Matt... You should disclose that you build boats and purchase sails in bulk from sailmakers. Your perspective will be different then a sailor.
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Price is not likely to go down unless you happen to shop at some local bargain sail maker. To get a "Name brand" sail you are likely to pay even more than for the EP. Not much volume and you now spread it out even thinner so getting a Landy or Glaser to design and then back up a sail plan will not be cheap.
I agree with your price point idea. A better way to have descibed the trade off is would be to address the VALUE provided for your dollar.
The major international catamaran classes are Hobie 16, F18, A Class and Tornado. All but the Hobie 16 owners have decided that the best value for their $$$ comes from having a sail rule and having the CHOICE of sailmakers. Herbie reports that the majority of monohull OD classes ALSO choose the Value inherent in having multiple sailmakers.
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Open it up to different builders and you expect those to all be the same? You are now definitely not sailing 1-design.
This is a false choice... unless the sailors are one design as well.... eg same size and weight... you decidedly do not want one design sails. The majority of racing sailors, monohull or multihull interpret one design to mean a measurement rule which restricts the dimensions of the power plant. Historically catamaran builders convinced the consumer that their monopoly called ONE DESIGN SAILS was good for them. The competitive sailing world has mostly rejected this argument.
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Now everyone has to pay 20-40 bucks to play officialy with no more unifority to the class concept than you have now.
A red herring argument. The 20 to 40 bucks is going to an independent (from the sailmaker) class member who takes time certify TO THE CLASS OF SAILORS... that the sail rule is followed and the playing field is level. The 20 to 40 bucks ENSURES that the rule is followed to the class!... AND it validates the sail to the consumer who KNOWS he is not only legal for the class... but also he has the largest legal sail he is allowed... Not just one that is 4 inches too short... BUT measures in to the SMOD spec! If your independent sail does not measure in... or is not close to your specs.... the sailmaker fixes the problem!
