Timeless

Timeless. It’s a word that’s thrown around much too cavalierly for my taste. It seems that in today’s over-marketed world, everything, from the newest Toyota to the pizza place down the street, is offering a “timeless” experience. Come on now. My Mount Rushmore of yachts that are truly timeless includes the J-Class sailing ships of the 1930s and a handful of commuter yachts—namely the 74-foot Aphrodite built in 1937 and the 1960s Riva Ariston. Yes, these are all older yachts, but you can’t pass the test of time without, well, time.

Walking atop the frozen terra firma on a sub-30-degree evening in Thomaston, Maine’s famed Lyman-Morse grounds, I laid eyes on a boat that aims to elbow its way onto that hallowed list.

The sun was sinking fast behind an evergreen horizon as the last employees primed and polished the new Hood 57 LM. My breath climbed skyward as I admired the first-of-its-kind craft. I have a confession; like many of you, I learned of this new model from scrolling through my social media feed. With lines from an era decades as I captured a screen shot. Before long, I was driving down a lonely Maine highway just a couple weeks ahead of Thanksgiving. I needed to learn more about this mysterious beauty.