Sharp Turned Sport Into New Career
It’s about as far away as you can get from the high finance of real estate. But Bill Sharp has had no regrets about the direction his career took in the early 1980s, when he decided to make his living in surfing.
“It’s funny when I look back at it now. When I took a job at Surfing magazine as a writer, my plan was that I would do it for a year, then I’d have to get serious about a job,” Sharp said.
Those short-term plans have become very long term, however. Sharp has become a leading figure in the surfing industry and the force behind one of the Southland’s more unusual surfing contests.
The Katin Team Challenge, which begins July 24 in Huntington Beach, is a low-key event and is considered one of the mainland’s oldest surf events.
It has been called “organized chaos,” as four-member teams compete head to head, rotating all four members within a one-hour period. After catching three waves, each surfer must come into the “Launching Pad,” and tag a teammate.
The tournament was started in the 1970s by Walter and Nancy Katin, who owned the Katin surf apparel firm of Huntington Beach until it was bought by Sharp and his business partner, Rick Lohr.
“In the late ‘50s and in the ‘60s, Katin was the brand the top surfers wore,” Sharp said. “The trunks were made of canvas and was very durable. And by the early 60s when the Beach Boys were at their most popular and the ‘Endless Summer’ was playing at the movies, Katin was firmly established.”
Sharp, 36, has been surfing most of his life. As a student at Corona del Mar, he was a member of the 1981 National Scholastic Surfing Assn.’s National Surf Team and competed in national and international contests.
“I was surfing with this group of incredible surfers and we would go on trips to Hawaii or other places around the world,” Sharp said. “I would write stories about these trips and Surfing magazine printed one. I then started to write different stories for all the other magazines.”
In 1982, Sharp graduated from San Diego State with a finance degree. But he couldn’t resist the chance to stay involved with surfing. He stayed at Surfing magazine for eight years.
“I had a great time at Surfing. It was a wonderful era to be covering the sport,” Sharp said. “It was the explosion of pro surfing and the rediscovery of big waves. Everything seemed to be happening all at once.”
Surf wear was becoming big business, and Sharp and Lohr wanted to start their own company. But instead of starting from scratch, they bought Katin, which had been in a slump. The firm’s success has been coupled with a desire to keep the tournament started by the Katins going.
“The contest has always been low-key with fun being the main ingredient,” Sharp said. “It’s never had a huge purse and it’s never been the most glamorous, but the contest has always been extremely popular.”
Surfers who have competed include Peter Townend, Shaun Tomson, Tom Curren, Rabbit Bartholomew, Mark Richards, Mike Ho, Larry Bertlemann, Martin Potter, Kelly Slater, Rob Machado and Conan Hayes.
“One of the reasons this contest is so popular is because it allows a average surfer to go up against these top pros,” Sharp said.
This time, women such as Lisa Andersen, the defending world champion, will compete.
“All the surfers have a lot of fun. Which is one of the reasons why I got into this business. It’s fun and your hours can be flexible. Which is one of the big reasons why a lot of surfers got into this business. I mean, if you can’t be flexible and the waves are good . . . You couldn’t do that if I was in real estate finance,” Sharp said.
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Shane Beschen of San Clemente continues to make his way up the World Championship Tour rankings, moving into fourth place following the Quiksilver Pro. Shea Lopez, who’s also from San Clemente, shares seventh place with Todd Prestage of Australia.
Floridian Kelly Slater, who is trying for his fifth world title, continues to dominate the tour with 5,700 points, more than 1,000 points ahead of runner-up Mark Occhilupo of Australia.
Andersen is ranked first in the women’s tour. Other than No. 10 Rochelle Ballard of Hawaii, the top 10 is filled with Australians.
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Elaine Youngs, a rookie on the Women’s Professional Volleyball Assn. tour, won her first title last weekend in Chicago.
Youngs, an All-American from UCLA and El Toro High, teamed with another former Bruin and tour standout, Liz Masakayan, to defeat Lisa Arce and Holly McPeak, 16-14, in the championship match.
It was only the third event Masakayan and Youngs have been teamed and Youngs is thankful Masakayan is taking her under her wing.
But Masakayan, the tour’s second-leading all-time money winner heading into this season, thinks her tutelage is only a small part of what could be just the beginning for Youngs, a former U.S. National team member.
“Just watch, Elaine will develop into the top player on this tour,” Masakayan said at last month’s U.S. Open in Huntington Beach. “It’s just going to take a little time, but she’ll get there, playing with or without me.”
On the Beach runs regularly during the summer. Suggestions are welcome. Call (714) 966-5904 or fax 966-5663.
