How would you define successful? The C-class is pretty successful in my opinion, in bringing forth the fastest sailing yacht under 25feet. But I assume you mean a large and vital class?


Inclusiveness. New sailors (and old) must feel that they are welcome to the class and part of a succesful group. Especially so when racing. If you feel outside of the group, you will soon look for a new group (I believe this is "confirmed" by psychology litterature, e.g. Maslows pyramid: http://www.itiadventure.com/Maslow.jpg ). Studying Maslows pyramid, you will see the most important, basic, needs lowest down, and self-actualisation at the top. I think this is pretty descriptive of what sailors look for, but different sailors seek different levels of the pyramid. For some the basic inclusiveness and having fun is enough, while others want to be the class champion and achieve self-actualisation trough racing.

Important points to attract new sailors are affordability, image of the class and publicity. Attracting new sailors to a class is just as important as keeping the old ones in the class.

The magic will not happen unless there are some "sparkplugs" who start things and keep them rolling.
To get the first boats on the water, you need something special like the one-up/two up options of the F-16. Or somebody well-connected sets up the class and gets it going trough sponsors/spending money, like the Vx40 or SeaCart30.