Olson 30s Are Still Fast, Fun and Available

We were looking at the November 1978 issue of Latitude 38 when we came across the ad below for the just-introduced Olson 30. It was a hot boat then and it’s a hot boat now. Latitude 38 founder Richard Spindler owned a couple of them. One was a company boat that we raced out of the Schoonmaker Point dry-storage area for years. He also cruised it for a few tours of the Bay with Doña de Mallorca. The other was shipped to St. Barts and used as a local daysailer. The boat is well built, sails beautifully, and fits the ethos of a soul sailor who likes to keep it simple.

There are still many Olson 30s tearing up the Bay — Michael and Apryl Berndt’s Flying Fish and Cameron Wright’s Concussion are signed up for tomorrow’s Delta Ditch Run. There’s also one for sale in Latitude 38’s Classifieds for $16,000! Less than the original $20,000 price. It comes with a trailer, “Plus a professional open-transom conversion. Micro-adjustable mainsheet, traveler and backstay. Bowsprit, excellent like-new sail inventory, Pelagic PA1 autopilot. Much more! Sail now!” That’s what the ad says.

We have to admit, for all the great stories we assemble every month for the magazine and ‘Lectronic Latitude, we routinely hear that many people’s favorite reasons to read the magazine and online material are all the great boats for sale. They can be boats in the brokerage ads from our advertisers, or boats like this Olson 30 in the Classifieds. Another great Santa Cruz-built boat was just added, the Express 27 Chimo, available now for $9,500.

Don’t wait to buy. You’ll miss the Delta Ditch Run tomorrow, but buying either of these boats now will help you have a better summer sailing!

You can see all of Latitude 38‘s back issues here.