Chilling moment great white shark glides between three surfers at South African surfing championships and appears to line one up to strike… then decides he’s not on the menu
- The footage was taken at a surfing championship at Jeffreys Bay in South Africa
This is the chilling moment a Great White shark glided silently between three surfers blissfully unaware that death was just a few feet away.
The 9ft-long man-eater made its shock appearance at the very same surfing championships where a competitor survived an attack on live TV in 2015.
A drone was sent up after reports of a Great White behind the surf line and it can be seen swimming along the coast towards a dozen of the world’s top surfers.
Incredibly as the killing machine heads towards two unsuspecting competitors a third surfs almost over its head unaware that it is in the wave right below him.
The Great White then lines up a surfer who is looking around him trying to catch a wave in the Corona Open J-Bay 2023 leg of the Men’s Surfing Championships.
As the Great White shark heads towards two unsuspecting competitors a third surfs almost over its head unaware that it is in the wave right below him
One of the surfers can be seen paddling as the shark approaches at Jeffreys Bay in South Africa
It then manoeuvres right behind the surfer for the perfect attacking position and then decides that the surfer is not on the menu for today and slowly turns away.
Professional surfer Nathan Florence, 29, from Hawaii put the incredible drone footage taken by a friend at Jeffreys Bay in South Africa on his Facebook page.
He said: ‘It was pretty crazy when we saw some guys come in fast and I asked them what the deal was and they said they had seen a huge white shark come by.
‘It was close enough they said to see its eyes so we put the drone up fast to see if it was there and sure enough it was swimming towards the world tour surfers.
‘We tried to warn the first guy with the drone as we were far away and he pulled his legs up but didn’t see the shark then the shark checks out another surfer.
‘We alerted people on the beach who alerted the surfers and they all came in and the shark cruised on his way up the coast and everyone got on with their day.’
‘What a crazy chance to see a shark like that! South Africa is incredible!’ he said.
The shark can be seen swimming close to the shore at Jeffreys Bay in South Africa
The shark approaches two of the surfers paddling on their boards
The camera zooms in on one of the surfers as he paddles close to the shark
The shark cuts through one of the waves as a surfer rides it before swimming towards two other competitors
The shark stays close to the surfers as they paddle around it
Professional surfer Nathan Florence, 29, from Hawaii put the incredible drone footage taken by a friend at Jeffreys Bay in South Africa on his Facebook page
Great Whites can grow up to 20 feet long and weigh 2 tonnes and have up to 300 razor sharp serrated teeth arranged in rows in its giant jaws for hunting prey.
They can swim up to 35mph and normally feast on seals, sea lions and dolphins but can mistake humans in wet suits for what they naturally eats and then bite.
In the last 25 years 37 people have been killed by sharks off South Africa and at this time of the year when the sardine runs happens they are very active.
In 2015 Australian three times world champion Mick Fanning, then 39, was seen on live TV being attacked by a Great White but managed to fight it off.
The latest Great White killing was pizza shop owner Kimon Bisogno, 39, at Plettenberg Bay in September just along the coast where she was swimming.
One gruesome photo showed the massive damage Great Whites can do but the 38-year-old victim attacked in Jeffreys Bay two years ago luckily survived.
