Shorebreak, even when it's not very big, is a problem.

TC Palm reports that a 58 year old man "was at South Beach Park about noon Thursday when a large wave crashed into him from behind as he stood facing the shore, said Vero Beach Police Capt. Kevin Martin. Rescuers found him face down in the water."  "He died during the weekend" despite prompt rescue and hospitalization, first in Vero Beach, then at Ft. Pierce.

It was a long-period swell day, nothing big (I was preoccupied and not at the beach).  Lifeguards had the red flag up.  

There will be an autopsy, I assume by permission of the victim's family.  If so, it's good that they agreed to it.  

I haven't spotted anything at the television stations.  

WPBF reports that the cause of death was a broken neck.

The final TC Palm story includes information from the National Weather Service's Randy Lascody, at the Melbourne office.  He's been working on rip current predictions and beach issues for years.  The TC Palm story by  elliott Jones has a bad graphic (they're now owned by USA Today) showing East Central Florida surf fatalities, 1992-2016, data from National Weather Service.  

By month:

Jan. 1, Feb. 0, March 1, April 2, May 2, June 0, July 0, Aug 3, Sept. 6, Oct. 0, Nov. 1, Dec. 1.

By age, pre teen 0, teens 4, 20s 2, 30s 1, 40s 1, 50s 6, 60s 2.

95% male, 67% coastal residents.  

Interesting stats ww.

  Trying to think of something new