Dermot,
I was surprised that on the Unicorn website it does not say anything about the fact that the Unicorn (an A-Class cat) was a primary candidate, along with the Tornado (at that time a B-Class cat), to become the first Olympic class catamaran. One of the main requirements was that the design had to be capable of being home-built to keep the Olympics accessible and affordable.

Both boats met that requirement, but the home-building theory doesn't seem to have worked out very well for the Olympics.