Amazing Sail Out The Gate

Saturday was sunny and beautiful with light winds.  The crew (Hillary and his sons, Dave, John and Alajandro) were all jacked for a great sail.  We hit the bay and there was no wind.  We motored out towards Angel.  As soon as I made the call to head to the beach, we saw wind ahead.  How can you see wind the crew asks?  Looking at the water, it appears darker than the water with no wind.  The reason it appears darker is pretty cool.  The wind moves across the water creating small waves.  These stepper the waves (i.e. the more wind) the less light reflected and the darker the water.  The more wind the darker the water which is very easy to see in gusty conditions.  We are sailing towards Sausalito chatting and loving the 12 knot breeze.  One of Hilary's sons is at the stern and mentions there is a boat coming at us.  I see a shadow and order the helmsman to fall off.  We barely miss an older lady who was going to keep her course until we hit her!  She was politely saying "Starboard" as we almost hit her.  John had not seen her as the sails were blocking his vision.  It would have been a mess if we had hit her 25' Hunter.  Yes she had the right of way, however, she needed to adjust her course if there was any chance of a collision.  That was close!  As it turned out, we barley missed her and had one of the best sails ever!   We made it out the Gate in about 14 knots of wind.  The wind angle was perfect so we sailed straight out to the Pacific.  What a feeling to be in the ocean.  Everyone loved it. It just keeps getting better and better!