In past surveys done by various entities, the majority of sailors have expressed a clear preference for one-design racing (I consider this to generally cover single-manufacturer one-design, multiple-manufacturer one-design, and formula).

But there is a spectrum ranging from people like me who do not like open-class racing under any circumstances, to those who do not like one-design racing under any circumstances.

So I phrased my original question the way I did because I wanted to hear from those people at the far end of the spectrum from me and find out whether and why they REALLY do not like one-design racing at all.

A lot of people SAY they prefer open class racing, but when they explain further, it usually turns out that they "prefer" it out of necessity rather than choice, because of the type of boat they have or type of boat they want.

But even then "choice" is involved, because they have chosen a boat (for financial, esthetic, or performance reasons) that does not have a viable class, either locally or nationally, to be able to race one-design.

And on a different level choice is also involved because even if people would actually prefer to race one-design if they could do it with their boat of choice, they are not proactive about growing their class. They just passively accept their fate of having to race on handicap.

By the way, in this thread only one person seemed to REALLY not like one-design racing under any circumstances.