What is the history behind Santa Cruz’s Olson surfboards. I hear that Doug Haut started out shaping there. Tryed to google it but nothing came up. Thanks
yep .
mine was a hynson lookalike
olsen quit surfboards and moved up o super sailboats and then to
trans pac race boats.
employed many surfers in the boatbuilding industry
in santa cruz…
heard lots on the coconut wireless for years but less
these days…
low key
haut went off on his own
became a major force in evolution
surfing in santa cruz
and vanguarded the longboard revival
…ambrose…
olsen surfboards
doug haut model
bitchin board.
My very first real custom board was an Olson, the sales room was on 7th ave I think, right across the street from where the tenius court is now. I own a Olson that was shaped by Doug Haut it is hanging in my house it has 2, 1/2 inch wide redwood stringers, big skig (D fin) they were build to last big winners out at the Lane no cords back then. I showed mine to Doug a few years back and he said “I can’t believe I use to shape crap like this”.
I can’t say much about the surfboards, but his sailboats are legendary.
They were ULDB (ultra light displacement boats) and wer reknowned for their ability to…surf (surprise). They wer also so well built that George Olson claimed he put himself out of business.
Olson 30 are still a lively class. For pics and info go to olson30.org
His surfboards were really heavy and his sailboats really light. He and Ron Moore built a 7 foot + sailboat called a Jester which during the late 70’s and early 80’s was probably the most popular boat around - total weight 40 or so lbs. “The most terifying three knots you’ll ever go” God I love that description!
They used to have cross sections of glassed boards on the counter with a hammer to test them.
3 layers of 10 oz to smooth your style.
Foam t bands and such.
The Draft disasembled both Olson and Yount surfboards.
Original showroom was on East Cliff Drive, near 26th Avenue. Later moved to the 7th Avenue location. Strong cast of local talent, with Tom Hoye, Dennis Conquest, and others. If memory serves me correctly, Doug Haut was not with Olson in the early days, but rather Doug and his brother Dan were working in Florida. I believe that the company in Florida was Campbell Surfboards, but that is really taxing the memory banks. Doug had been working with Mickey Lake’s Inter Island Surf Shop prior to that. Few people remember that Dan Haut was a fantastic laminator, as well as a very good surfer. The IRS ended the operation, and sold off the inventory. Great deals on barrels of resin, etc. The label design was outlined by using the tear out top of a Kleenex box.
A lot of premium product has always flowed from the Haut factory, still does. Although, Mike Wasch, recently passed, phenominal laminator, shaper, and craftsman. Everytime time I do a bump wing or an asymetrical I think of him; only guy in the industry who actually instructed me with calibrated detail and insight. He used to get poly sailboards almost as light as the epoxy composites. Haut is something else as well; see a little of the Haut in Griffin’s boards the rails and noses…classic uniqueness. Or maybe I am seeing Greg’s in Haut’s, the consciousness is there, however its channeled.
Those Olson stickers looked great on my white 64 Mercury Marauder.