The Olson 30 Class Association is dedicated to promoting the ownership, sailing, racing and enjoyment of Olson 30s.

The Olson 30 is a sailboat designed by George Olson of Santa Cruz, CA around 1978. Olson was a surfer and surfboard shaper who decided to design a 30' ultra light displacement boat while on a delivery from Honolulu to Santa Cruz on Merlin, a 68' Bill Lee designed and built[1] ultralight sailboat which had competed in the biennial Transpac race in 1977. During this delivery, Olson came up with the idea while sailing with Denis Bassano and Don Snyder.

The Olson 30 National Class Association presides over the set of rules that regulate racing an Olson 30 as a One Design class, and it provides support for a yearly National Championship regatta.  In addition to the national class association, several regional class associations exist where the boat is popular enough to support a regular one-design fleet.

Where boats do not race in One Design starts, the boat competes using the well-known PHRF handicapping system, and more recently in some cases the Americap system. Using these handicapping systems, the Olson 30 is commonly pitted against other well-known racing designs such as the Melges 24, Soverel 33, and J/29.