After watercraft accidents, these San Diego businesses sued and helped curb illegal rentals. But is it enough?

A lawsuit settlement and stepped-up city enforcement may be making Mission Bay safer by reducing the number of illegally rented boats and other devices, but critics are still calling for further action.

Popular rental app Getmyboat.com, which city officials have blamed for allowing rentals that come with no training or safety instructions, has agreed to start requiring renters to upload key documents to its site.

The new requirement has reduced the number of boats available to rent locally on Getmyboat.com by roughly 70%, according to Tom Feerick, an attorney who negotiated the settlement.

Feerick represents four brick-and-mortar boat rental companies operating on Mission Bay and San Diego Bay.

Those companies say Getmyboat.com and other apps have cost them millions in business while simultaneously making the bay much more dangerous.

The settlement comes in the wake of multiple high-profile injury incidents involving personal watercraft, which are also known commonly by the brand name Jet Ski.

Those incidents include the July 2023 death of a 12-year-old girl who was killed paddleboarding in Mission Bay by an 18-year-old on a watercraft he rented on an app.

San Diego Lifeguard Chief James Gartland has called illegal rentals a top concern.

“People don’t know,” Gartland said Read Entire Article