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"They saw him come up out of the water, scream 'shark,' flail his arms and go back under," Hill said. "The flesh was just hanging," and the man may have bled to death before he left the water, Hill said. He declined to identify the man but said he was a retiree who lived just blocks from the beach. Hill said club members had been meeting at the beach for at least six years and never had seen a shark. However, Hill said he saw a seal lion on the beach Friday, which was unusual for the area, and speculated that perhaps the shark had been hunting them and got close to shore. The shark may have confused the wet-suited swimmers with his prey, he said. Solana Beach is 14 miles northwest of San Diego. Shark attacks are extremely rare. There were 71 confirmed unprovoked cases worldwide last year, up from 63 in 2006, according to the University of Florida. Only one 2007 attack, in the South Pacific, was fatal. The last fatal shark attack in California, according to data from the state Department of Fish and Game, took place in 2004, when a man skin diving for abalone was attacked by a great white shark off the coast of Mendocino County. On Aug. 19, 2003, a woman swimmer was killed by a great white at Avila Beach in San Luis Obispo County on the central California coast. The last fatal shark attack along San Diego County was off Ocean Beach in April 1994.
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