Not sure why USS membership doesn't go towards Olympic sailing, although I know many wouldn't support it.
Well, we are a "what's in it for me" society now, aren't we? I guess perhaps the only reason I feel somewhat benevolent now is I actually know the Olympic hopefuls...?
Hey, can we continue to bring international level events here to the US? Would that help bring the teams up to Olympic caliber faster?
Bringing international events to the US is great, but hard to sustain in my opinion. The only annual international Olympic class event in the US is the Miami OCR, and I think it will be a struggle just to make sure we keep that one. Raising the profile of existing events like CORK would be very beneficial (and sailing there is awesome!).
As far as individual class events, you are restricted by class politics. For the F18s, getting a Worlds outside Europe is VERY hard. The current tentative plan is:
2013: Grosseto, Italy (confirmed)
2014: Ireland or Argentina (bids)
2015: Argentina or Oman (bids)
I believe there is another European bid in there as well, but I forget where. Argentina has a chance because it is Souther Hemisphere and the Europeans wouldn't lose part of their season to ship boats.
The A-Cats will likely be back, but it could be a few years. The 2013 F16 Worlds is Germany, maybe a US venue can put together a bid for F16s in the coming years.
The Nacra 17s will also have a worlds, but that will be subject to the ISAF Combined Worlds planning, so hard to say!
