CBS News 8 – San Diego, CA News Station – KFMB Channel 8
A 63-year-old man who was surfing in the Luau and Legends of Surfing International died Sunday morning.
Lee Swanson, a spokesman for the San Diego Fire Rescue Department, told Fox News that Francis Noe Todd was “laying on his surfboard in the water one moment, then floating face down in the water the next.”
Todd was competing in the Luau and Legends of Surfing Invitational, an event benefitting UC San Diego Moores Cancer Center. It’s one of the world’s most successful ongoing fundraisers, having donated over $7 million dollars. According to the website, “the emphasis is on participation and support for the cause rather than an individual’s surfing ability. Each of the sponsored teams will be paired with a surfing legend and vie for traditional trophies.”
John Sandmeyer, a lieutenant of the San Diego Lifeguards, told the Los Angeles Times that Todd was found facedown in the surf. They pulled him from the water and performed CPR on the beach at around 11 am on Sunday morning. Paramedics then took him to Scripps Memorial Hospital in La Jolla, but all attempts to revive him were unsuccessful. He was pronounced dead at 12:30 pm.
Our condolences to the friends and family of the victim.
