I've been to Rutland a couple of times though and they do seem to charge more than I've paid at less "commercial" feeling Clubs though. Feel your pain but there's always two sides to pricing, good value for competitors and a decent profit for the Club to justify possibly pulling in lots of extra volunteers.  

People doing race duty gets subsidies off their membership fees and the entry fees are supposed to pay for this, hence the rather draconian fee.

What were they back in the 60's 70's 80's 90's say for a GP or Ent or Fireball for example?

unsustainable?

Yes but are there nice ladies making you tea and cooking lunch?

I know of a few clubs who treat Opens as a break even or even loss leader events as it gives publicity. At Hunts we usually offer free tea and coffee to competitors as part of the entry fee and the food is very reasonable and freshly made. There is also usually someone who volunteers to make the ubiquitous Bacon sarnies as well (the club is entirely volunteer run). Other clubs with paid staff and outside catering may not have the luxury of being able to offer this.

We have the CVDRA rally again this year, let us hope they are as impressed as they were the first time round with our hospitality.

Yes but at least you can eat a horse when things get too bad.

be careful... in some circumstances, what is perceived as 'friendly' can often come across as 'cliquey' to those on the outside.  
 

Given that for two classes it was their Eastern Champs and part of the national circuit for the 12s, I don't think we charged too much. Camping was free.

You'd hope so, but one large well known professional water last year charged top whack £30 entry fee for the day, sailed us tucked round a headland out of the breeze while club racing went in in the best bit and then only awarded one glass per boat! They did up their game this year to be fair

 

Contrast that with Salcombe YC who charged £23 for the weekend. They know that they will get 30-45 boats, they know the club will be packed friday and saturday nights and they also have to have their support boats out anyway for the club racing that takes place around the same time so they'll only use marginally more fuel. A great example of not biting the hands that feed - which do you think earns more money from the event?

£58 entry fee for double handers for the Tiger Trophy - have Rutland SC completely lost their marbles?? Oh, by the way you get two dinner tickets included - what happens if you don't want to go to the dinner for whatever reason? Why should you pay an extra £18? 

The way that most successful businesses work is that they attract people in before they pull their pants down. 

 I suspect that this year will not see a record turn out. I know a significant part of the money raised goes to charity but a lot of the grass roots sailors that push this event and others like it into the 150+ club will look closely at what its going to cost them. £58 is an unacceptable amount to pay to enter an inland weekend event - end of story.

If you're were going to the dinner then of course there would be no beef whatsoever as you'll pay that anyway and on the face of it isn't terrible value. If you want it.

 But - as RSC - you have to consider that pre Sailjuice there used to be 200 odd boats at this event so thats potentially around 300 people plus hangers on. I think they used to get 150ish for the dinner which must nearly have filled the club and can they cope with many more?

Notwithstanding that they get about 90 boats worth of people go to the dinner. By including the dinner in the entry they've just made 110 boats think very carefully before they travel as they aren't going to use a third of the fee that they pay, and they'll still be paying for breakfast, lunch, tea, drinks etc etc.

They've made it look as if they are milking every penny they can out of competitors (Most inland clubs seem to charge around £30 entry for two days, with 200 odd boats they'd still make a killing and still be able to donate £5 per boat to JMST). I appreciate that the club need to earn money and that the charity does a lot for the sport - but what they've done will potentially cripple their revenue from this event - hopefully not but i wont be going and nor will the guys I drink with at the club. All people who've been a number of times before and like the sailing at Rutland - so if we are thinking like this what chance do they have? 

 

Originally posted by davidyacht It's their event, can do what they like with it ... less than the price of a ratchet block.

Without a doubt - we will find out if people vote with their trailers in a few weeks.

What were entry fee like back in the 60's 70's in comparison to the cost of boat/insurance etc etc

With regard to the 'compulsory dinner ticket', I agree with Chris that it can and does put some people off entering certain events as it is money down the pan if you don't want the meal. I have raised this issue with the organisers of a couple of other events with inclusive meal tickets and their guarded responses suggest that this may actually be a bit of a revenue stream for the organising club. Add £5 to the entry for a meal that costs £1.50 (if that) to provide, which in turn draws/keeps competitors in the clubhouse buying ancillary drinks, etc whilst waiting for said meal and then assume that only 70% of the meal tickets will be redeemed. 

Is it still black tie though?  Wasn't when we did it a couple of years ago. Meal was slightly underwhelming, especially as we had battled back through the snow to get there.

Opi Opens to tend to be a bit more in the entry fee.  But an increase generally justified by the extra costs in patrol boats for the lower ratios.  And they also do tend to take the prizes further down. And sometimes there are coaching fees to meet too (for Regatta fleet)....So yes a bit more, but generally justified.

But generally still less than the TT, even if you take a notional £18 of for the meals.

Can't believe I'm writing positively about the Opi scene - we said we'd never do it.  But as an Opi parent (yes I did just say that!) on the inside I can now see what the fuss is.