Pan Pan is no call of distress. Only a note of urgency that may lead to distress. Pan Pan should mean I have an issue that may get worse; at this time I believe I have it under control on my boat. With clear details of the jeopardy. This skipper shared his situation. "Short one table at Cooper". Calling Pan Pan to eat soon during cocktail hour near Cooper Island is certainly rude and poor form. The same would be true with the bars and eateries encouraging the use of the Channel 16 for dinner and hospitality arrangement in the first place.

While we are throwing rocks here. The first sinner is Cooper who encourages Channel 16 for non maritime traffic. Abuse or poor use of Channel 16 for non maritime communications is the danger. If you ever use Channel 16 for dinner reservations you have no grounds to call anyone out here. Many just over the horizon are distracted and falsely alerted by those garbled dinner calls.

To be clear General calls, signals, or messages on channel 16 are never acceptable. The rule are montor 16 24/7 and only transmit on 16 when you have a maritime need that must me shared.

How many follow this rule on your charter?

"Maintain your watch. Whenever your boat is underway, the radio must be turned on and be tuned to Channel 16".