Duds for Dudes : Seamstress Can’t Stay Away From Work or Big Surfing Event

Sato Hughes has sewn surf trunks for several generations of Southern California surfers and helps sponsor one of the state’s longest-running surf contests. She laughs when asked whether she ever learned to surf.

“I can’t even swim,” Hughes said Friday, sitting at a sewing machine in the Kanvas by Katin shop off Pacific Coast Highway where she has worked for 34 years.

Hughes, 66, was the original seamstress hired by “Capt.” Walter and Nancy Katin in 1961, a year after she immigrated to California from Japan.

When Walter Katin died in 1967, his wife ran the business. But when Nancy Katin died in 1986, she bequeathed the shop to Hughes, who still works five days a week sewing custom orders. Hughes’ son, Glenn, is the store manager.

“I retired two years ago,” Hughes said. “But I still come here and work because it gives me something to do.”

Hughes and her son still help sponsor the Katin Team Challenge, which began in 1965, returned to the Huntington Beach Pier this week and runs through Sunday.

“I still visit the contest and help hand out the trophies to the surfers,” she said with a gleam in her eye.

Through the early years, the contest became one of the biggest professional surfing meets in California, attracting the world’s best surfers to Huntington Beach for a rare performance. The list of surfing professionals included Shaun Thomson of South Africa, Peter Townend, Mark Warren and Ian Cairns, all of Australia, and Larry Bertlemann, Reno Abelira and Gerry Lopez, all of Hawaii.

“I remember it was an event that everyone came to at the end of the professional season,” said Townend, a former world champion and now an executive with Rusty, a surfing-apparel company in Orange County.

Because the contest included professionals and amateurs, it was one of the few events in which local amateurs “could enter the same heat as a (four-time champion) Mark Richards,” said Bill Sharp, president of the Katin wholesale division in Costa Mesa.

Walter Katin started the contest, which was originally dubbed the Underdog Contest, a low-key fun event for Southern California surfers who had never won before.

When Walter Katin died, the contest was temporarily halted. But his wife resumed the competition in 1977 as the Katin Pro/Am Team Challenge, Sharp said.

From the small shop in Surfside, the Katins had sold canvas boat covers until some local surfers asked them to make trunks from the same durable canvas in 1959. At the time, department store swim trunks were made of cotton and were notorious for falling apart in the strong surf.

The trunks not only survived the rigors of pounding surf, but grew in popularity as the sport developed in the ‘60s and ‘70s, earning a fashion niche that made them synonymous with surfing.

At the time, Birdwell, Hang Ten, Johnson, and Catalina were the biggest names in swimwear, Hughes recalled.

“Katins became part of surfing’s lore,” Sharp said.

Some surfers still prefer wearing Katins, which remain popular because they are made of canvas and nylon and dry fast.

“They’re really comfortable and you can get them made any way you want,” said Jason Nonemaker, 22, an employee at a Huntington Beach surf shop. “If you want the pocket blue or red, you just tell them and they get it for you.”

Hughes said that before Nancy Katin died, the two discussed the possibility of Hughes taking over the business.

“I told her, ‘I sew. I only sew,’ ” Hughes said. “She mentioned to me a couple of times that I should take over the business. But I said, ‘No!’

“Then after she died, her attorney called and said that Mrs. Katin put me in her will. I couldn’t believe it!”

Hughes recalled that she and her son socialized and spent holidays with the Katins, who had no children.

Glenn Hughes, 35, said Walter Katin bought him his first fishing pole. And, he said the four would often spend nights aboard Walter’s boat, the Southern Seas.

“Basically, I was their kid,” he said.

After Nancy Katin died, Glenn Hughes said his mother labored seven days a week trying to make the store successful.

“Her friends said it aged her 10 years,” he said. “Now she only works five days a week, but even that was a battle because she is so used to working. I remember telling her she needed to start working five days a week and she turned to me and said, ‘You know, I can fire you.’ ”

“But she did take my advice,” he said. “She’ll probably be here when she’s 75 years old, still working. I’ll never be able to get rid of her.”