SWG

I am Scott from Toronto and I have managed this website (solo) since 2016. I have launched a gofundme fundraising campaign to cover costs of web hosting for olson30.org for the next 3 years. Read our story below and if you’ve ever used our site for reference, placed a free classified ad and sold your boat to a new owner, or been a member of the Class Association, please consider a donation.

Scott at the helm with Andre Beese, ghosting in the dawn light, approaching Kingston, ON. LYRA Centennial Cup, July 2023.

When I started managing the site there was Olson 30 Class activity here in the forums, on Lake Ontario especially, and the west coast – however it might have seemed then that the writing was on the wall and that the Olson 30 Class had her best days and year behind her. Class events were held on Lake Ontario in 2017, an attempt was made for a 2019 North American Championships but the event fizzled due to many registered boats declining to attend the event, so in 2019 we had 3 Olson 30’s in the PHRF fleet of LYRA 2019.

In 2024 a North American Championship was held at Duluth Yacht Club and was by all accounts a successful event, the Duluth area being home to at least 10 O30’s and the event itself attended by 8. A renaissance for the Olson 30 Class? Perhaps, but maybe fairer to say “it’s still breathing, Captain!” and see what next year brings. DYC is considering a reprise of the 2024 NAC’s for 2025.

The Class Association itself can safely be characterized as on life support, if not dead. I have personally been largely responsible for keeping the life support going, by not pulling the plug on this here website. The most recent National Championships were held in 2016 in Dana Point. The Class last had a meeting in Kingston, ON, in 2017, after the 2017 North American Championships. We (the “Class”) have not collected dues since 2016. We have no elected Officers that I can identify. Our most recent President was Jason Adamson (White Lightning) circa 2016. Our most recent Treasurer was Todd Downey (Blue Star) circa 2016. By any realistic measure, the Olson 30 Class Association is dead.

The user forums of this website were once an active and vital part of our community. Sadly the advent of Facebook Groups seems to have killed our user forum–even though to my mind the user forums here have much more utility than a Facebook Group ever could, largely because we as a community own all the content, and also because the threaded postings of the user forum like ours are much easier to search after the fact, when looking for info from your community hive mind. This isn’t to say the Olson 30 Facebook Group has no utility, it does have utility, but this group has kicked the tar out of our forums and in my opinion this is not a positive development.

BUT THE BOATS THEMSELVES LIVE ON, AND WE LOVE THEM!

And this is why I have kept this website alive. Racing on a Olson 30 is not dead, not by any stretch. Olson 30’s are still actively raced all over North America and any of us who own and race an Olson 30 know that these boats are still competitive, still heaps of fun to sail and to race, and provide one fo the best value propositions for a small racing keelboat of ANY boat you could own. George Olson designed and built a classic, a boat that can still hold her own against much newer, much more costly boats, even 40+ years on. The robust fleet on Lake Ontario has thinned, but these boats are still active, with many of them in the Detroit/Lake St. Clair area. The PNW Olson 30 fleet seems to have disappeared or dispersed. Cal and SoCal fleets are still active but thinning. Olson 30’s continue to populate the Singlehanded Sailing Society events in NorCal, especially the Singlehanded Transpac (SHTP) which has Olson 30’s participating most, if not all years. Nawilliwilli Yacht Club on Kauai is a mini-hotbed of Olson 30’s, many of which have arrived on Kauai at the terminus of the SHTP and been sold on to a new owner instead of being sailed or shipped back to CA after the race.

And so, the point of my missive today: What shall we do with olson30.org? This site costs peanuts to maintain, really, but someone has to cover the cost. I have personally paid for the web hosting (out of my own pocket) since 2019. Hosting fees are currently $120.00US per year, this does not include keeping the domain olson30.org registered. Hosting needs to be paid before April 30, 2025. If I cannot get suitable inertia in the form of a forward-looking plan from our community to cover the cost of 2025 hosting services I may not renew, but this for me is not the desired outcome.

