A man swept out to sea by a treacherous wave while walking with his wife and their dog at Point Reyes National Seashore in California, according to reports.
The Marin Independent Journal reported that 59-year-old Charles Quaid, of Richmond, and his wife were walking on the beach near Point Reyes on New Year’s Day when the wave overtook the dog.
The man's wife, who was rescued by bystanders, survived with no injuries, a fire official said. California Highway Patrol and Coast Guard helicopters searched for the man for hours along with local fire crews.
Quaid's body was found at 4 p.m. and he was pronounced dead at the scene, said Marin County Fire Department Battalion Chief Mike Giannini. His body was taken to the Coast Guard facility at Bodega Bay. That’s about 30 miles northwest of San Francisco.
The San Francisco Chronicle reported that the couple went into the water to rescue the dog but the man was swept away. Giannini did not have any further information about the dog or the role it played in the incident.
"This is an example of the long-standing adage, 'Never turn your back on the ocean,'" Giannini said, describing the unusually large wave that swept the couple into the water as a "sneaker wave."
the size of a wave will be at any time," Giannini said. "We presume them all to be more or less the same, but there are times when large waves will come up on the shoreline and take people by surprise."
