From an Insurance point of view it would be important to know if the citation is considered a "moving violation" and thus would affect your insurance rates.
My wife and I do sometimes but we have a 160 degree mirror which on our lake in WI makes us legal. Probably want to check your state/ lake regs before you do it though.
Funniest part is that one of our neighbors complained to my parents (I'm 25 and married so how lame is that) that we weren't using a spotter and even dropped off the lake regs. I highlighted the mirror part and gave it back, he didn't have much to say after that.
Ken, its all legal in Florida. There's no requirements for a spotter, a flag, or much else. I'm not even sure if they require a boating license for the driver, lol. I'm pretty sure you still need life vests tho, unless you're on a private lake.
Somebody made an interesting point to me a few years back when I posted the same question. If your rider gets hurt, will you have the strength to get him back in the boat by yourself so you can get him to the hospital?
well you should have the boat weighted down so the swim platform is below the water line, so that should make it easier to pull them back in the boat by yourself
Done it many times, but it is a risk, not only for the citation, but the rider can get hurt. We only do it in the off season, when no other boats are out.