In Australia "open class" or racing with each different class of cat sailing with their allocated handicap/yardstick, and ALL racing against each other has always been and always will be universal. It is the most successful way of having the greatest number of cats at any given event and it is liked by all who compete on cats here. The only time that OD is raced is for class, state or national heats and even those are more often than not, raced in conjunction with, and within fleets of other classes of cats racing on yardstick at local clubs. I (and most sailors that I talk to here) just find this debate that you are having in the states completely "strange" and more than a little bemusing. Cats are cats and the more that sail together and the greater their variations, the greater the "fun" sailing against and with each other.