World Sailing Presidential Newsletter: Feb 2019

I would love see the actual figures of when the drop out occurs 

I would say the converse. I think that university and post university is the biggest time for attrition for the young middle class dinghy sailor.
University is a pivotal time in a dinghy sailor’s career bridging the period between either regular club sailing / racing at clubs where they grew up, or in many cases racing in youth classes being towed around by DAD.
Moving away from home as is generally the case at university means not being affiliated with a conventional sailing club, no longer being in the youth “system,” being in a new town etc.
University sailing clubs are a rarefied thing where the demographic is almost exclusively hedonistic and privileged 18-22 year olds, being spoon fed sailing in knackered old boats that they don’t own or maintain unless it’s the poor bosun character upon which these clubs rely, racing in a format that is almost unheard of outside universities and certain public schools. So it’s free sailing in an artifice which is not sustainable ie it ends around 3 months before the rented mortarboard is tossed in the air.
A key predictor of life dinghy sailors is making the adult decision to find and join a sailing club and the commitment in money and time that entails, possibly own a boat and the sacrifices that might entail, all of which requires more commitment than uni sailing.
When uni sailing is over, often another move of town, some income but plenty of other distractions such as starting careers, finding partners or trawling tinder, trying to get on property ladder, getting an new Audi on the drip and two skiing holidays a year, and generally advertising an embellished / augmented version of ones life to ones peers on Instagram.
I think that RS Sailing has been pretty good bridging the gap with the value proposition that sailing some of its classes offers to the aspirational if not so imaginative young professional.

Its interesting that the US, which has one of the biggest college scenes, also seems to have some of the biggest issues with transition to adult dinghy classes.

Whilst I agree with most of what Dan said, I don't recognise the uni thing as being universal. Loads of my junior group students have ended up doing team racing, which has kept them in touch with sailing in general. There are some places where the "team" is all, and if you aren't good enough, you are ignored. In some cases, there has been a yachting club which has been more welcoming, but I know some have been lost to sailing because of the clique in those places.

Went to uni as a club racer, met loads of great sailors who have gone on to do things such as the VOR, came out ultra keen to do more sailing and now do that at club level and national level.