I think the only way this works is if you only need to be a US Sailing member if you want to participate in the qualifier component of the event. For example, suppose A-cat is chosen as the platform and it will be at the Grass Is Greener Yacht Club in March of 2014. The local regattas that will be tagged as qualifiers are selected by their area representation in conjunction with the event organizers at the end of 2012. In this example, Spring Fever 2013 would be the Area Dn qualifying event as they are expected to have another A-cat fleet. The A-cat fleet registers and people that want their results to count as part of the qualify enabled event, pay a small extra fee (mostly for trophies/medals) and must be a valid US Sailing member. You don't force the membership on the entire fleet because you will lose connection and overall participation with everyone else if you do. Let it be business as usual for the rest of the fleet that probably wouldn't join anyway. The event is sailed and scored. The sailors that placed in 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 11th had signed up for the qualifying enabled event and met all the qualification criteria. All four are eligible for the championship in finishing order and depending on how deep the selection process goes.
US Sailing (Liz) will probably take issue with the lack of a membership requirement on the fleet - but I PROMISE you won't get more members or grow the championship with it. Not in our sailing community. I think you introduce some randomness through a draw for some positions at the event to make the qualification more attractive to sailors of every level and let the benefits of US Sailing Membership, particularly the championship series, speak for themselves - not forcing people into things that makes some turn away altogether.
