The cost of yacht racing is very important, and of course, so far as crew expenses go, will depend upon the number of matches sailed. The other expenses, which relate to the hull, sails, spars, and rigging, can be put down at from 50 per cent. to 60 per cent. greater than those for the cruising yacht. The crew expenses will also be a heavy item, as the number will not only be greater, but there will be the extra money, and food and drink on racing days. In most yachts, the practice is to give the men meat, bread, and beer (or, on wet cold days, rum), on the days when matches are sailed ; no doubt this practice is in much favour among the crews, as frequently enough food is left to supply the mess another day. However, a fashion has been introduced of paying the men half-a-crown extra for racing days, and making them find themselves in food and drink. This greatly simplifies the accounts, and prevents the owner's good nature, or inexhaustible means being imposed upon.
The expenses of a 10-tonner will serve to show the nature and extent of the cost of yacht racing. It will be assumed that she commences to fit out on the 1st of May, and is laid up on the 30th of September, therefore that she is in commission twenty-two weeks.
As a set off to these expenses, there will be, of course, the prizes, which would probably amount to 200/. But even deducting this, it will be seen that racing a 10-tonner is a very expensive amusement.
Of course, these expenses could be very greatly reduced. In the first place, no more than twenty matches need be sailed ; next, amateur crews might be more often made use of ; a pilot need not be had so often if the owner or his master, or one of the owner's friends is well acquainted with the waters in which the matches are sailed ; and a new mainsail need only be had every other year. However, if forty matches were sailed in one season, a new mainsail would be almost a necessity. The expenses of a 15-tonner will not greatly exceed that of a 10-tonner, and the general cost of keeping one, irrespective of racing, will not be much in excess of the smaller vessel. But in a 20-tonner, although two hands might very well manage her, the sailing master takes the form of a regular " skipper." In a 10 or 15-tonner, the master works just as the man does ; turns out at six o'clock to scrub down, takes his turn with the other hand at every kind of work and liberty. In a 20-tonner, the skipper does not show on deck until after breakfast, and his greatest exertion is usually steering the vessel and talking to the owner, the same as it is on board of other large yachts.
With regard to one branch of the expenses enumerated, that of " racing money " or the extra money given to crews on racing days, has long formed a vexed question. Formerly it was 1/. all round and 5/. for the skipper, but during the last quarter of a century, the practice has sprung up of giving the men 10s. for racing and losing, and 1/. for racing and winning. The sailing master is rewarded by a per tentage on the nominal amount won (generally 5 per cent.). It need scarcely be said that the yachts which observe this arrangement, are more in favour among the men than those which only give the 1/. for winning, and the result is that those who ship in the latter have a standing grievance unless a prize is won for every start. Occasionally an owner
who has no knowledge of the customs of yacht racing appears to place an undue value upon the exertions of a crew, and when victory is secured rewards the sailing master and crew out of all proportion to their services. The answer may perhaps be made that the importance of the services is proportional to the desire of the owner to win; this may be so, but the practical effect of such excessive liberality on sailing masters and crew, is to make the former foolishly vain and presumptuous, and the crew insolent and indifferent about everything but racing. Fortunately this evil appears to work its own cure, as the owner soon finds that instead of winning more prizes by paying liberally or foolishly, he wins less and finds that his vessel and crew are hated with undisguised zest by the crews of all other vessels.
If racing money is given at all, the 1/. for winning and nothing for losing system does not seem just. A vessel cannot win by the exertion of the crew alone, and if she could, it may be taken for granted that the crews would exert themselves to the utmost without the stimulus of extra pay. A yacht's success depends upon her excellence as compared with the excellence of other vessels, upon her canvas, upon her sailing master and crew, and upon the varying fortune of wind. It therefore does not seem just that if a crew exert themselves to the utmost and lose, that they should have nothing, whereas if they had won, a douceur of 1/. to each man would have been given. It may be argued that many owners would not race if they had to pay 10s. losing money, because they know that their vessels are not so good as some others, and therefore that their chances of winning are more remote. This may justify the owner in not racing, but it is hardly fair to the crew if he does race. If the 1/. winning money is fairly earned, the 108. losing money is equally well earned, and the difference of 108. between the two douceurs is quite sufficient to keep up the desire to win. But there is still another very strong argument to be advanced on behalf of the 10s. losing money plan. The extra men get 108. for coming on board to race, and if these men are given 10s. besides their ordinary day's pay to come out of a strange vessel, it certainly is no more than just that the regular crew of the yacht should have 108. besides their day's pay as well. The extra men have comparatively little work to do beyond the pulling and hauling during the race, but the regular crew of the yacht have most likely a hard day's work before the race, and a harder one after the race. It is not the fact that the work is no harder on board a racing yacht than on board a cruiser ; in reality there is no comparing the two, and the life on board a cruiser is ease, luxury, and indolence, compared with the worry, discomfort, and work on board a racing yacht. We therefore think that the general practice of giving racing money is a just one, and that it should be apportioned as follows : 1/. for racing and winning first prize, 158. for racing and winning second prize, and 10s. for racing and winning no prize. If the losing money is not given, only 108. should be given for winning.