It was an extended version of his 36-footer[1] Einar Ohlson was a well-known 5.5 M boat designer in the 1960s like[1] Bill Luders, Ray Hunt or Britton Chance, Jr. His boats are still raced today as classics within the 5.5 M race circuit.
[1] The GRP hulls for the Ohlson 38 were laminated by the Tyler Boat Company Ltd.[4] in Tonbridge, Kent in the United Kingdom and so were decks including the coachroof.
[1] Other yards finished these boats, including Malö in Henån, Matthiessen und Paulsen in Arnis/Germany, and Alexander Robertsons & Sons in Sandbank, Argyll, Scotland.
[5] The Ohlson 38 is an ocean-going cruiser, and many extended voyages have been made with these boats, including Clare Francis's Observer Single-handed Trans-Atlantic Race with 'Robertson's Golly',[6] a woman's world-record transatlantic crossing speed record.
[7] and other voyages have been written about by Richard "Jud" Henderson,[8] and Johanna Michaelis and Klaus Nölters with their circumnavigation on Ole Hoop.