200 fewer horses, but it was a screamer whose responsiveness seemed at times an extension of my body as I crouched in the cockpit.

Click here to see a full photo gallery of the Pershing 92.

In the Pershing, I found that same sense of being-one-with-the-machine that generally fades as boats get bigger and more luxurious, and — let’s face it — as we get older. This stylish yacht loses none of that sense of performance, capturing the undiluted thrill of a smaller boat while providing considerably more space and safety, as well as sumptuous creature comforts. The Italians have a phrase for such a vessel — barche da sogno — and this is indeed a dreamboat. It brought a broad smile to the craggy face of this most jaded of old boat drivers. Good thing there were no lovebugs swarming Miami’s Biscayne Bay that day, because I’d have been picking them from my teeth all the way home.