This is the largest surfboard that renowned surfboard shaper Reynolds Yater ever built and is an homage to the Hawaiian origin and spiritual roots of surfing—the sport of Hawaiian kings.

In the Hawaiian tradition dating back to long before western contact, the Olo board was reserved exclusively for Hawaiian royalty and chiefs or revered warriors of the very highest rank. Making a new Olo was attended by great ceremony and ritual presided over by kahunas, the Hawaiian shamans, with chants and sacrifices of fish and pigs—testament to the important role surfing played in ancient Hawaiian culture. At 20-plus feet long, six inches thick and weighing upwards of 200 pounds, the original Olos must have demanded great physical strength and dexterity to ride. But ridden they were, sometimes in contests in which huge wagers—of land, livestock and even wives—rode on the outcome.

When missionaries arrived in the early 1800s, however, both surfing and gambling were heavily suppressed. In fact, the art of surfing (and surfboard making) almost died out before its revival in Waikiki during the early years of the 20th century. The Olo board has held a fascination for surfboard builders ever since.

The plan for this board comes from the catalog of the collection in Honolulu's Bishop Museum dated 1913. It is a reinterpretation of the traditional Olo, neither as long nor as thick. Yater shaped this version at the request of James O’Mahoney, a surfboard collector and founder of the Santa Barbara Surf Museum in California. It has never been ridden.

Traditional Olo boards were made from a variety of native woods, including ulu (breadfruit), wiliwili (Hawaiian balsa) and strong, hard koa. This board is made of West Coast redwood. But even there is a connection to the ancient Hawaiian tradition: redwood logs would occasionally wash up on Hawaiian shores after drifting for years in the Pacific. Such logs were highly valued for making into surfboards, including Olos, and were revered as “ho-okupu ke kai”— divine gifts from the sea.