I've given this topic a lot of thought over the years and something struck me recently about the participatory decline and age increase. It seems to me that sailing in general and multihulls in particular don't get much exposure, and there are preconceived notions about sailing (expense, stodginess)that we need to overcome. Sure you can take people sailing and it will stick with someone from time to time, but not all that often. We need to make a quantum leap in generating interest. We need to find people that are likely to jump into the sport. In order to do that we need more widespread publicity.

I was in a local watering hole enjoying a refreshing beverage the other day when I realized that all the TVs there were tuned to ESPN, Versus, Fuel or Speed. Versus and Fuel were all about 'extreme' sports - Snowboarding, skateboarding, skiing, etc. This is the type of exposure we need. It's not something the average person could accomplish, but if they set their mind to it, it is probably something US Sailing could accomplish by working with those networks. A professional production of the Tornado Worlds, F18 championships or a regatta along those lines (on a windy day of course) would make a whole lot of young (and older) people sit up, take notice, and want to give it a try. I don't know if US Sailing would have any interest in doing that. I'd guess not but you never know.
Maybe even ESPN with their wider audience is a possibility. They have sailing from time to time, but the last thing I saw there was the Newport - Bermuda race, and the wind barely blew. Before that it was college match racing on a low wind day. As much as I like sailing I could barely stay awake for it.
It's unfortunate that when we do get some national exposure it is usually about a type of sailing that the average person can't participate in (college, offshore) and / or exceedingly dull. If we could showcase exciting and approachable sailing, make it look 'cool' vs. stodgy, interest and participation in our sport would grow.