Have you looked into mast up storage costs? It's about 1200/year (including the mandatory sailing center membership) for an 18' boat. thats not cheap to me.

Not 100% sure what you guys are referring to with the Hobie life, but here in Dunedin there are a dozen(s) of cats out every weekend (except winter, then it's just a few of us die-hards), we 2 nights of mast up storage (with $100 annual permit), no beach fees, and 1/2 dozen organized races per year. I know this is rare, and thats why i live here.

I am not knocking the community center but they don't serve us (cat sailors) well at all. The costs are prohibitive, the center does nothing to promote the sport or include cats in their races (with a few exceptions) and the mono-skipper i raced with a few times was so unhappy with the PRO's they moved their races to a bridge and have their own on water officiating.