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Butch Van Artsdalen, First "Mr Pipeline"

11/8/2019

5 Comments

 

Corky on the first "Mr Pipeline"

By Corky Carroll
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I spend way too much time on Facebook and I know it.  But, in my defense, I get a ton of info there and come up with ideas that would not surface if I didn’t.  As I spend way more time more or less “off the grid” than on it, tucked away at my happy and warm little tropical getaway, the internet and social media keep me at least somewhat it touch with reality, or at least the current state of what people are thinking.  Lately there have been some photos posted of the late great Butch Van Artsdalen and suggestions that I write something about him.  I have done this, but it was decades ago and I guess it’s time for a redo, or at least fresh look. 
 
Butch was a very wild dude, anyway you slice it or dice it.  He was an amazing surfer and just one of those all-around gifted athletes.  He lettered in Baseball, Basketball and Football three years in a row at La Jolla High School, after moving to San Diego from Virginia at age 14.  He took up surfing at Windansea, one of La Jollas heavier surf spots, shortly after and within a short amount of time was one of the standout locals in the line-up.  He started surfing in most of the contests here in California in the early 1960’s and also was a solid paddle board racer.  The dude was ultra-competitive.


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You're guaranteed to meet very cool people at Corky's International Surf Adventure.
During the winter of 1962-63 Butch went to Hawaii and became the first guy to really ride the famous “Pipeline” in a dominant kind of way.  It had been ridden before him, but he was the first to really do it well.  He was nicknamed “Mr. Pipeline” after his performances there, which were well documented by tons of surf movies and magazines.  This was later passed down to the great Gerry Lopez some years later.  But it was Butch who really showed us how to ride the place in the beginning.
 
I met him at a few of the surfing contests but didn’t really get to know him until I started working at the Hobie shop in Dana Point when I was about 14.  Butch did repairs in a little shed behind the shop and also lived right down the street from where I shared an apartment with a couple of pals.  I loved the dude, he had a great personality and was easy to laugh, my favorite trait.  But, I learned really fast not to stop by to say hi much after dark.  Butch surfed hard, worked hard and drank hard.  Mister totally cool could turn into Mister really mean really fast.  Best to avoid that part of the package if possible. 
 
Although, on the North Shore of Oahu, where his life more or less had to take him, this kinda worked in his favor.  His fearless hard charging surfing in the biggest and most gnarly waves combined with his love for drinking, fighting and general all out rowdiness was endearing to the local Hawaiians, many of whom shared the same kinda approach to life.  The dude just was one of those “go for it at all costs” kinda people.  He was super fun to surf with, especially when the waves were really big.  His total “isn’t this incredibly fun” kind of attitude could spill over onto those of us who were kinda, well lets be honest, scared.  Many times I took off on waves steeper and deeper than I might have if Butch hadn’t been yelling out, “yeaaaah, GO FOR IT!!!!” 
And he would give me a hoot if I made it or laugh his butt off if I ate it like a rat.  To him it was all fun.  I think Butch would have made a great pirate if he had lived in different times. 
 
He became a lifeguard on the North Shore, probably the most dangerous lifeguard job in the world.  He was one of the few people with the nerve to charge rescues in the most challenging situations. 
 
Butch lived hard and died just as hard, drinking himself to death in 1979 at the young age of 38.  A big ceremony was held for him at Pipeline and his ashes were scattered into the lineup, the rightful place for him.  One of the greatest surfers ever. 
 

Mr Pipeline Article

5 Comments
Rick Gaskins
11/13/2019 05:34:52 pm

I didn't know him well but surfed several locations with him. Fun guy in a crazy way. Always had something nice to say. An original.

Reply
Douglas
12/4/2019 11:59:21 pm

Corky- were you shocked and saddened when you heard the news of his passing or did you see it coming and sorta expect it? With most people I talked to it was either one way or the other.

