Bodysurfer’s cause of death pending

Mike Swanson

A 53-year-old man died while bodysurfing off Main Beach Wednesday in

conditions deemed “relatively calm” by Laguna Beach’s chief of marine

safety.

Rod Thomas of the Orange County Coroner’s Office said he wouldn’t

speculate on the cause of death until an autopsy is done.

“It’ll be a very rare story if it turns out to be a drowning,”

Chief of Marine Safety Mark Klosterman said. “It’d be the first

drowning on a guarded beach [in Laguna] since the early ‘70s.”

Klosterman added that cases like this typically turn out to be

heart attacks.

A lifeguard at Main Beach spotted the victim floating face-up in

the surf-line, within two or three yards of two bodyboarders and 25

yards of about 50 other swimmers, Klosterman said. None of the

swimmers or bodyboarders noticed the victim until the lifeguards were

in the water, he added.

The body was face-down in the water when lifeguards reached the

victim at 5:59 p.m. They pulled him to shore and administered CPR but

couldn’t revive him. Medics arrived minutes later, tried more

advanced methods of rescue, then took him to South Coast Medical

Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Waves were between two and three feet Wednesday, and the rescue

attempt was one of only three at all city beaches.

“It was a much calmer than average day out there,” Klosterman

said. “On really rough days, we can have as many as 500 rescues.

Supervisors Scott Diedrich and Jeff Higley, veterans on the

lifeguard staff, participated in the rescue attempt.