Doesn't any one out there feel as I do, that debate about the preference/desire for OD or open racing is somewhat divisive and damaging for the cohesion of catamarans in general?
I remember years back when ALL cats were so few in numbers at any racing venue that the clubs/organisers at regattas would turn any multihulled sailor away because they didn't sail "real" boats. We had an uphill fight for years just to be accepted by the "established" sailing community as being somewhat (almost but not quite) legitimate and therefore PERHAPS entitled to participate in organised racing. During those years all the cats that were finally allowed to compete on the racecourse sailed as "ONE DESIGN" - IE CATAMARANS -. It didn't matter whether you sailed a 13' cat against a 21' cat (and any length in between), you were all sailing as a one-design craft against many designs of mono hulls.
There was this sense of total unity between ALL multi hull sailors. It was them against us, and the bonds that were created between cat sailors during those years have lasted just as strongly right down to the present. No sailor that lived through those early years of cat sailing would ever even try to delineate between the pros and cons of breaking up ANY cat into "elitist", "one class/one design" or another only, at the expense of the "FLEET" of cats as a whole. When strict one design racing reigns supreme (as it very nearly did through the dominance of Hobie in the recent past) it has created a feeling of "power" for the strong (in number) OD classes, and promoted/propagated a sense of "inferiority" towards those who sail cats without major numbers on the water, regardless of the non OD cats performances.
Regardless of whether it offers "better/tighter competition" around the racecourse, it is still doubtful whether it is in the best interests of catamaran sailing and sailors as a whole. To debate OD as opposed to open is as about as legitimate as debating catamarans as opposed to keel boats, or whether oranges are better than apples?