THE SURFER PROFILE WITH MATT ARCHBOLD

Audrey Archbold dealt with her share of this pain early on in their relationship. “Some people were probably hoping they could be at the party where he finally died,” she says. “It’s like, ‘Yeah, cool, I was there when Elvis croaked…how cool is that?’”

Of course, nobody has paid a bigger price for all of Matt’s troubles than Ford.

“Ford’s spent the better part of his childhood being left on other people’s front doorsteps,” says Audrey. “That’s how Matt and I met. Garth called me one day and asked if I could pick up his friend’s kid at school. All our boys were in the same class. Ford was only 8 years old, but he already knew how to use the office phone to call for rides home. He ended up staying with me for weeks and I fell completely in love with him.”

Audrey remembers being in shock the first time she ever laid eyes on Matt, who showed up at Tarlow’s house one afternoon. She recognized him immediately as the dirtbag who loitered around her favorite coffee joint on his skateboard. “I was reluctant to even drop Ford off. Matt was the same guy I was convinced was going to rob me some day.” When Garth informed her of his status as a pro surfer she wasn’t impressed. “He didn’t look like he could even swim, let alone surf.” Despite the shock, Matt and Audrey became good friends as they worked out arrangements for her to take care of Ford while he was “traveling.” He provided some financial support, while she gave him advice on how to become a man and a father. “At first, it was your typical ‘I can fix him’ thing that girls do,” she admits. “I had no interest in getting involved. I was a devout single mom. Besides, even when he started having feelings for me he was too much of a train wreck to come clean. So I kept giving him advice on how to deal with the stupid little girls he was dating.” Eventually, however, love blossomed between the two friends. “Don’t ask me how…he just brought something out in me that was alive. And the boys absolutely love him.” Still, Matt was suffering from the occasional setback when their relationship was in its early stages. When that occurred Audrey would just let him go. “I had my own drug issues as a teenager so I knew chasing him would do nothing. He needed to hit rock bottom.”

Finally, after one incident too many, Audrey, her son Will, and Ford all severed their ties with Matt and refused to let him near. It took a number of weeks for him to finally realize what was happening, but he vowed, begging, pleading, and howling in the street, to do whatever it took to win his family back. “I’d never seen that determined of a look on his face,” says Audrey. “That was three years ago. And he’s been solid ever since.”

Archbold gained some much-needed perspective through that ordeal. “For such a long time I used to run from emotion—or fight it.” He says, recalling the night he says his life changed. “But I had no idea what I was fighting against. I carried so much guilt around I was just numb to anything. When I hit bottom there was this feeling of total surrender, of letting all this emotion in. It overwhelmed me. I realized it was okay for me to feel things again—to care for people. Audrey made that possible. That’s how she saved my life.”

Archbold is nowhere near perfect today, and while he’s confident of his progress, he knows he’ll never be out of the woods. He and Audrey lay pretty low on the when the North Shore circus comes to town, mostly to avoid the characters that always lurk and come looking for trouble. “The crazy thing about the drugs out there today,” says Matt, “is that the guys on tour are doing stuff that’s way worse than what we were doing—and that’s coming from me.” There are also several unresolved emotional issues he ponders. He has never once addressed the issue of his father leaving with anybody in his family. “Part of me just wants to keep the version I have in my head intact, because I might not like the truth. My mom and I are close—we talk all the time. I love my dad, too, but we’ve never communicated well. We both suck at it.”

Today, Ford is 17 years old. “He’s right at that age where he thinks he knows everything,” says Matt, who doesn’t quite get why Ford insists on checking the waves on his computer rather than turning around and looking out the window. He understands that he’s missed out on playing the traditional father role. According to Audrey, he tends to overcompensate for his guilt by letting Ford get away with stuff he otherwise wouldn’t. Yet Matt and Ford have been doing a lot of healing over the past few years, solidifying a bond that’s endured a lot. Along with Audrey’s son Will, 16, Matt and the boys are the Three Musketeers—or Audrey’s worst nightmare.

“I forced all of them to come with me to Waimea Falls the other day,” says Audrey. “You know, try to get them to appreciate something. I was reading all the signs and they were just making fart noises and complaining. He’s one of them. They love him to death, but he’s more their buddy, not their dad. He’s hoping one day he’ll be able to play more of a father role with Ruby.”

Though Audrey and Matt met in Newport Beach, where she grew up, the family has been calling the North Shore of Oahu home since they were married in 2005. The four of them are still emptying boxes as they settle into their new dream house, a two-story, 2,000-square-foot, single-family oceanfront with whitewater views of Off the Wall, Backdoor, and Pupukea. While the place is still a bit messy, Matt says it already feels like a real home. He’s had his eyes on the big three-car garage from day one, and he can’t wait to get his ’49 Ford in there and start working. Audrey, who’s an accomplished artist, figures she’ll carve out one corner for her studio. The jostling over garage turf could get ugly with their brand of fighting. They consider themselves experts. “She’s been to hell and back with me,” says Matt, “through my absolute worst. It took me forever to figure out what a blessing she was. What a blessing they all are.”

“I heard that.” Audrey says, walking back into my office just in time to hear Matt’s admission. “But I got news for you, honey, forever is an understatement.” The two have a plane to catch, so we get up and begin heading for the door. I tell Matt I enjoyed catching up with him, and how happy I am that he seems to be doing well. He leaves me with his final thoughts. “Yeah, getting ready for this whole movie thing is going to be a grind, but it makes me appreciate having a real home even more. I can’t wait to get back, start cleaning things up and just hang out with the boys.”

“Me too,” says Audrey. “Hopefully they haven’t burned the place down.”