Have you ever taken your child and their friend to go water skiing on the family boat? Have you ever thought about what could happen if they got hurt while under your supervision? You can get sued and fined. You can also lose thousands of dollars because you didn't know how to protect yourself from such things from happening. To lower your risk, you will want to do a few things.
First, you will want to use the boat in a proper manner and you should operate the boat well within your state laws. You will want to go over the safety rules for each child or person. You will want to make sure that they understand so that they can be more careful and no one will get hurt.
You also will want to see if the person has any kind of issues that may cause a problem. If the child is asthmatic, you will want to make sure that you go slow or offer them a change to go wakeboarding. This is a less intense activity than skiing. You will also want to think about asking for the parents of the child to sign a waiver or consent. This way you can have proof that they are allowed on the boat and that if something happens, you won't be held responsible.
If you have a written consent, you cannot be sued on basis that the parents didn't know that you were taking their child water skiing. You will also want to keep in mind that this waiver is not something that you can use to get around the law if something should happen because of your own carelessness.
You should also never drink when looking out for the safety of others. If you are driving the boat, you don't want to be drinking and operating because you can get a DUI if anything should happen.
If you are going to ask guests to come on to your boat, make sure that your insurance allows and covers accidents caused by other's non-sense. Your insurance won't save you if you ask unreasonably.
