Surfing and Surfing
In 1970 Rolf Aurness won the Surfing World Championship at Bells Beach and his father James Arness the Hollywood actor (he featured in the tv western drama ‘Gunsmoke’ as Marshall Matt Dillon) travelled with him to Victoria (Australia). The pair surfed at Bells in the lead up to the event. This footage from John Bennett’s film Blue Cool shows James Arness surfing Bells on his Bing Foil.
source
adminShop limited edition merch from the 2025 Rip Curl Pro Bells Beach on WSLStore.com -https://www.wslstore.com/collections/… Play WSL Fantasy here – https://ctfantasy.worldsurfleague.com/ Bells Beach on Victoria’s South Coast is the longest-running…
adminCT veterans Lakey Peterson and Tyler Wright flexed their power and knowledge of tricky Bells Bowl to storm through their debuts. Gabriela Bryan brought the heat from her El Salvador…
Big man. He makes the surf look smaller than it is.
Back in 1970, how many Aussie blokes had dads who surfed, let alone were TV stars who surfed. That's why I imagine this was so meaningful at the time.
Wow he was good.
So cool man✌️❤️. Takes me way back. Was just a young grommet starting high school. No such thing as a leg rope and didn’t we do some swimming🤣. But hey just such groovy times in them days. Peace and love, surfing, great music, kombi’s, bit a weed, some cold beers and life was way way laid back and it only about having great times and great times we all had, man😉
That was out of the ordinary
I knew “Matt Dillon” was the father of Rolf , but I had no idea he surfed.
That was thoroughly enjoyable, thanks!
Bell's looks so fun! I met a teacher who was at Punta San Carlos,Baja Norte when Jim and Rolf arrived by small plane to surf. Jim was on a longboard and Rolf shortboard. They surfed for awhile and flew off into the horizon. What a treat meeting them.
James Arness from GunSmoke?
Just watched A Word On Westerns with Rob Word and Don Stroud talking about James Arness surfing. Cool
"The Thing" doing his thing!
Awesome!
Saw him out at The Bay (Hanalei) @ 71. He got a couple waves thru the bowl
was that Festus in the line up?🌊🏄
I had the pleasure of watching Rolf surf Haleiwa in 1970…he was on a short twin fin and he was so much better than everyone els, it was like he came from a different planet…he, Wayne Lynch and Brad McCall were big influences on me…
How cool is that winning the world title and having your dad a slide a few while you're there? Legends all.
Wonder where he learned or taught himself.
Love watching Jim on the surfboard.
Love this vid and Mr. Arness ..Ty for sharing! 👍🏄
St Augustine Ranch House.
His place on the Ranch in Santa Barbara County is legendary.
Caught my very first Ranch wave there in 1976. Its a right hand reef point
that turns left and sucks hard as you go down the line.
Very cool wave.
I'm your 587 great video really enjoyed it I never knew he was a surfer. He accomplished a lot in his lifetime.
come visit us at https://www.facebook.com/marshalmattdillion/
I had the good fortune to go to high school with Rolf. He was a sensational athlete and even a better friend.
Nobody dropped in on 6' 7" James Arness … ever! 😂
Back when surfing was a graceful dance instead of an acrobatic sideshow….
Where can I purchase the entire film? Thank you so much for sharing this, you made my day.
Bing Copeland supplied their boards. The Aurness family lived in Pacific Palisades.
Congratulations Nice Video 👍 I am your 498 member … I love traveling. 😎 I would like it if you were one of my subscribers too. At the next Video 👍