Shark Kills Triathlete in Ocean Swim

My deepest sympathy goes out the the family of Dave Martin tonight, a retired vetrinarian and traithlete who was killed by a shark yesterday in off of the coast of California.

SOLANA BEACH, Calif. - It was a perfect spring morning for an ocean
swim.
With the sun shining in a clear blue sky, Dave Martin and his triathlon
training group swam past the surfers at Tide Beach on their regular Friday
course through cool glassy waters about 150 yards out.
Somewhere below, a
shark — presumed to be a great white — was lurking, possibly on the hurt for a
seal or sea lion. It struck around 7 a.m., charging at Martin from below and
lifting him vertically out of the water, both legs in its jaws, its serrated
teeth slicing deep, fatal gashes.
"They saw him come up out of the water, scream 'shark,' flail his arms and
go back under," said Rob Hill, a member of the Triathlon Club of San Diego, who
was running along the beach when the attack happened.
Martin, 66, was rescued
by two swimmers who had been 20 yards ahead. They raced back and dragged him to
shore in a little cove shielded by 50-foot bluffs. A lifeguard truck took Martin
up to a lifeguard station on the bluff where he was pronounced dead at 7:49
a.m.
A terrifying but rare attackMartin, a retired veterinarian, was the
victim of a terrifying but exceptionally rare attack. Only person worldwide died
in a confirmed, unprovoked shark attack last year, though the annual average in
recent years is about four, according to the University of Florida's
International Shark Attack File.