Paddleboarders Encounter Great White Sharks Off Huntington Beach
Two paddleboarders have recorded their interactions with several young great white sharks off the coast of Huntington Beach, revealing how startlingly close they came to the juvenile predators.
The video was uploaded to YouTube by Courtney Hemerick, and reportedly filmed on Friday off Seal Beach, according to KTLA. It depicts two men on stand-up paddleboards as they notice the presence of two young white sharks near them. The duo then proceeded to engage with the sharks over the course of the two-minute-long clip, following the predators and filming them both from above and below the surface.
At one point in the video, one of the young white sharks apparently becomes startled by the camera submerged near him, and can be seen swimming quickly away. In several instances, the paddleboarders take their craft directly over the heads of the sharks, which appear to measure roughly six feet, making them the same length as the boards. The cameraman’s compatriot attempts in several moments to touch one of the sharks with his paddle, before the great white moves away.
WATCH: SoCal man’s encounter with juvenile great white sharks http://t.co/B0VweuduQX pic.twitter.com/IumovZKJmU
— NBC Bay Area (@nbcbayarea) June 22, 2015
The white sharks are hardly new transplants to the region, and have been making headlines ever since they were first reported off the popular beach. As the Inquisitr previously reported, more than a dozen of the sharks have been sighted in various contexts, both by locals and police. At roughly five or six feet in length, however, the great whites are immature sharks, and pose little danger to beachgoers, instead preferring a diet of small fish and stingrays.
Drone used to spot sharks off California coast http://t.co/Ch28PMi3rl pic.twitter.com/OmxgIEnSde — NBC Nightly News (@NBCNightlyNews) June 20, 2015
The men in the video were identified as Joseph Trucksess of San Clemente and Courtney Hemerick of Aliso Viejo, according to the OC Register. They related that they set out on Friday with the distinct mission of getting footage of the great whites, which have become local celebrities.
“I’ve always been into water and into wild animals,” Trucksess observed. “My perception of sharks has been so distorted by Jaws and other movies, it was cool to see how peaceful and non-aggressive they are.”
The duo spent nearly three hours in the water filming the white sharks. Upon leaving the ocean, they ran into roughly 30 other people who had gathered on the beach in order to observe the juvenile sharks.
Though the animals pose little danger to humans, lifeguards have still asked beachgoers to exercise caution in the presence of the young great white sharks.
[Image: Joseph Trucksess via the OC Register]
