Witnesses said there was a strong current on the day of the accident. Photo: Dani Fuentes Ortiz//Unsplash
Lifeguards discovered an unresponsive surfer next to his board around 9:30 p.m. on July 8 in the water off Côte des Basques beach in Biarritz, France. Attempts by first responders to revive the 26-year-old were unsuccessful.
The identity of the surfer has not been publicly released, but reports say he was a strong swimmer who worked as a lifeguard in the city. The incident didn’t happen while he was on duty. Witnesses reported that he had gone foil surfing alone after finishing his lifeguard shift.
Local authorities have opened an investigation into the cause of death. The waves were not particularly large on the day of the incident, reaching a maximum height of 1.5 meters. Surfers interviewed at the scene said the currents that evening were strong due to wind and a dropping tide.
“There was a lot of current last night,” a 29-year-old surfer at the scene, told the French news outlet Sudouest. “I wondered if it was connected (to the death). It upset us all. We needed to talk about it among ourselves that evening.”
Côte des Basques is a historic and iconic surfing beach in southwest France. It was the first place in Europe where surfing was practiced, starting in 1957. The beach has hosted French national surfing championships, WSL longboard events, and the ISA longboard championships.
