Two close encounters with sharks off Southern California coast caught on video

Two surfers had close encounters with sharks off the coast of Southern California this week. Fortunately, neither resulted in an attack.

While paddle-boarding at Manhattan Beach, Mike Durand came across a shark patrolling the waters.

Using his GoPro camera that was attached to his helmet, Durand captured footage of the shark, estimated to be about 8 feet long, swimming under his board.

Durand told KABC that he wanted to get more footage of the shark, so he stuck his camera under the water. He said he quickly came to his senses and took his hand out of the water once he realized that he had no way of knowing which way the shark would come from.  Smart move.

Erica Henderson had a similar experience. While hitting the waves off El Porto Beach near Los Angeles. Henderson spotted a shark, flipped her on-board camera around and captured footage of the creature just a few feet below her board.  She then shared the video with KCAL-TV.