Racing
Olson 30’s all over the North America participate in handicap racing and as the Class Association events have faded in participation, handicap racing is gaining in importance to Olson 30 sailors. In the very early days of the Olson 30 it was classed in MORC – Mini Ocean Racing Class – and did very well against the Andrews 30 and J29 for example. As an example of the importance of the Olson 30 in MORC, Rod Johnstone, founder of J Boats is quoted (note- 1+ hour youtube video, J29 – Olson 30 discussion starts at 46:20) as saying the J29 was designed specifically to compete with the Olson 30 in MORC. Through the years other handicapping systems have come and gone but in the present day PHRF and IRC are the most common fleets in which Olson 30’s participate, and the newest handicapping scheme Orc and ORCi are making headway in North America also.