‘I can’t lose you’: Pacifica man dies trying to save wife

Larry Moore died after swimming into Pacifica waters to save his wife, Claudia, who’d been pulled into the ocean by a sneaker wave. Larry Moore died after swimming into Pacifica waters to save his wife, Claudia, who’d been pulled into the ocean by a sneaker wave. Photo: Claudia Moore / Courtesy Claudia Moore Photo: Claudia Moore / Courtesy Claudia Moore Image 1 of / 7 Caption Close ‘I can’t lose you’: Pacifica man dies trying to save wife 1 / 7 Back to Gallery

A Pacifica man swept out to sea Tuesday died trying to save his wife from a sneaker wave.

The couple, 61-year-old Larry and 63-year-old Claudia Moore, had just finished picnicking and were walking along the beach when Claudia was pulled into the water by the undertow. Coast Guard officials previously said — incorrectly, according to Claudia Moore — that the two fell into the water from the nearby Pacifica Pier.

Her feet were barely in the water, the wife said, when larger waves suddenly crashed down. Her husband took their dog back to the sand and turned around to see his wife falling into the rising water.

“He tried to grab my hand, and I told him, ‘No, I’ll hold on. Go get help,’” Claudia Moore said.

It felt like everything happened within a matter of seconds, she said. Her husband dived in after her, but they were quickly separated. She decided to ride the swell and floated to the top of the water. About 40 or 50 feet out from the shore, she said, two men helped her swim back to the beach.

“When he didn’t meet me at the shore, I knew something was wrong,” she said. Later, she saw emergency medical personnel carrying him to an ambulance. She noticed they weren’t walking very quickly, and as a nurse, she knew he hadn’t made it.

She was taken to a hospital to be treated for potential hypothermia, and their dog was taken to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. Claudia Moore was later able to reunite with the dog. “It would have been so hard to lose them both,” she said.

A San Francisco native who attended San Francisco State University and worked in a variety of careers — including lead abatement and banking — Larry Moore would have turned 62 on Feb. 28. His wife noted he survived cancer just two years ago.

He constantly picked up new hobbies and musical instruments, including the Native American flute and bass guitar, she said.

The couple met on BART in the early ’90s and immediately fell in love, she said. They had been married for 20 years and lived in Pacifica since 2004.

She said it was a twist of fate which wave he got and which one she got.

“He gave his life for me but just couldn’t get to me,” she said. “He would tell me, ‘I can’t lose you. I can’t lose you.’”

Kimberly Veklerov is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. E-mail: kveklerov@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @kveklerov