Someone brought a good point. Have we really INCREASED the TOTAL number of sailors, or rather consolidated them into one or two classes?
Definatly not increased the total number of sailors in any measurable form. However! the class is not something a new sailor would want to learn on. You can sail with a novice cres but at the very least the helm needs to know what is going on or things get very wet very quickly.
The real attraction is people looking at them on the beach and seeing them flying about in the bay. Impossible to say how many new sailors it brings to the sport into some of the feeder catagories.