I am curious as to the reasons why individuals, fleets, yacht clubs, sailing clubs, etc. put on regattas.

Most fleets and clubs have regular fleet and club racing for their own group, so why go to the work and expense of inviting a bunch of outside boats for a big regatta every year?

because it sucks to race against (and get beaten by) the same schmuck over and over again.
:P

Because we like sailing in other people's regattas and we realise that if we don't run one when we're able to, why should anyone else? And if you get things right, it shouldn't cost you anything to runn a regatta anyway.

I go to regattas because:

- I get to see, socialize with and sail against friends who I don't normally see on a regular basis.
- I get to sail at places that don't normally allow access to the water (like the beach at Wildwood, NJ)
- I like to sail in places I've never been to before. I have a personal goal of sailing in at least one new place every year.

If there were no regattas, none of this would be possible.

Things would get awfully boring if always sailed with my own fleet.

I'm not asking why people GO to regattas. I'm just asking why people HOST regattas.

I thought we were hosting regattas to help grow the sport.

Regattas are HOSTED so that others will come to play at your house that normally won't come over!

We also get to have a cool party and everyone pitches in to pay for it!!!

Oh, and we give out prizes, and a trophy, drink beverages, look at the girls and oogle at the boats (or is it the other way around?)

Clayton

1. Brings excitement to our beach and fleet.
2. It attracts new sailors.
3. It attracts new fleet members.
4. It attracts attention for the state Dept. of Rec.
5. It puts pictures of cats in the regional papers.
6. With a good staff, the work is secondary to having a good time, so I don't see how it is "work".
7. Brings in money for the fleet.
8. Allows businesses an advertising outlet and free stuff for sailors.
9. General promotion of the sport/lifestyle.
10. Hosting a social gathering is fun.

Ask me why we have to always use the standard US Sailing course layouts... I have no clue. Got the be the most overrated, boring way to race.

Regattas hark back to the original traditions of sailing as a sport as opposed to a business, the object being to pit your sailing skills against the best sailors no matter from where they come. In the early days of "social" sailing/racing regattas were the "norm" and "club sailing" was almost non existant. This "tradition" still applies today, and if clubs/classes neglected to have regular regattas, then a very important part of sailing, as we know it today, would be lost, and we would be the poorer for it, besides, here in Australia, clubs run regular regattas, not just for the benefit to the sailors, but to put more "bums on seasts" at the bar and dining rooms before, during, and after the actual races(s) and to show a very healthy profit from them (the regattas) at the end of their financial year.
One very succesful regatta was conducted in England a long time ago, and you Americans were so impressed with the concept that one boat SAILED all the way there to compete, - that boat was called "America", so I would have thought that the first people to understand the "relevence" of "regattas" would be you "septic tanks"??

why not host them?
regattas are hella fun, either on or off the water

I say fun factor!

Is it supposed to be fun to host a regatta?

No it is quite simple so your club makes more money. If it wasn't profitable the clubs would not or could not continue. It is all very noble to say you do it for the sport but if your club lost money they would soon stop.

There maybe all secondary reason but money/profitablity is the key.

I know our clubs don't make much money on the regattas - a few regattas lose money consistently. The approach is rather to promote activity and visibility for the club itself to attract new and maintain existing members. It's the frequent regattas (and active catamaran sailors) that convinced me to join Lake Keowee Sailing Club.

Mary,
From where I come from running a saiing club is a very costly business. We not only pay for insurance, initial purchase and upkeep of rescue boats and safety equipment. Radio Licence, Council rates, Rates to the Dept of Land and Water, Aquatic License so we can set a course on the lake, AYF fees, upkeep of club house and things like annual Fire insoection certificate the list goes on and on. It costs over $10,000 per year to keep the club going.
In the course of a finaicial year, if we are lucky we just break even. Without the income from running regattas and State and National class title events we would not survive.
There are many different reasons why people go to regattas and there would be many different reasons for different clubs, depending on their individual circumstances, for running regatts. Most of the clubs I know of run them to survive.

Regards,
Phill

I think New2 is right. I used to think that regattas were run for all those noble reasons, until I got on our fleet regatta committee one year. I was informed by our commodore that the primary reason for putting on the regatta was to make money for the fleet, so the fleet would be able to afford more activities and amenities for its own members.

We are hosting regattas to build our fleet. If local people see that there are all kinds of things going on they will take an interest. Oh, and folks are welcome to come to our events:

3 day long distance event, W1000 style July 30-Aug1 2005:
http://www.westlakesailingclub.com/pecrace.html

We are also having an around the marks event Aug 6-7.
Dave
http://www.westlakesailingclub.com

What is wrong with making money on a regatta? I seen no excuse that you can not make money on a sailing event.

I think negative attitudes are more of an issue than whether it is worth running a sailing event. I also think those of us that are critical about racing / sailing / events, should run their own events if they are not happy.

Bottom line, fun events are fun, not only to particapate in but to organize. Attitudes ruin events, not the percived work involved. Nothing "easy" is ever great.

Nobody said there was anything wrong with making money on a regatta. It's just one of the reasons why people host regattas. And in some cases it is the most important reason.

THe club I sail at would not survive without income from open meetings. We run about 13 a year. Some are absoulutly massive - The RS open (RS200/300/400/600/700/800) has now had to be split up as we were getting more than our max (250 boats) for an open. We also do a cat open once a year that (recently) has been averaging around 130 boats. A few years ago we were getting 200+ cats.

200 cats, 8 feet wide, 1 foot to walk around = 1800 feet of beach room

Wow! I have always heard there is not much beachcat sailing in the U.K. And for some reason I also thought there were not many beaches. (Guess I have seen too many pictures of the white cliffs of Dover.) Where is your club located, and on what body of water?