Brave surfer films Great White sharks under water

Spotting a shark is most surfers' cue to exit the water but Chuck Patterson captured footage of two Great Whites circling his board after paddling out to film them.

Within a matter of minutes, the Californian found himself surrounded by a pair of Great White Sharks and caught them on video swimming just feet away from him.

At one point during his 15-minute encounter, the bigger of the two creatures â€" a 9ft shark â€" even slapped his tail on Mr Patterson's surfboard.

Mr Patterson, from Dana Point, California, said: "The day before I shot this video, I was stand-up paddling surfing with a couple friends and two sharks circled us for about 15 minutes.

"The next day, I decided to go back out at around the same time and take my camera mounted on a 10ft pole and do some exploring.

"Sure enough within five minutes a 9ft shark came out of nowhere and circled twice and slapped his tail on my board before disappearing. Then a minute later a 7ft young juvenile Great White swam circles around me for 12 minutes."