Still, he remained at Banzai Pipeline, working as a lifeguard in his later years. In 1969 Van Artsdalen won the 34th Annual Stone Steps Invitational Surf Contest at Stone Steps in Leucadia, California. Surfing had grown in popularity by that point, and Van Artsdalen felt the purity of the sport was being spoiled by posers. He frequently succumbed to binge drinking, and died of alcohol-related causes in 1979. The only family authenticated Butch Van Artsdalen surfboard made since Butch’s passing is made by Bill Shorsbee.