Olson 30

Overview

The Olson 30 is an ultralight George Olson sloop from Santa Cruz, California, built from 1978 to 1984, with 250 built according to sailboatdata.com. Its place in this catalog rests on its ocean racing record: 11 different boats of the design have finished the Pacific Cup from San Francisco to Hawaii or the Newport Bermuda Race in the official results. Good Old Boat’s Karen Larson found the hull-to-deck joint well done, and the hulls are balsa-cored in the hull and the horizontal deck surfaces, with vacuum-bagged laminates. The owner she interviewed reported no delamination in the hulls, though wet core around neglected deck hardware at the mast partners and turning blocks is a concern with the fleet.

Design and Construction

sailboatdata.com lists the underbody as fin with spade rudder, 30 ft overall on a 27.5 ft waterline, with 9.33 ft of beam and 5.08 ft of draft. Displacement is about 3,600 lb with 1,800 lb of ballast, and the masthead sloop carries about 380 sq ft.

Ocean Racing Record

Oa Oa (Thoma/Parry) finished the Pacific Cup (1996, 1998). Mariko (Stephen Cook) finished the Pacific Cup (1982). Bullet (Geoff Eisenberg) finished the Pacific Cup (1982). Stray Cat (R. Dymond/P. Parsons) finished the Pacific Cup (1994). Other finishers include Still Crazy, Mas Rapido, Speedy Gonzalez, Howling, Speedy, Prankster.

Karen Larson described the accommodations as extremely Spartan: a quarter berth each side of the cockpit, and nothing stowed in the V-berth on racing boats, to prevent submarining when running down-wave at speed. Wikipedia notes the interior is light spruce plywood. The Olson 30 is light-air quick and surfs readily downwind, but it lacks the weight to drive through waves upwind in a breeze. One long-time owner beefed up the chainplates on his 1981 boat.