I bring the VHF for general marine purposes. But for chatting with friends on the water, hard to beat the Motorola MS350R. Uses AA batteries once the rechargeable ones included fail in a couple of months. Bought them for kayaking, use them for all kinds of reasons. They came in real handy last month in Sequoia with multiple cars and no cell service.
Great pricing at Amazon.
http://www.amazon.com/Motorola-MS350.../dp/B004PGM9PO