A massive shark delivered a terrifying surprise to surfers off Pismo Beach, California, when it swam close enough to splash a man riding a longboard. The encounter unfolded along California’s Central Coast on Wednesday, Oct. 28, 2026.

Video shared with FOX Weather captured the enormous predator moving directly toward the surfer. As the shark approached the man on his board, it suddenly darted away and sent water splashing around him.

The person who recorded the startling scene identified the animal as a great white shark. The footage showed just how close the shark came to people in the water before quickly changing direction.

The encounter placed one of the ocean’s most imposing predators within feet of surfers enjoying the waters near Pismo Beach. Its sudden movement and powerful splash turned the already alarming sighting into a particularly dramatic moment.

Huge great white shark approaches surfers off California and splashes one with its tail — apparently just for fun

An unusual encounter near Pismo Beach was captured by drone operator David Steiner. The footage shows a shark approaching a man on a surfboard, suddenly turning around and slapping the water with its tail, splashing the surfer. The predator then swims back out into the ocean. Steiner described the incident as one of the most remarkable shark encounters he has ever filmed. caveman_476/Instagram — NEXTA (@nexta_tv) October 30, 2026

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According to NOAA, great white sharks can grow to around 20 feet in length. The predators can also weigh more than 4,000 pounds, giving them a formidable presence when they appear near surfers or the shoreline.

NOAA says great whites prefer water temperatures ranging between 50 and 80 degrees. Those conditions are found across a broad portion of the species’ range along the Pacific coast of North America.

Pismo Beach’s tourism website includes great whites among several shark species known to frequent the region. The appearance captured on video therefore involved a species already associated with waters off that part of California.

Along North America’s Pacific coast, the range of the great white stretches from Alaska to Mexico. That range encompasses the California coastline, including the Central Coast waters where the close encounter occurred.

Great whites are not limited to the Pacific side of the continent. In the Atlantic Basin, the sharks are found along the Eastern Seaboard, as well as in the Gulf and the Caribbean.

The Pismo Beach encounter followed another dramatic great white sighting off California. A shark was captured leaping completely out of the ocean near Marina, California, a little more than a week before the Pismo Beach incident.

Marina is located about 150 miles south of the Pismo Beach sighting. Video from that earlier encounter showed the huge predator launching entirely out of the water near the shoreline.

That spectacular leap gave beachgoers a dramatic show as the shark cleared the surface. An advisory was issued for the beach because of the sighting, adding an official warning to the already attention-grabbing scene.

Although the videos from Pismo Beach and Marina offered unnerving views of great whites near people and shore, recorded shark bites remain uncommon in California. The state’s Department of Fish and Wildlife reports fewer than 250 shark bites since 1950.

OCEARCH, a marine research nonprofit, provides another comparison that puts the risk into perspective. According to the organization, a person is more likely to be struck by lightning than to be bitten by a shark.

Even with that broader context, the Pismo Beach footage created a startling picture of proximity. The large shark moved straight toward surfers, came especially close to the man on the longboard, and then veered away with enough force to splash him.

The sighting also reinforced the extensive territory occupied by great whites. From Alaska to Mexico in the Pacific and across several Atlantic regions, the species can appear in waters used by surfers, swimmers and beach visitors.

For the surfers off Pismo Beach, that wide range became an immediate reality when the massive shark surfaced nearby. The video preserved the tense seconds when the predator approached, changed course, and left the surfer surrounded by its powerful splash.

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