Sad to hear that this "will take a while until that happens". I jumped on the AP wagon just a week ago, not only because a DAM is over a year in development it seems. At least forum posts lead to that conclusion.
Using AP as a external editor is no real choice for anyone using RAW, or for everyone wanting a non destructive development.
I am still using Aperture but concurrently try to find new ways for working on my photos, as I fear the day Aperture will stop working on my system. So hopefully Affinity is ready to serve that day, and I have not bet on the wrong horse....
best regards