Many clubs promote racing as well as cruising. At my club in order to be crew on a boat for the club races you need to be a member so we have a "crew member" category which is cheaper but is a non-voting member. We realized a long time ago there are many people that want to join the club that either don't want to own a boat or just can't afford it. We have a LOT of revenue from crew and social members and it also allows us to actively promote the sport of sailing for people that are just getting into it. This also brings in a lot of members that try it out for a while then buy a boat which keeps the moorings filled. We also have a sailing school at the club that is run by an outside company. The sailing school brings in a lot of new crew and full members.

I'm sure my club would eventually die out if we didn't allow social and crew members.