Great White Shark Relentlessly Hunts Foil Surfer for 10 Minutes in California (Video)

“I think we passed over him and he got excited,” Takeda said. “I think it was curiosity. I think it was like a cat chasing a string. It was just really curious. Then, you’re going so fast, I think that really made him excited.”

As for Boise, who kept the camera rolling while the harrowing incident unfolded, he joked about the shark encounter initially, then shared how scary it was:

“My first thought was really validating. It was that tastes way better than I do. That’s why the shark wanted him more than me. But it was a scary moment. Usually these shark encounters are really quick. They happen fast. Then they go away. You’ll see in the video, and I look back a second time. It was still chasing Ron. This is really bad.”

The shark in the encounter was persistent; it would not give up, even as the two foil surfers began picking up speed. Takeda continued:

“I’m guessing we were going 12-to-15 miles per hour. Riding the ocean bumps, sometimes we’re going slow, then sometimes we’re going down a bump and going pretty fast. That was the surprising part. We were going pretty fast, at times, thinking we’d leave the shark behind, but no. It was right there. It just kept chasing us so easily right behind us.”

For Takeda, he just kept going, kept gaining speed, attempting to outrun the shark – or at least make it lose interest in the chase. He continued:

“What you normally need to do is not run away. You’re supposed to look at the shark. But we’re on our foil boards, and we’re going fast, so in this case, we thought that our best chance of coming out unscathed would be to stay on foil, and stay out of the water.”

And Takeda’s advice for anyone else encountering a shark? Don’t do what he did.

“My advice to other people in the water?” he said. “Don’t splash. Don’t try to run away. Stay calm, and if it comes close, face it.”