Reply
Chris Green
12/8/2019 12:10:00 pm

I new Butch, I lived with him and a few other guys back than. He was everything you say. Very hard way to go about your life really. I mean the drinking part. We also lived at Rocky Point with Bruce Butlers mom off and on. I just got out of high school and went to work for Inter Island Surf Shop. Those were the days when you could find yourself at anyone of the spots on the North Shore alone. You can believe that or not. In fact I never forgot one day in September. Chuck Mandel and I were surfing Laniakaia, the
place past Chuns Reef. You have to excuse my spelling.
Just the 2 of us, 4 to 6, perfect. 1964 or 5.
No one anywhere. Then it hit me, school started,
the Church Collage down the way, plus the rest.
It’s hard to forget this, because in those days, surfing did not take ahold yet. Your parents told you your wasting your
time, it leads nowhere. If your not in school, your don’t stand much of a chance. I was feeling guilty, I flunked
typing at Kailua High School. Graduation day, all my
friends were receiving diplomas and I was surfing.
I learned how to build surf boards, Dick Brewer
showed me the process of shaping a surf board.
Not that hard really. I showed Jerry Lopez the same
process. That allowed him to shape the board
he was able to surf Pipeline with and hold and edge,
etc, etc.
By then I was working at Surfline, Jerry’s Brother
came by on a Fri night night with Jerry, asked me
to borrow my plane for the weekend. I gave them the
plane, plus Brewers short course in board shaping.
In those days, there might have been 6 shapers
in all of Hi. I actually became one of them. Hell, I was
maybe 20 or 21, I forgot, but I was making 25$
a board, at that age. I remember I was such and asshole,
I would look at the list of boards to be shaped and
if the guy wasn’t that good, I might not feel like shaping
him a board. Hard to believe. In those days, the boards
we’re 10’ or more. Now there 6’ or less and who knows how
how much they are paid now? 150 or more. If it’s more,
I think you can learn to do a board in and hour without
killing yourself. I mean, forgive me, it’s form, you mark
a few lines on the blank and do the process. What I’m
getting at is, I just didn’t see it back then, maybe it was
resin fumes? No that wasn’t it, it was the acid I was
taking went I started running around with Duke Brown
and Paul Gebauer. But back to the point, went you
start getting 200 a board, you doing pretty dam good.
Attorneys get that starting out, who would have dreamed.
I could go on and on, but that’s enough for now.
If whoever checks this, can you do me a favor?
Tell Corky that and old friend of his, Nina Cherry
world love to get and e-mail from him.
If you get ahold of him, tell him to e-mail me and I
will send him her e-mail if he doesn’t have it already.

Thanks, have a good day

PS
I became a General Cont, in Ca, a realtor also.
Plus a horseman and other things.
But the 6 years that I was a surfer, nothing in my
life has ever even come close to it. It was so many
things all rapped into one thing. Being in the water
early in the morning, at Alamoana, spelling, looking
through the clear water and seeing the bottom.
paddling out and seeing Tom Leonardo standing on
the nose, 3 to 5 foot, slight off shore, not a sole
around. There all at work or in school. No one figured
it out yet. Garbage Hole, Barry K, me and one other
guy, glassy. Waikiki at night, or big, that’s pure fun.
Basically, the closest thing to heaven and and ultimate experience that man can have, while in the physical body,
is surfing. After you have done it, you know it.
There is no feeling that comes close.
I was so lucky, My father got a job offer, we lived in
Billings Montana, it was winter, 1959. We left
Billings, dropped me horse off in Denver. Got
on and airplane. I touched the water in Waikiki
for the first time. I had to be, no it was a gift from
God. Out of all the kids on the planet, I got to
go be a surfer in Hi. That was, what 60’ years
ago. I had completely forgot surfing for a lot of my
life. Oh yeah, along with the acid I found girls,
i never made it back to surfing.
It took most of the rest of most of my life to realize
surfing could provide you with all you need in life if
took the time balance it all right.

Exercise, and that’s a byproduct of having pure fun.
Keeps one out of trouble. Spending your time in the
water keeps one from learning to sell drugs.
On and on, etc, etc.

Real simple, next life time, i will be and independently wealthy surfer. My own plane, free to follow the best waves around the planet for the whole rest of my life.
But for now, once a month I run to the book store
in Fresno to check the new Surfer.
I did go back to Hi once. It was figured out, how
could it not have been, there’s nothing that can
replace surfing. But when to

Reply
Annette Van Artsdalen Lucas link
1/8/2020 12:09:28 pm

Corky,
Your write up about Butch pretty much summed up his life but I have one big correction I would like to make.
The doctors at the hospital ask for a family member to come and care for Butch~ I was on my way to care for him when the doctors called and told my mother he need a blood transfusion~ she said be very careful~ Butch has a rare blood type!! The doctors went ahead with the transfusion and Butch went from needing care when he got out of the hospital to, come now if you want to see Butch alive!
We all caught the next plane to Hawaii and saw Butch with a raging fever~ we will always believe the transfusion had a huge part in his death!
It has taken me many years to come to terms with this but for now, and the world we live in I know my brother is in a much better place!
Butch could have never tolerated this world with the deception and cruelty in it today.
Always Butch’s Sis

Reply
Ray Diggins link
11/12/2020 02:58:06 pm

We- somewhat shared a rare and unique space- I grew up in Dana and spent my summer in the water- riding for awhile for Joe Quigg and working with Jeff Logan & Micky and as a bonafide hanger on-ner for maybe too many years living for the art and the waves- went to building boats. houses and now Greenhouses- but your inspiration and example made a difference in mine and many other lives- Who would think that a simple thing like paddling out could change the world for us- Thanks Corky! I am now 75 and the joy of surfing still is sacrosanct in my soul and my memories! Thanks for playing your part in "Lifes Rich Pageant" well- Brother!

Reply



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