Well-known unpredictable TCP-over-TCP performance would only explain OpenVPN/TCP results.
But OP has posed also OpenVPN/UDP performance that is 2x...3x slower than SSH port forwarding, so I'd guess there is more to this story (see also andmarios's impromtu test results above).
But OP has posed also OpenVPN/UDP performance that is 2x...3x slower than SSH port forwarding, so I'd guess there is more to this story (see also andmarios's impromtu test results above).