What you might be seeing is the real cost of racing or should I say, the cost of putting on a race. In the past racing was subsidised by sponsorship but in the case of the Warsash race so far as I undestand, none exists.
A 'basic race' as of a few years ago could have been organised for £6000 - £8000. This would have been been a bare bones event with all of the organisers acting on a volunteer basis. Those days seem to be gone and many of the former volunteers from pit marshalls to safety boats now expect some sort of remuneration for their efforts - at the very least they would like some of their out of pocket expenses to be re-imbursed.
Would this have occurred if these previously unpaid volunteers had received at least a cursory 'thank you'? That's a matter for conjecture but simply stated, if you want to go racing it ain't going to be cheap.
The RYA has increased calendar fees to the organising clubs (which are in turn passed on to the competitors) at an alarming rate whilst insisting that nationally registered boats must be re-measured yearly, a revenue producing measure if there ever was one but this initiative is of no benefit to the competor. The money is collected, secreted away and gone forever but then again, I'm sure it benefits some sailing programme somewhere
In the final analyis, racing will inevitably become more expensive for the reasons mentioned above. The question that must be asked (aside from the RYA's insidiuous and unrelenting money hunt) is are you willing to pay for the actual cost of racing or do you expect (and consider it fair) for others to subsidise your fun?
