We were so near and yet so far. The Valent project plan was well on track and I was due to fly out on Tue 17th Mar for the relaunch. Phil and the guys had done a great job and completed all of the work on the underwater sections by the close of play on Mon 16th. Sea trials and snagging were lined up for 21/22 Mar – and the weather forecast was glorious. Just one unpredicted pandemic, the viral mugger – and the big lock down started on the night of the 16th with the closure of Spain, followed, as you know, shortly afterwards by the UK.
Beautiful new coppercoat antifouling 
Finished bow thruster
As you can see above, the underneath was looking good. The sails had been laundered, repaired and ready to put back on. The construction of the new bimini was underway and the solar panels were purchased. Even the replacement kicker had been fitted.
One of the new 200W Solar panels. 2 of these will eventually be fixed to the canvas roof on the bimini. 
The new gas sprung kicker
Then came the lockdown and everything shuddered to a halt. To the best of my knowledge Valent was shut up and the boatyard secured. Hopefully at some point soon the guys in Spain will be able to return to work and some progress will be made. But I see no prospect of us being able to visit Valent or indeed use her in the foreseeable future. Until some form of freedom of movement is permitted between the UK, Spain and France we will not be visiting or progressing the refit of Valent.
With that in mind I cannot see any prospect of the Collins family being in a position to depart on a trans-Atlantic voyage in 2020. Even if we could get to the boat in 6 months time she would not be ready, we would not be prepared and certainly not safe to go and sail in an ocean 1000 miles away from any land based assistance. At the moment we have put our dream on hold and are working on the premise of a 12 month postponement. Fingers crossed that within 12 months we will be able to travel between France and Spain again.
So here’s to Aug 2021 and hopefully a more stable global situation.
Hi to you and your family,
It is such a shame that things have had to be postponed. We are almost at the stage of doing that too. We have waited and planned for so long, another year is not an issue. We want to be sure that once we do go, we can really explore the places that we visit.
Keep planning …it will happen
Stay safe
Caron and Martin (Escapade of London)
Thanks Caron. You are absolutely correct that waiting another 12 months is not the end of the world. Our own timeline is self imposed by wishing to get the girls back into mainstream education before they start to focus on GCSE. This delay is not a disaster as it means we would have them back for Yr 7 & Yr 8, but another 12 months might be a bigger issue. Like yourselves, there is no point in going if you cannot explore and visit the wonderful places that we will be sailing to, and hopefully not past.
Looking forward to sailing again,
Will
p.s. I note you have a Mr D’s cooker – his Poached Herb Chicken (p24) goes down very well here (don’t bother with the Sauce part, not needed). The left over cooking broth makes a great base for a follow up soup.
First one we did! And soup next day too! Last week we put in a lamb curry … not from recipe book but just used spice pack from supermarket. Yum!
Thanks for the update Will, I had been wondering what was occurring. Such a disappointment for you all. Robyn
Thanks Robyn. Life moves on and I’m sure that we will make it work out in the end.
Will, Suzy and girls. We are so sorry to hear this official news and share in your disappointment. I’m glad you are safe and well and hope that one day this dream will be fulfilled. Shy, Sutan, Sahana, Oviya and Neelan x
You’re all so lovely. We are still in a good place and in the scheme of the issues of the world at the moment this really is incidental. We hope that you are managing to keep safe, that you have plenty of PPE & support at work and look forward to the day when we can catch up again.