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A great white shark was caught on video launching itself out of the water simply yards behind a boogie boarder at Newport Beach — making a stunning scene at the favored Southern California vacation spot.
The household behind the digicam had no thought what that they had captured till they reviewed the footage hours later.
“We were praying on the beach, and we were like, ‘Hopefully a miracle happens. That’d be super-cool [if] a miracle happens,'” Soaren Stevenson, a California-based school ministry chief who filmed the video, instructed Fox News Digital in an interview Tuesday.
10-FOOT GREAT WHITE SHARK SPOTTED SWIMMING DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO YOUNG PEOPLE
As the household replayed the footage, Stevenson mentioned he wasn’t positive what he was seeing.
Then he zoomed in. “I was like, ‘That’s not even a dolphin — that’s a shark.'”
Newport Beach, CA, video captures shark breaching the water as a boogie boarder catches waves. (Soaren Stevenson by way of Storyful)
No one else on the seashore appeared to note the shark, Stevenson mentioned.
“He definitely didn’t know how close it was,” Stevenson mentioned of his brother-in-law, who was boogie boarding simply forward of the breaching shark.
“I was like, ‘That’s not even a dolphin, that’s a shark.'”
Although he grew up in Hawaii and has encountered sharks earlier than, the brother-in-law considered the entire incident as “a once-in-a-lifetime-type experience,” Stevenson mentioned.
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The encounter left Stevenson with a brand new appreciation for animals that share the ocean with surfers and swimmers.
“It’s type of surreal to suppose that the shark is in the same waters as my [brother-in-law], and he did not even realize it,” Stevenson mentioned.
Soaren Stevenson, who filmed the video, mentioned he and his household have been praying on the seashore, hoping “a miracle happens,” earlier than the stunning encounter unfolded. (Soaren Stevenson by way of Storyful)
“It just makes me realize that when you go out there to surf, you can come way closer to such a beast than you ever think you [would].”
Despite the shut encounter, Stevenson mentioned he would not plan to remain out of the water.
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“I don’t think they want to eat us,” he mentioned — including that beachgoers ought to nonetheless stay alert and stay safe.
The breaching occurred simply as Shark Week 2026 kicked off, which Stevenson referred to as “a funny little coincidence.”
Soaren Stevenson captured an important white shark launching itself out of the water simply yards behind a boogie boarder — his personal brother-in-law — at Newport Beach. (Soaren Stevenson)
While the footage seems alarming, shark incidents involving folks stay uncommon.
Fewer than 250 documented shark incidents involving all shark species have occurred within the state since 1950, based on the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
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The division additionally notes that shark incidents haven’t elevated proportionally regardless of rising seashore attendance and the rising recognition of actions equivalent to browsing, swimming and scuba diving.
Even after the scary shut name, some folks say they haven’t any intention of avoiding the ocean. (Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times by way of Getty Images)
Fox News Digital not too long ago reported {that a} Georgia man in his early 20s was hospitalized after struggling a shark chew whereas serving to his pregnant fiancée get to security at a Florida seashore.
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Volusia County Beach Safety officers mentioned the person was wading in waist-deep water near the Dunlawton Beach Approach in Daytona Beach Shores when a shark estimated to be about 4 toes lengthy bit his left foot and ankle.
He was handled at the scene earlier than being transported to a close-by hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
