Out of storage.

Gallery in post below.

Grief has a peculiar way of altering the physical landscape of our lives. In the quiet weeks following my mother’s passing in February 2022, the unfinished scale model of the historic sailing vessel L'Avenir rested silently on its wooden blocks in my father’s garage. He would still wander out there from time to time, tinkering here and there with the ship’s delicate deck fittings, but age and accumulated exhaustion were catching up to him rapidly. His once-steady hands grew slower, and the marathon of building a complex multi-masted barque became an increasingly heavy burden. When my father passed away in December 2024, the garage fell completely still, and we made the difficult decision to place the fragile vessel into storage, shielding it from an uncertain world while we navigated our profound loss.

Fast forward to late August 2026—nearly two years since that quiet departure—and my son and I reached a definitive crossroads. Standing together, we realised that the greatest tribute we could offer was not to let his masterpiece gather dust in the dark, but to bring it back to the light and finish what he started in his memory.

Following a thorough inspection in early September 2026, however, the unboxing brought a sobering wave of reality. The silent passage of time and environmental shifts inside storage had taken a severe toll on the delicate materials. We were confronted with disheartening signs of deterioration: the teak-veneered deck was lifting as the ageing adhesive lost its hold, the portholes and metal fittings were choked with heavy oxidation, the hull showed stubborn spots of paint bubbling, the main deck was separating from the hull at the stern, and several painted waterline markings had faded or discoloured.

Yet, beneath the disheartening surface damage lay a profound silver lining. My father was a meticulous craftsman who built an exceptionally strong foundational hull. Every single flaw, warp, and failing bond is entirely repairable. The roadmap forward is already clear: the entire exterior hull will require complete sanding and repainting to restore its pristine finish. Furthermore, the deck demands a total restoration—stripping away the old, failed glue, carefully removing the damaged veneer, and re-planking the entire surface using a vastly superior modern adhesive product that we have already researched and sourced.

Consequently, updates on this web blog will temporarily slow down as we transition from storytelling to heavy workbench labour. We needed to ensure my late father’s foundational story and historical journey were fully honoured and documented first. That initial chronicle is now complete. With the history recorded, my son and I are stepping into the workshop to roll up our sleeves and breathe new life into his final dream. His life's work has officially become our shared mission, and though the next phase will demand immense patience, we are ready to carry the torch all the way to the horizon.