Bill

Do you think the Yacht Club that hosts the regatta might have an opinion and a stake in this?

They provide the PRO, and RC people trained by US Sailing Volunteers.
They provide the Judges, trained by US Sailing volunteers.
They provide the structure for the Junior programs to feed into and lead to a nationals. All Volunteers

OH... and they might even get their insurance package from a company that negotiated with US Sailing . US Sailing worked to get the details right (and so the club did not need to waste their time)
The clubs volunteers who serve on the board as directors don't need this kind of stress and the membership does not want to see their property threatend by any losses.

You are missing the point... the issue is not US Sailing membership... yeah or neah for you the individual.

The issue is MANDATORY membership and what it means to the yacht club and the class who are doing their best to make events succesful. Read the Hobie letter... they got it right!

If you race sailboats... you should belong. not a lot of good reasons for why not.

If you don't... you are a cheap !@#$ freeloader.

Protesting the Olympic fiasco as an individual is your choice... ( and I am sure you would have joined the Finn Sailors in protest if THEY had gotten the boot). Don't conflate this with mandatory membership THAT HAS NOT EVEN happened.

Remember... our entire racing program is run by volunteers... Its's a compact... to keep it running... you volunteer to help run events, you pay the memberships, you support the events in your area.

When you fail to take your responsibility for one of those areas... the compact starts to fall apart.

So... you think that not paying your dues and not supporting your events will be positive for the organized sport of sailing? Not in my book!