Just in: Swamis’ surfer body identified

Local shaper and longtime local dies under a full moon.

Two days ago a wetsuited surfer was discovered lying face down on the beach at North County San Diego point Swamis with a broken board still attached. He was pronounced dead when paramedics reached his body.

Today the body was identified as local shaper, longtime Swamis local Kenny Mann. Fox News reports:

“Kenny’s been surfing that area since he was about 10. He even made his own boards before he could drive. Swami’s was his spot. A lot of people even called that inside section ‘Kenny’s,’” lifelong friend J.P. St. Pierre said of 61-year-old Kenneth “Kenny” Mann of Encinitas.

St. Pierre said Mann had no medical condition and was in great shape. Mann was believed to have been night surfing Thursday night, which friends said he did often.

During the week, the National Weather Service put out a coastal flood advisory due to high tides and strong rip currents.

Mann and St. Pierre’s father were founding members of the surfboard company Moonlight Glassing. Now a stable among surfers around the world, the company opened in 1979.

“In the surfboard industry, [Kenny’s] a legend. I don’t think anyone has sanded more surfboards than him. He’s made surfboards for some of the biggest surfers in the world,” St. Pierre said.

St. Pierre can’t imagine was the first day back at the factory will be like.

“It’s going to be horrible. Just horrible. Our whole universe has shifted.”

So far, no plans have been made for his memorial.  He leaves behind no wife or children. 

Cause of death is still unknown.