Admittedly, I'm not the strongest PR person (although some would say I have my moments).
However, I think I can sum up the whole problem, and I've seen it before with other organizations in our sport:
There's WAY too much of an "us and them" mentality.
US SAILING isn't THEM, it's US. Of course, that's only if you pay the money, and get off the couch and get active.
Matt and I went to the spring meeting. I think we were the only active multihull sailors there (Means and Doug Campbell were there too).
Mike