Archbold Says Future Highs to Be on Surfboard

For one wild ride, the curious but still sleepy beach crowd shook the sand out of its eyes and paid closer attention to the commotion in the ocean just south of Oceanside Pier.

In the eighth heat of the $50,000 Killer Loop main event Saturday morning, the fifth stop on the Bud U.S. Pro Surfing Tour, Matt “Wild Man” Archbold of San Clemente caught a wave with just seconds remaining and took the spectators along for the choppy ride. Archbold worked his way through the wave like a master craftsman and drew gasps and cheers with a front-side aerial maneuver that momentarily had him airborne.

Archbold is now flying high in a surfing sense only. For the first time in years--”It’s been long enough that I can’t remember,” he said--Archbold says he is chemical free and confident of what the future holds for him.

Less than a month ago, Archbold, 21, was being weaned from alcohol and drugs at the Betty Ford Clinic in Palm Springs. He agreed to go to the rehabilitation center after spending two weeks in jail for what he describes as a “tickets, warrants for my arrest, a little of everything.” This was the first pro surfing event he was able to enter this season.

That he is competing at all is amazing enough--he didn’t surf at all for four months. But that he made it through the qualifying rounds and finished first in his heat Saturday to advance to today’s sixth round is testament to the road one must travel to heal the wounds of a destructive and wasted youth.

According to Mike Balzer, a photographer for the Professional Surfing Assn. of America, Archbold, after a year’s absence from the tour, is now the talk of it.

“With him just showing up, there’s a buzz in the air,” Balzer said. “Realistically, everyone knows he could easily win it. Sarcastically, everyone’s wondering whether he’ll show up.”

Archbold managed his only PSAA victory in 1988 in Oceanside when he was hung over from a long night of overindulgence. Last summer in Salt Creek, his last pro surfing event, Archbold made the quarterfinals but partied all night long and never made it to Sunday’s competition.

“It’s funny now,” Archbold said. “Then, it wasn’t.”

Five years ago, when he was 16, Archbold--who dropped out of school in the ninth grade--turned pro and set out on the Assn. of Surfing Professionals’ world tour.

“I went to Japan by myself,” he said. “It was kind of weird being that far away from home. But I was making a pretty good name for myself and getting paid pretty well, so I wanted to keep going.”

After he had been on tour for two years, when he was making $4,500 a month, Archbold was growing restless and burning out of surfing. As his substance abuse peaked, he bottomed out.

“I did a lot of drinking and drugs,” he said. “I was hanging out, doing nothing, not even surfing. I lost all my sponsors, I wasn’t making any money, I wasn’t getting paid, and I was in a lot of trouble with the police.”

Two weeks in jail this past spring proved to be the turning point for Archbold, who had time to do a lot of thinking. He took a hard look at himself and didn’t like what he saw.

“It woke me up,” he said, “I knew (jail) wasn’t the place for me. I started thinking. I’ve grown up surfing. That’s my life, that’s all I know how to do. I got scared.”

Scared straight. Now, Archbold surfs, attends adult night school and AA meetings and is hanging out with a new group of friends.

The guy he hangs with most is San Clemente’s Dino Andino, 21, the overall runner-up on the tour the past two years and winner of his heat Saturday. Andino and Archbold have known each other since they were 6 but were more rivals than friends while growing up.

Andino had offered a hand of friendship during Archbold’s self-destructive binges and never got a response. But after he was released from rehabilitation, Archbold was ready for a friend.

“I reached out before, but this time he reached back,” Andino said. “He’s one of my favorite surfers. He has the most talent, raw talent out on the water than anyone. And now he’s 15 times better because he’s sober.”

The consensus is that Archbold has few limits in what he can accomplish in the sport.

“Matt is one of the 10 best freestyle surfers in the world,” Balzer said. “Personally, he’s one of my top eight in the world.”

Said Andino: “The only time he’ll lose is if he loses it to himself.”

Surfing Notes

Oceanside’s Mike Lambresi and Cardiff’s Rob Machado, 16, are among six San Diego surfers remaining in the main event. Other San Diego competitors making the cut are San Diego’s Justin Poston, Carlsbad’s Sean Mattison, Encinitas’ Trevor Christ and Cardiff’s Colin Smith. The second round of the main event begins at 7 a.m. today, followed by quarterfinals in the Body Glove Bodyboard division at 9:30. Finals will begin somewhere around 1:30 p.m. or 2, first bodyboarding and then the main event.