Surfer sees shark swim under board

A CALIFORNIAN surfer found himself in a position that would scare most of us as a great white shark swum under his board.

Mike Durand said he heard two great whites were spotted off Manhattan Beach so he took his video camera out to see if he could get some footage of them.

The shark glides under his board and even bumps into it.

Durand has been forced to answer to KXAN why he would put himself in that sort of danger.

"It's exciting. I like to live on the edge," he said.

"I like to surf good-sized waves and do things that scare me a little bit. It makes me feel alive, so when I saw the shark, I was like, 'Aww, there it is. That's the footage I've wanted to get. I will pursue this shark a little bit.’ I didn't know he would pursue me."

The sharks are juveniles and measure about 1.2 metres to 2.2 metres long.

A team of scientists from Monterrey Bay Aquarium are trying to tag the sharks for research purposes.