Hello there,
I've been wondering what the legalities are of bringing people aboard your boat. Say you take a couple of friends for a quick cruise to Santa Barbara. You go well offshore, hit a whale, sink, and lose one of your friend. Are you responsible for their death? And family can come about and sue you?

Are there ways to mitigate these risks? Would asking them to offset the cost of cruise make a difference (say you ask each to pay for $1,000 towards boat maintenance)?

Shit can happen any time. No need to go offshore. Someone gets hit by the boom, has memory loss ... Is the skipper liable?