I love to be the first to spot a friendly boat across the water. It’s not easy, mind you. To some people, all “little white sailboats” look alike. But with a keen eye and some attention to detail, you can spot a familiar boat from a long way off.

Take for example April Dancer, owned by our wonderful friends Lyn and Tessa Reynolds. We have cruised with these folks for many years and so I know the profile of April Dancer intimately. She is a Fairweather Mariner 39 with a slightly raised deck house with forward looking windows.

But what gives her away from a mile across the water are her gleaming stainless steel port frames. Whenever I see that diamond-like sparkle from afar, I always look more closely and, nine times out of ten, it will be April Dancer. The fact that Lyn and Tessa keep her in Bristol condition adds to her gleam, but the ports are always a dead giveaway.

Joe and Sandie Tynik owned a Hans Christian 43 named Panache. She was a little more difficult to pick out from a distance, but she had two green roller furling head sails and a radar unit on the mast. There are a lot of Hans Christians with green canvas on the bay. The position of the radar was my indicator for Panache.

I’m not as good at spotting my powerboat friends from a distance. It seems that all CHB’s look alike. The divine Esther’s Meri Mate has a dinghy stored upright on the swim platform, so I have to see her from astern before I can pick her out of the pack.

Intrepid Ina is easy to spot these days. Her Rafiki 35, Flying Lady, is now sporting a set of davits with a HUGE banana yellow rubber dinghy on the stern. You can spot her boat leaving the Estuary from the top of Angel Island, or even further probably.

Mary Buckman tries to fool us every other year or so. She has a Cheoy Lee ketch named Shantung. Mary likes to repaint the boot and trim stripes every time she hauls the boat, which is every few years. With the change of striping is also a change of canvas. The only giveaway is Shantung’s wooden masts, wooden balls on the spreader tips and the white roller furling head sails. She can’t hide from Eagle Eye Haworth!

Sometimes it’s difficult to tell the difference between an older Catalina 30 and a Catalina 36. I’m always on the look out for our old boat. The lifelines on the 30 are attached to the base of the bow pulpit. The lifelines on the 36 are attached at the top. We have changed the look of our trawler by removing all the varnish and also by painting the front window frames white. That didn’t deter the previous owner from spotting us on the San Rafael channel recently. I guess when you see something through the eyes of love, you never forget!

Now that the boating season is officially open, try recognizing some of your friends boats on the bay. When you see them, give them a call on the VHF and let them know they have been "spotted."