Hi Mary, I have also seen some of those attitudes and I think it STINKS.

If you think that a sailing club is a business and is selling you a service (regatta management) then your point of view about deserving a rebate in the case of a bad outcome makes sense. A proper fleet business plan would then price the service so that they could absorb an event with low attendance, bad weather, or any other catastrophe where they had to rebate money. You also can evaluate race management and decide whether you get your money's worth. You would probably have to pay for the time of the RC personal and their equipment costs since few people volunteer for a business.

The reality is that clubs are staffed with volunteers, who price their events so that they make enough money to cover their costs of the event and the replacement of fleet equipment. Its a cooperative... not a business. In fact, many yacht clubs insist that you be a member of a participating yacht club in order to compete in their events. They depend on the sailors support to keep things going. Everyone involved in the regatta is on the same team. If a club can rebate cash in the event an event crashes... great, but in a cooperative... you are simply moving the cash from your one hand to the next. You still have to pay the bills as part of your club.

You can't split the risk up ... the racer and the club need each other and this relationship is cooperative and not business.

Pre registration with payment allows the club cooperative to do the best they can and make the sport happen. Get involved... run some part of the sport as part of your club.

Take Care
Mark