Man dies while surfing off Dana Point

An Orange County family is heartbroken after a man was killed while surfing over the weekend

FOX 11 delivers breaking news, live events, undercover investigations, police chases, true crime files, business news, celebrities and entertainment on Good Day LA (GDLA) and local stories from Los Angeles, Long Beach, Pasadena and across the nation.

Watch more FOX 11 on YouTube:

[kulturetattoo]

Rest In Peace. As a fellow body boarder you went out doing what you love. Condolences to your ohana. Hope there is a good shore break up there!

[kendallevans]

"doing what you love" and dying does NOT make death any better.

[toddbefield]

Spoke to Evan's father at Salt Creek by the memorial a few days ago. Grew up surfing there. Some dangerous very shallow sandbars (a lot shifting this year) at the minus tides at inside Gravels where this happened. A tragedy... Condolences to Evan and his family.

[Jim-fexz]

Big waves in shallow water are lethal. Sorry for your loss young man and condolences to your family!

[josephhertzberg]

Those of us that play in the ocean long enough, know the power and the risk, people die in small surf sometimes..
My heart goes out to the family.
Hail the traveler

[BradYaeger]

Like any sport, you can do everything right and still have things go wrong in a split second. My condolences to family and friends from a fellow surfer .

[dabigcheese]

I grew up with Evan in Windridge Apartments, Laguna Niguel. So Sad to see him go. We fought as children but we ended up befriending each other in high school and got lit all the time miss u ev 🕊️❤️

[anthonylove]

Rip young man. The angels and your surfing brothers are still with you in a better place.

[malloryjines]

My husband nearly broke his neck there about 30 years ago. Dangerous shore breaks at times. So sorry for the family.

[Nikkii]

I’m down here in San Diego and quite a few surfers were out there and had life rescue come and save several surfers over the weekend. It’s nothing to mess around with experienced or not it’s the ocean a beautiful powerful beast

[anotherworldviewispossible]

So we don't have a "cause of death" clearly expressed, here. Sunday was already dropping swell from the peak on Friday and Saturday.

Was this a "medical emergency" that just happened to occur while he was surfing? Was this a tragic accident, that occurred because he was surfing? The report doesn't really make that clear.

Lots of young people have recently "died suddenly", with 'no cause listed'... Which naturally leads to speculation, about the rising numbers of "all-cause mortality" - particularly amongst the young and athletic.

[karlshorb]

While mostly a sandy bottom break, Salt Creek does in fact have the occasional rock grouping here or there throughout the lineup and break. Outer Salt is unmistakeable bc it breaks on bigger swells directly in front of several large rocks and ledges...between there and the shore - hundreds of yards- is mostly all soft sand but any local will tell you watch out exiting the water in certain spots bc of the random isolated hidden rock...always made a mental note of where these were when I surfed there. Rip brother.

[mpp]

RIP many times as a kid boogie boarding in san Clemente during storms I had some close calls. Scary feeling losing your breath underwater. Be safe

[dre]

How did he die? 1:15 - "Blood in the water." Slammed into the ground? Shark? Fight? Sniper? Sad for the guy and his family, but when someone dies, knowing the truth about how they died may be the most important thing to help others avoid it.

[charlottecoolik]

My brother surfs here and has all his life.... Prayers for all the surfers to stay safe and for the family and friends of the young man who's gone way too young.

[JohnnychimpO]

Creek was my home break all my life. On the really huge swells, it will get super hollow over at “gravels” which is enticing… but you can tell when you’re looking at some of them just how shallow it can in that spot on big days because the wave will turn solid brown from all the sand being sucked up, meaning you know it is only inches deep. I’ve gotten slammed there very badly a few times. I’m not sure if that’s where he fell or not, but just as a 30 year Salt Creek local that would be my guess. I’ve also seen people hit rocks on huge days over at the point that wraps around from Creek to Strands, because you have to catch them in deeper water at that spot which seems safe, but then you’re moving so fast those rocks come up quicker than you’d think. Combine that with double or triple overhead and it’s bad news.

[FriendM]

Well said, Ed. Prayers for the family…

[MoustacheCloud]

I really appreciate that awesome surf footage they had of him playing. Dude died a legend.

[manifestingbeautifullife]

This is freaking heartbreaking 😭Bless his heart. Died way too young.😭

[idegteke]

Difficult to believe that he lived just as much, if not more, than I lived in 55 years in office work. But this might well be the case.