I am looking for input from anyone who cares to share their thoughts on how to proceed, email mailto: webmaster@olson30.org

Forum topic opened for discussion, please share your ideas either with the email above or in the Forum

Wither olson30.org

Scott Lyons

Toronto, April 2025

The George Olson Trophy was commissioned by the Lake Ontario Olson 30 Fleet to be awarded to the North American Champion boat. The so-called NAC’s regatta is held in co-operation between the Northeast and Great Lakes Regions, and is open to any Olson 30 Class member boats. Each year the Regions choose a venue and dates. Some North American Championships have been run as one-design classes within an existing regatta, for example LYRA. Some years the North Americans are run as a stand alone regatta, for example the 2014 Nationals. The last year for NAC’s on Lake Ontario was 2017, so a few years of layoff since, but 2024 NAC’s are back, in Duluth.

“The George” has made its way from Kingston, ON, to Toronto, and will be dispatched to Duluth for the event.

See you on the line!

Save the Date!

The Olson 30 North Americans are back and will be held out of Duluth Yacht Club and Barker’s Island Marina over Labor Day weekend. With 8 boats locally, this is virtually guaranteed to be the largest fleet of Olson 30s racing together in several years. Throw in a few Lake Michigan, Erie and Ontario boats plus a few more plus changes to the class rules to boost eligibility (see below) and we should have a nice turnout.

Racing will Friday – Sunday with a distance race on Saturday. Logistics (launching/hauling , dockage, and mast stepping), along with post-race activities, race committee and trophies, is being covered by Barker’s so event costs to the participants should be very modest.

Facebook Event Here

Class Rules: To encourage the greatest possible participation, we propose modified Class Rules for this event, and if ratification is possible, all future Olson 30 Class events. See the Draft Rules page.

Seems Facebook is playing a larger role in online communities all the time, and especially as Facebook moved into promotion of Groups, use of the Olson 30 Forums has declined.

The Olson 30 Class has a Facebook page, please visit, like and follow us!

You can find a lot of the content and commentary that formerly was happening on our own Forums, now on the Olson 30 Sailboat Group on Facebook. Are we happy about this? Honestly, no. We believe the Forums are the best place to talk about anything related to your Olson 30, for many reasons such as:

Topics: discussion is divided into topics such as General, Technical, Projects etc.
Searchable: Facebook groups are not easy to search
Historical Info: Olson 30 Forums have about 15 years of discussion
Class Maintenance: Using the O30 Forums keeps the class more vital

As the saying goes, and this pertains mostly to our own Forums: Use it or Lose it!

There are several boats for sale in the classified section of olson30.org. From a $2,000 ‘parts boat’ to fully kitted out and restored boats with new sails. Check it out!

Olson 30 Class members and others.

We are excited to announce our Championship Regatta, August 2-4, 2019 in Oakville Ontario, in conjunction with the 134th LYRA Annual Regatta. We have commitment from the LYRA Organizing Authority to host our event and the Notice of Race will be published in January of 2019.

This event will be considered the Olson 30 Nationals and North Americans Combined and will be a celebration for the 40th Anniversary for the Olson 30 Class. As anyone who is or has been a part of the Class Association, class events for the Olson 30 have been on the decline in recent years and we have sketched out an event we can be proud of.

We will be announcing all the details by January 2019 including regatta fees, sponsors, race documents and schedule. Registration will be live by the 3rd week of January 2019.

At this time we are looking for a few things from the Olson 30 community:

• charter boats and charter crews. We hope to have at least two, if not more, crews from outside Lake Ontario travel to the event. The Olson 30 Class Association will sponsor the first two crews who commit to the event and intend to charter, and the O30 class will arrange charters.

• an idea of interest from owners of modified Olson 30’s, as well as Olson 29’s and 25’s. If we can get 4 boats we will run a modified fleet start for open transom and other non-class compliant boats. Class rules do not permit heavily modified boats to compete for the Class championships but we invite any and all boats to join us, and sail on our course.

