Seagulls and the Original Name of our Boat

When we bought AtLast, in June of 2010, we brought home a hull with some bulkheads and ballast and that's about it.  Except of course the boat had a name, "Chiang".

Hmmm,  Chiang.   Chiang?  Really? Why did they pick that?  I never felt close to this name. I found it difficult to remember and, well, it's Chinese.  And, while the Chinese have a rich and diverse history, we do not have a connection. This hull was built in America and, clearly, we'd be finishing it here too.

So we thought we'd rename the boat.  We decided on "AtLast" as it highlights several aspects of who we are.  To begin,  both CAI and I are in our second marriages and we both feel that, at last, we found our partner to spend the rest of our life with.  In celebration, we danced our first wedding dance to the classic and eternal song "At Last", as sung by Etta James:

At last my love has come along
My lonely days are over
And life is like a song
Oh yeah yeah
At last the skies above are blue
My heart was wrapped up in clover
The night I looked at you
I found a dream that I could speak to
A dream that I can call my own
I found a thrill to press my cheek to
A thrill that I have never known
Oh yeah yeah, you smile, you smile
Oh and then the spell was cast
And here we are in heaven
For you are mine... at last!

And then there is CAI's dream.  Ever since CAI crossed the Atlantic at age 14 on the double-ender Albatross, he dreamed to build a boat in the same style.  It was 35 years later we bought the hull and moved it out to Newman Lake.  His dream was starting to take shape, at last. 

And one more thing. It has been 6.5 years so far building this boat.  It will probably be another year or two before we make it out there to really sail her.  When we go, I'm sure we all will be sighing, "at last!"

This name feels right.

But CAI thought it would also be meaningful to reflect the original name in the boat.

We found out that "Chiang" is from Richard Bach's book, Jonathan Livingston Seagull.  You may recall, Jonathan Livingston Seagull was cast out from his flock for his "misplaced" love of flight instead of food.  Jonathan continued his search for truth and perfection in flight.  In his travels he encountered a wise elder seagull whose name was "Chiang".  Chiang took Jonathan beyond his previous learning.  He said, the secret to move instantly to anywhere else in the world, is to "begin by knowing that you have already arrived."

He continued with his teachings.  "We can start working with time if you wish till you can fly the past and the future. And then you will be ready to begin the most difficult, the most powerful, the most fun of all. You will be ready to begin to fly up and know the meaning of kindness and of love."  After much practice, Jonathan developed his skills and Chiang left, however not before giving Jonathan one last piece of advice:  "keep working on love."

In reflection of everything "Chiang", we have seagulls accenting the interior and exterior of the boat. 
Here are some examples:

Seagull cutouts at the top of our storage cabinet provide important ventilation.

Ventilation at the bottom.

More ventilation for another cabinet.

And you recall, seagull inlays adorn the companionway hatch.

This is the bow of the boat. The previous owner painted seagulls flying about the leading edges.
We will be repainting the hull and I'm sure we'll do something with the seagulls here too.