As opposed to the sports you list, the stark difference is that you can sail a boat on a lake or ocean without the need for special facilities (a gym, a pool, etc.). You could argue that in order to use the facilities at sailing and yacht clubs you should have to be a member but I don't think this is the sort of thing you can back into. The large majority of our sailing facilities existed long before US Sailing.

In the case of the pools and gyms, the sanctioning body helps them organize the facility and the sports. It works the other way around for sailing - all our club (Keowee Sailing Club) events have always been organized internally with no input from an outside organization other than the use of a widely accepted rule book (I am not arguing for or against the benefits provided by US Sailing).