Surfer Chuck Patterson Up-Close to Great White Sharks at San Onofre

This is a lot closer to the shark immortalized by Jaws than most ocean-goers would ever get...especially on purpose.

Photo from video by Chuck Patterson

(SAN ONOFRE, Calif.) - A surfer in Southern California has wowed the world with some up close and personal footage of two great white sharks, that he shot from his board.

The underwater video was shot off San Onofre, California on Monday, August 9th by Chuck Patterson of Dana Point, California. He sat on his board using a camera mounted on a 10-foot pole, while the great whites circled the area, which is near the infamous surf spot, Trestles.

The surfer-photographer explained in a posting on vimeo.com that he and his friends spotted the sharks while he was stand-up paddle surfing.

He returned with the camera the next day, and without ado, a 9-foot shark circled him twice, slapping its tail on his board as if a final exclamation before swimming away. A 7-foot shark also approached and swam around Patterson for more than ten minutes. Patterson calmly held the camera while it rolled.

"It was an unreal experience that I will cherish forever," the posting says.

In the video, a close view at the left side of the great white near the dorsal fin is a yellow-green object, very possibly the colored leader left behind when an electronic tag placed by Monterey Bay Aquarium researchers popped free, spokesman Ken Peterson said.

It is unclear if the shark in the video is the same one they tagged to transmit data via satellite regarding the shark's behavior, but it is very likely one of 38 young great whites researchers tagged off Santa Barbara, Los Angeles and Ventura counties since 2002.

With or without a transmitter, these two sharks have been seen around the world, and surfers will be on the look out for them and their friends at any upcoming area surf contests.

Rightly so.