San Diego boat-rental sites spark concern, lawsuit over safety verification

As San Diego heads into the summer season, boat traffic on the bays is about to pick up. With that comes a warning on illegal boat rentals that pose a safety risk out on the water.

“I feel that we have an existential threat by having a dangerous situation on the bay,” said Andy Kurtz.

Kurtz has owned Seaforth Boat Rentals on Mission Bay and San Diego Bay for more than 40 years, tasking his staff with safety checks for every boat and every rental.

“Every time we send somebody out, it’s like a whole script of all of these points that we need to hit,” Seaforth employee Payton Cheatwood said. “It’s important that we all know what we’re talking about, so that way, whenever we send a renter out, they’re also equipped with all the knowledge.”

Kurtz said he’s concerned about the rise of third-party websites that enable people to rent boats directly from owners. Many of those sites don’t have a mechanism to verify all the legal requirements to rent a vessel, like proper insurance and commercial licensing.

Now, Kurtz is suing one of those sites – Getmyboat.com – to try to force them to put those checks in place.

Getmyboat said it doesn’t comment on pending litigation, but as to questions over its safety verification, a spokesperson for the company said in a statement that it is a “platform for boat owners and boat renters to meet each other and engage directly on rental terms and conditions, requirements and coordination.”

“Getmyboat strongly encourages safety and compliance verification for owners and renters meeting on its site,” the statement reads in part. “Each boat owner renting their boat through Getmyboat confirms the responsibility for compliance of their vessel in their jurisdiction.”

Kurtz said renting without requiring those verifications poses a risk on the water and presents a challenge for law enforcement.

“It's Whac-a-Mole,” Kurtz said. “They're hiding in plain sight. You can't stop them if there's a million of them out there," adding, "we're trying to cut off the top of the funnel so there's less of these things out there, which makes their enforcement easier."

San Diego Police and San Diego Lifeguards impounded 185 vessels in 2023, officials said, up from 119 the year before but down from the 230 impounded in 2021.

The city advises renters to use brick-and-mortar businesses, with safety top of mind after a 12-year-old paddleboarder was hit by a jet ski and killed on Mission Bay last summer.

There’s a hearing on Kurtz’s lawsuit in October, but he said time is of the essence as the summer boating season kicks off.

“It's your safety, right?” Kurtz said. “It's absolutely the safety of the person that is ... out there on the water. That's what's most important.”