hi, couldn’t find an easy way to set the ‘first point’ in an open curve, I mean: how do you set where the gap starts and ends if you already have a curve drawn…? it always disconnect first and last points…
here’s a very basic operator to offset point indices of active spline to ‘solve’ my enigma 
http://db.tt/Jczjj5ry
search from spacebar as ‘Offset Point Index’, then F6 or toolshelf to adjust