Knud Olsen

Knud Olsen (1919 in Præstø – 31 August 2010 in Bandholm) was a Danish builder and designer of boats, who designed one of the most popular sailing dinghies in use over the past 50 years, the OK Dinghy, which became an ISAF International Class in 1974.

Olsen went on to design sailboats built in the town of Bandholm under that name. The Bandholm boats were built between 20 and 35 feet long starting in 1961 and until the builders went under in the late 80s.

Biography Olsen was born in 1919 in Præstø, Denmark. In the early 1950s, he joined the Danish company, A. P. Botved, who were producing speedboats, and worked there until he started his own business in Bandholm in 1961. The outcome was the OK dinghy, which went on to be a classic design, became an ISAF International Class in 1974

Knud Olsen died aged 90 on 31 August 2010 in his hometown Bandholm.