Archbold Makes Move to Avoid Real Wipeout : Surfing: San Clemente standout turns away from a life of drugs and alcohol.

Earlier this year, Matt Archbold’s lifestyle was as radical and unpredictable as the waves he surfed each day.

Speeding through life’s fast lane, Archbold landed this spring in a San Clemente jail and later in a rehabilitation clinic to fight a drug and alcohol habit.

Only 21, Archbold’s surfing career appeared to be over.

Not five months later, his recovery appears to be on track. He edged friend and fellow San Clemente surfer Dino Andino to win the Laguna Sportswear pro-am competition Sunday at Salt Creek Beach in Dana Point.

And he’s back in the waves this week as the Professional Surfing Assn. of America tour stops in Malibu.

“It seems like everything is going right for me,” Archbold said after earning $7,400 for his victory at Salt Creek. “I want to keep it up and not let myself down.”

Letdowns. Archbold knows all about them. He just wasn’t ready to deal with them--until a few months ago.

Archbold won his only PSAA event in 1988, at Oceanside, when he was hung over from a long night of partying. Last summer at Salt Creek, his last pro surfing event that year, Archbold made the quarterfinals but partied all night and never made it to the final day of the competition. He was appropriately nicknamed “the Wildman” on the tour.

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

Five years ago, Archbold, who dropped out of school in the ninth grade, turned professional and set out on the Assn. of Surfing Professionals world tour.

After he had been on the tour for two years, Archbold was earning $4,500 a month. But he also was burning himself out. He relied more and more on drugs and alcohol as an outlet.

It wasn’t until April, when Archbold was arrested for driving under the influence, that he realized his life was being wiped out. Suddenly, it wasn’t such a joyride anymore.

While sitting in jail for two weeks, Archbold had plenty of time to think.

He thought about his family, the friends he lost and the surfing contests he was too hung over to compete in. He thought about his dependency on alcohol and cocaine, and how it cost him his major sponsorship on the pro tour.

“I took a long look at myself and decided I didn’t like myself,” he said.

So Archbold checked into the Betty Ford Clinic. He learned to deal with his problems and his dependency.

Archbold left the clinic early in the summer and rejoined the PSAA tour. He finished seventh in his first event back, at Oceanside in June.

He reached the finals at San Clemente, where he placed fourth. Then came the victory at Salt Creek.

Andino, who has known Archbold for 15 years, said his friend has turned his life around.

“I’m stoked for him,” Andino said. “He’s different now in every way, mentally, physically. He was more to himself before. We drifted apart as friends. But now he’s much more open with everyone.”

Archbold attends night school and Alcoholics Anonymous meetings. He hangs out with a new group of friends.

“I’m thankful that I pulled through everything,” Archbold said. “My family and my girlfriend have been behind me.”

With his problems under control, Archbold has moved on to new challenges. He and Andino landed jobs as stunt doubles in the movie, “Riders on the Storm,” which is scheduled for release next spring. Archbold did surfing stunts for Patrick Swayze, who plays a bank-robbing surfer.

So Archbold is once again the outlaw surfer, but this time it’s only in Hollywood.