AVALON – The Next Chapter Underway
When we wrote our short piece for Piper Press in March 2025 — “SOLA – One Chapter Ends, Another Begins” — we were standing on the threshold of change. We knew we were about to hand SOLA over to new owners, and we were full of anticipation for what would come next. Now, one year on, we can finally share the continuation of our story: AVALON.
At the end of 2024, we made the decision to commission a new build — our Piper 65M. It felt both bold and completely natural. After everything SOLA had taught us, we knew what mattered most to us on the water: comfort without compromise, dependable systems, and that unmistakable Piper feeling of solid, purposeful craftsmanship. From the earliest planning stages, we worked closely with the Piper team to shape the boat into something that truly fits our lives, our cruising plans, and our idea of a floating home.
In April 2025 we handed SOLA over to her new owners. Letting go was not easy at first; she had carried us through so many weekends, seasons, the occasional hiccup, and quiet moments of happiness. Yet something changed once we had cleared our personal things from on board. As we closed the doors for the last time, sadness gave way to gratitude — and, surprisingly quickly, to excitement. SOLA had been our beginning, but she was never meant to be our final destination.
For the first time in years, we spent a season without a boat. And as strange as that sounds to fellow boaters, it became a gift in its own right. We finally returned to the mountains, scrambling up 3,500m peaks in the Swiss Alps and remembering how much we love moving through wild landscapes under our own steam. We also enjoyed wonderful days in Sicily, soaking up a very different rhythm of travel. Still, no matter where we were, our “boat-free” months had a familiar gravitational pull: they kept drawing us back to the Piper workshops in Stoke-on-Trent.
Those visits were special. Each time we stepped into the sheds, we could see AVALON becoming more real — steel, systems, joinery, details, solutions. We found ourselves alternating between practical conversations and slightly emotional silence, simply taking it all in. Working with Piper throughout the build was exciting and, at times, genuinely challenging — not because of a lack of care, but because building a boat at this level invites opinions, decisions, revisions, and the occasional hard conversation. Yet through it all, it remained a remarkable experience, and we never lost sight of the fact that we were watching a team do what they do best: build extraordinary boats.
Then, in mid-October 2025, the moment arrived. AVALON travelled to Saint-Usage on a low loader and was lifted into the water by crane. It is hard to describe that combination of joy, relief, pride, and disbelief — after months of planning and waiting, she was suddenly there, afloat, and ours. Within two days we had moved our belongings (and plenty of new items) on board — we had been able to store much of it at the Piper House in Saint-Usage — and we set off on our maiden journey to Chalon-sur- Saône.
SOLA was a Piper 55L; AVALON is a 65M. One might expect the larger boat to feel more demanding, but we were surprised to discover the opposite. Handling AVALON feels easier, more stable, and simply calmer. SOLA was built in 2016, and the progress in systems and onboard technology since then is striking. Everything feels like a positive step forward — refined, more capable, and designed with the realities of long-term cruising in mind. We are genuinely thrilled.
Between now and the Salon Fluvial in April, there are still a few technical challenges to resolve, and we are grateful that Piper will support us in working through those final details. After that, the plan is wonderfully simple: we will spend a few months cruising through France, settling into life on AVALON, and enjoying the kind of days that remind us why we chose this path in the first place. SOLA will always have a place in our story.
But AVALON is where the next chapter truly begins.
