A surfer died of his injuries after being rescued from the choppy waters off San Francisco’s Ocean Beach Thursday afternoon, authorities said.
The San Francisco Fire Department received a call of a surfer in distress near Lincoln Way at around 1:20 p.m. Thursday, fire Capt. Jonathan Baxter said. Around the same time, an off-duty National Park Service lifeguard who was surfing in the area spotted another surfer waving her toward the victim from just beyond the surfline, Baxter said.
The off-duty lifeguard and three on-duty lifeguards found an adult male surfer who was unconscious, not breathing and face-down in the water. They began life-saving measures while bringing the surfer back to shore, Baxter said. Fire department paramedics then responded, eventually transporting the surfer to a hospital in critical condition.
He was pronounced dead at the hospital Thursday afternoon, Baxter said.
No further information about the surfer’s identity was immediately available Thursday. It was also unclear how he died — a range of factors can cause deaths in such circumstances, Baxter said, including drowning and unrelated medical events.
Just before 10 a.m. Thursday morning, the National Weather Service issued a beach hazards statement for San Francisco and the coastal North Bay. Residents were warned to stay out of the water due to strong rip currents and sneaker waves through Friday.
Baxter described the water off Ocean Beach as “aggressive” Thursday afternoon.
“Today is very turbulent,” he said. “We have large waves coming in very quickly, almost to the point where it looks like a washing machine cycle.”
Even in the best of conditions, Baxter warned that the powerful waves off Ocean Beach could create dangerous surfing conditions, especially for inexperienced or intermediate surfers.