I rented a boat in the Bahamas with not a single piece of working equipment outside of the throttle/steering and motor. No gauges (fuel included), no radio so I ran out of fuel 3/4 of a mile from a marina I was heading to. I knew where I was, I knew the name of the marina so I called them (cell phone) and asked for assistance. I could see the local lighthouse and could see the entrance to the marina and was essentially the only boat in the open bay.......guy came out in 15 minutes to give us some fuel and get us going again. Turns out we had rented his cousins boat! :D

I this case......GPS waypoints would have complicated the call to the locals!

I quite often go out of sight of land in any direction. I take all precautions which means having a chartplotter, cell phones, vhf, paper charts, compass and more. And towing insurance. The vhf is useful for communicating with marinas for dockage info etc. I still don't know all of the proper radio procedures but I'm learning. Most marinas have a sign saying what channel they monitor and I have a Great Lakes cruising guide that also has that info. Also you can use channel 16 to initiate contact and switch to another channel. I was told to say the name of who you are calling 3 times and then your boat's name. So I guess if I'm heading into Put-in-Bay and I want to see if the Boardwalk has a slip available I will go to their channel and say"Boardwalk, Boardwalk, Boardwalk, this is little yellow Donzi do you copy?" As long as you are trying to do it right I don't suppose you will get in trouble but I'd like to know all of the proper means of using the vhf. I do know four big DON'Ts: No random radio checks or calling Coast Guard for radio check. Must identify yourself by boat name at beginning and end of any conversation, "little yellow Donzi out". No tying up channel 16 and no needless gabbing on any channel. This is not CB.

So is a half dozen niner - actual radio talk for 69

I once gave the USCG my Loran numbers. Yes I'm old.

I usually give boat length and name (if it has one), if no name then boat brand.

I.E. - "Boardwalk, Boardwalk, Boardwalk, this is the 24 foot Insanity over'

Then refer to myself as just the boat name from that point forward until the end of the convo.

Actually I don't think you can, it's emergency distress only. I always thought 68/69 were for the type of contact you're referring to.

That's what I had thought but when I entered Caseville Municipal Harbor last summer a sign said to contact them on channel 16. We immediately dropped to 14. Maybe I misread it and it might have said they "monitor" channel 16. Hmmm. I might have screwed up!

All marine radios are required to monitor channel 16, I'd find it odd that they request to be contacted on 16, the CG would probably have a say about that. Most port/dock operations monitor that as well as the basic communication channel as a typical scan.

Yep, you're right. After some reading channel 16 is for "use in emergencies or to get the attention of another boat." I must have sounded like a real noob hailing the marina on channel 16!

I doubt the CG would bother you if you're simply contacting another vsl or marina on 16 and then switching to another working freq to pass your traffic. Its only when ppl clog up 16 that the CG will step in.