Have you personally seen a great white shark while surfing? I have.

[TallDude]

The seal was upside down with tail thrashing around...went on for more than 5 minutes so probably a juvenile GW. 

Juvenile GW usually go after bat rays, and school fish. Baby seals as they get bigger (near 10'). Seals and other mammals once they are full grown. That was more than likely a BIG BOY you saw feeding on the seal.

http://www.sharkresearchcommittee.com/dist.htm

[Ichabod Spoonbill]

Is it weird that I'm jealous of you guys? I've seen a sharpnose shark and probably a spinner, but never Mr. White.


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[Gaucho]

Makes sense it was a bigger GW...seal wasn't small.  Humbling to see the marine food chain in action like that though.  Also seen boatloads of small sharks along La Jolla Shores in summer time where it's stingray central with that sandy bottom

[SUPcheat]

Is it weird that I'm jealous of you guys? I've seen a sharpnose shark and probably a spinner, but never Mr. White.


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I'm not jealous at all.  I would really rather not see them. Dolphins, whales, seals, otters and orcas, fine.

  Also, when the water is crystal clear, it spooks me to see all the stuff below, even though it is beautiful.  I like the murk better.

[dklavoie]

Was finishing up a long paddle in Avila once when I saw a strange looking grey triangle just sitting still there in the water. Was probably about 15 yards away. Didn't really think much of it until it suddenly lunged forward and down. Definitely picked up the pace after that. Another time paddling outside the mouth of Morro Bay saw a fin cruise by about 20 yards ahead of me. Hoped it was falcate cuz it barely caught my eye on the first glance. Slowly came up again and then back down. Another triangle. Kept going out to the One Buoy as it had no interest in me, but did strain my neck looking back the whole way. Not definitive but pretty sure of what they were...

[kayadogg]

I saw a handful while living in SoCal. When I first moved there, I went up to Manhattan Beach with a buddy of mine to look for them. This is when El Porto seemed to be the hot spot. We saw the first one within 10 minutes of getting in the water. We ended up seeing 3 that day, the largest probably around 10ft. My buddy's GoPro footage is below. I'm on the black and orange Infinity raceboard.



Also have seen a few at SanO and Trails like pretty much everyone else that surfs there regularly.

[surfshaver]

30+ years of surfing and the only time I had the "Jaws" moment was ironically, not while surfing some offshore Hawaiian reef but at the mellowest, most crowded urban surf spot only 10 minutes from where I grew up -- Sunset Point in Pacific Palisades.  I rarely surf there anymore but one time I was sitting furthest out the point away from the crowd, and I saw the dark triangle rise up about 10 yards away -- the unmistakable dorsal fin of a great white.  Probably about an 8-10 foot shark.

Playing it cool, I gestured to the guy in the water nearby -- "You see that?"  He turned white.  I calmly but deliberately paddled in.

[SlatchJim]

Well, Mrs. Slatch saw her first this Saturday, at Dogpatch.  Thought the fin was a plastic bag, so she paddled over to it, realized it was a dorsal fin, and it was attached to a shark tail.  Saw the whole thing swimming lazily below her, turned toward the beach, yelled "shark" at me, and paddled in.

We got a drink of water, saw the clean conditions, and went back in to surf for another hour.  Hey, it was good, and now she's "in the club."

[supsurf-tw]

30 years of surfing Trail 6 so yeah many sightings. A few at Dogpatch with one gliding under my board with the fin dragging on my bottom. I'm on an 8-10 and it was slightly longer than my board. One bodysurfing behind me in front of my house at Backdoor. Didn't know about that one until I came in and my friends on my lanai that were watching were just freaking out. Shooting vids of my daughter at the Ranch while standing in shoulder deep water and having 2 juveniles swim right next to me, one on either side. Yeah seen a few. Never had a problem so I don't worry much.

[tautologies]

So what's worse, seeing a great white or being hassled by an older lady proner?
Inquiring minds need to know. 

Lady proners..no contest..some of them are vicious predators that will not let anything go. 

[mrbig]

Have you ever been experienced? Well I have..

[Weed]

Jesus H, Biggie... stop being so humble. Mr. Big got attacked by a 11+ foot great white last month on Cape Cod. He made out ok but his board got some nice teeth marks. Post some pics Biggie I can't find any on my side.

[Weed]

Found a photo.

[TallDude]

Have you ever been experienced? Well I have..

Oh ya Biggie...

[PonoBill]

I've seen plenty of Tigers in Maui surfing and downwinding, lots of greys, blacktips, Galapagos and hammerheads. Saw fluffy a few times at SanO. Had him right next to me once going for a wave. The little bastard was trying to burn me. Hundreds more diving. Great whites up close and personal, one that looked the size of one of those small kine schoolbuses. Got underneath a huge school of Hammerheads on the back side of Molokini. Hundreds, all sizes from a few feet to many feet. Got run over by a bunch of panicked whitetips in one of the caves at Five Graves in Makena. The clumsy buggahs that spooked them into me were my oldest daughter and her ex. Biggest was a pregnant female about five to six feet long. She ran into me and went between my legs. Bit of a pucker there.

I love seeing sharks. Amazing creatures.

I should try to take Boyum into one of those shark caves this year. That might be interesting.