John, thanks for the link and here is my single idea for increasing membership;

Allow all US Sailing members (with cards) access to daily rentals of dinghys at the several US Sailing Centers nation wide. In addition to that, since they already have the boats, water access, instructors and insurance, they should offer some type of a 1-2 hour "check out" program for anyone who already knows how to sail and would like to rent. Then charge them a reasonable fee but in addition to the checkout, they would get a 1yr. introductory membership and card which allows them to rent again without the checkout.

Then, next year, you hit them up for the full amount. If they can see some tangible benefit (rentals of boats) they may become full price members. This is how most community sailing centers operate, and US Sailing could do the same.

In addition to the rule book, it would be nice if they would publish a listing of locations and phone numbers for all the comunity sailing centers they are affiliated with.