Sharks and surfers of late, have become more like the two sides of the same coin. As they keep crossing into each other’s territories, shark encounters during surfing contests become more and more frequent. While there has been enough violent news to put someone off open waters, the San Onofre State Beach in San Diego, California offered a more pleasant visit from the Great White last October. During the club surfing contest, a giant Great White Shark leaped up in the air from within the waters, and everyone present had a feast for their eyes.

Thankfully, photographer Jordan Anast made sure the visual treat can be experienced by all. While initially unsure of what he had captured, Anast later realized the rarity of the event.

He captured a one-in-a-million moment while surfing

Jordan Anast told the Orange County Register, “It’s a shot I’ll never get again. It just looks like ‘Sharknado’, it doesn’t look real”. The California-based photographer was drawing a comparison with the hyper-realistic Anthony C Ferrante movie, where a larger-than-life-sized shark rise to the sky from tornadoes to wreak havoc in the Santa Monica region.

Anast, who’d swum in those waters many times before, never saw anything like that. A cartilaginous body just out from the waters, twists, and twirls, and then back inside. Anast was capturing surfer Tyler Warden who was competing that day. After the creature decided to steal the scene, Anast thought it might’ve been a dolphin. He said, “I thought, ‘That’s a big dolphin'”.

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However, on careful inspection, he realized what he had accidentally done. While this was just a touch-and-go moment for Anast and especially surfer Tyler Warden, things haven’t been so easy going in the waters for surfers.

Nothing to be casual about, sharks are scary creatures

Mick Fanning, a three-time World Champion in surfing, once had to fight for his life against the vicious attack of a Great White Shark. He too was in a competition, the Jay-Open in South Africa, when he faced this horrific situation. Fanning survived just nearly, and so did Shannon Ainslie. From a horrific incident in South Africa to a South African surfer, Ainslie too suffered a similar horror. But only double the horror. Not one but Ainslie faced off against two sharks who nearly tore him to pieces. Fortunately, he lived to see another day and shared his story the same year in 2021.

While these attacks, as horrific as they are, the San Onofre Surfing club joked about the same. The surfing contest didn’t stop, and neither did they postpone for the day. But it did reinstate the Southern California surfers almost anticipate a frequent visit from the ocean’s apex predators.

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