• buy-in. Who is interested in this event? We have at least 9 Olson 30’s on Lake Ontario and close vicinity, a handful more in close range. We need buy-in from owners and crews and also on the organizational side. LYRA will run the racing but we can make the event really special on the on-shore side if we put in the effort.

Watch this page for more info and as well permanent pages will be going up on olson30.org by mid-December.

See you on the line!

Great Lakes Olson 30 Fleet

2017 Olson 30 NA summary respectfully submitted to the Olson 30 fleet:

The Kingston winds and Race Management did not disappoint in another successful Olson 30 North American Championship. Hosted by CORK at the Portsmouth Olympic Harbour, the 2017 NAs came and went with both thrills and spills.

Day 1 saw classic Kingston prevailing strong SW breeze and chop which unfortunately proved too much for Smoke’Em’s mast and an O’Naturel crew’s shoulder (both broken! we wish both spar and body a speedy recovery); four races course were completed ending with tight standings. Day 2 APed one hour while the breeze filled-in to light conditions; the LD was completed with O’Nat leading the procession followed by Investors Group and Boom (with guest helmsman, and notoriously good past Olson owner, Scott Mundle). Day 3 opened with extremely tight standings – it was anyone’s trophy for the taking – strong breeze but from the unconventional NE saw O’Nat and Ritalin trading 1s and 2s. Once the dust settled, the George Olson Memorial Trophy was awarded to Ritalin from the Kingston Yacht Club.

Regards,

Mike Hull / RITALIN

Photo courtesy Geoff Webster

We are thrilled to announce that the 2017 NAC’s have been set for CORK / Kingston Olympic Harbour, July 21-23. The CORK registration page and NOR are now live, see links below to the CORK website and our olson30.org 2017 NAC’s pages. See you there!

2017 NAC’s Info and Registration page here.

Photo courtesy Geoff Webster

Save the date and stay tuned for more info to come in the New Year. We are looking forward to bringing out the biggest fleet for the NAC’s that we’ve had in years. The sailing conditions at CORK are fantastic, race management second to none and Kingston is a great destination for crews who are coming from distance. Bring your fam and lets make the 2017 NAC’s rock!

Photo courtesy sailingshot.com

Discussion for 2017 found here:

2017 North Americans July 21-23 CORK, Kingston, ON

Dedicated 2016 NAC’s page now up here.

[Posted on behalf of Mike Hull, representing the Eastern Olson 30 Fleets]

A warm hello to the Eastern Olson 30 Fleets,

I’m proposing the following event:

Olson 30 North Americans hosted by CORK (in congruity with Etchell 22 Canadians)

Thursday July 21 – early arrival and launch

Friday July 22 – late arrival, registration, skipper’s meeting, course racing (target 4 races), social event

Saturday July 23 – long distance race, social event

Sunday July 24 – course racing (target 3 races), awards, departure

– Olsons will dock at either Kingston Yacht Club (KYC) or Portsmouth Olympic Harbour (POH)

– social events to piggy-pack on Etchells or stand-alone at KYC

– crane will be onsite at POH to launch/haul Olsons and Etchells

Event planning will be contingent on a minimum of six interested boats; please respond asap if your boat is interested.

Regards,

Mike

We have a new Hull Database form. If you have recently purchased or sold an Olson 30, if you have moved with your boat, or if you are just not sure if your Hull info is current, please take a few moments to complete the form with your latest information.

Hull Database Submission

All data is kept private and is only used for the Olson 30 Hull Database.

The Future of olson30.org

The George Olson Memorial Trophy

The Olson 30 North Americans Are Back for 2024!

Save the Date!

Olson 30 Class on Facebook

For Sale on olson30.org – lots of selection

2019 Championships Announced

And the Winners of the 2017 North American Championships Are…

2017 NAC’s July 21-23 NOR and Registration now LIVE

North Americans 2016

New Hull Database Submission Form