What does the word 'Olo' mean ?

I've been looking at the term 'Olo' to find out what it means. It certainly has no connection with 'rockerless' 'finless' 'thick'  'narrow' or 'solid' as some people suppose when claiming that the word should not be used for surfboards with fins and rocker. The also claim that the term should only be used for copies of the Hawaiian slab olo board found in the Bishop Museum.

  'Olo' is  an onomatopoeic  term derived from the rhythmic sound and action of sawing, this led to derivative  meanings i.e. a long resounding noise or long surfboard.

So the term has come to refer to long surfboards due to the sound made when sawing, scraping, or rubbing them during construction, which in the case of a very large surfboards is louder, longer, and more resonant.

Thus I think that any long wooden surfboard can lay claim to the word. I saw and sand my long wooden boards out by hand and they have great resonance. . . so much so that I wear earmuffs when using handtools on them. Hollow paulownia boards have excellent resonance.

Hand sanding with earmuffs on as 'olo' sound is loud!

Now I know what to chant to myself during the many hours of hand sawing, hand scraping and hand sanding when making Olo boards . . . .  Olo, olo, olo,olo,olo,olo. . . .. .. .

Olo also means 'hill' so it's possible that there's also a connection to liquid hills. . .

Garrett's first wave at small Pipeline on a 13' olo

Claiming that Olo can only refer to the ancient type, is in my opinion incorrect as a matter of fact due to the etymology of the word.

Check out the source here

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