Gary,
More power to you. Thanks for pointing out that Racing is just one aspect of Sailing - something we racers sometimes forget. I'm glad that you don't have to race in order to enjoy sailing.

Personally, my two biggest reasons for racing are:
(2) It really improves my sailing skill. I thought I knew how to sail until I tried pitting my skill against others. That was a humbling experience! The more I race, the more I learn about sailing and the better sailor I become.
(1) More importantly, racing gets me out on the water. It takes me a half hour to pack up a boat and my equipment, an hour to drive to the lake, an hour to rig the boat, an hour to de-rig, an hour to drive home, and a half hour to put everything away. That's five hours of overhead to get in a few hours of sailing. If it weren't for the scheduled race, I wouldn't go through the effort very often. It would be much easier to simply stay home and mow the lawn. So, my most important reason to race, is that it gets me to sail.

Regards,
Eric