Watch: Great white shark swims close to Australian surfers

Surfers narrowly escape Great White Shark encounter

On November 13, a group of surfers off the coast of Emerald Beach, New South Wales, had a tense close encounter with a great white shark, as shown in the footage. (Credit: Kye Wilkinson via Storyful)

NEW SOUTH WALES, Australia - A close call for a group of surfers off the coast of Emerald Beach, New South Wales, when they spotted a great white shark.

Kye Wilkinson recorded the footage on November 13 while he was out surfing. He said he pressed the record button after the shark hit the bottom of his board.

The video showed him on a surfboard, telling others about the shark before the camera goes underwater and shows the shark swimming close to him.

Wilkinson said he was surfing, "when a 3-4 metre great white shark hit the bottom" of his board.

"I looked underneath me to see it slowly swimming below me," he told Storyful.

He said, "I then shouted out to warn other surfers. Not all of them heard me so I then paddled over."

What to do if you see a shark

The shark researchers said that in the event you spot a shark, keep your eyes peeled on the predator.

"What we always tell people is to look, keep your eyes on the shark," Chris Lowe, the director of the Shark Lab at Cal State University (CSU) Long Beach, said. "Let the shark know you see it and track it."

Florida man bitten by shark at Bathtub Beach in Stuart

While riding waves at Bathtub Beach in Stuart with two friends last Friday, a likely bull shark bit both of Cole Taschman's feet on the outskirts of a wave, nearly resulting in the loss of both limbs.

"If your face is in the water, follow the shark. It knows where your head is. It knows where your eyes are," he said. "If you're on your surfboard, turn your surfboard towards it. So the head of your surfboard acts like the head of an animal, and the shark feels like it's being watched."

Lowe said that if you lose track of the shark, look behind you because the predator is likely stalking you.

"If you lose sight of the shark, the first place you should always look is behind you, because that's what all predators do," he said. "If they're going to investigate something, they're going to investigate it from behind because that's the safest way to do that."

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