US winery owner in brush with Great White

A Californian winery owner got more than he bargained for while out paddling recently, finding himself sharing the sea with a great white shark.

Dale Pearson, the co-owner of Pearson Brothers Winery, which makes fruit and other flavoured wines in southern California, was at his local beach last month when he caught site of the shark in the water and filmed it.

Initially thinking it was hammerhead shark that might have been caught in a net, he and a friend waded into the shallow water to get a closer look.

It quickly became clear, however, that the shark was not caught on a line nor was it a hammerhead but its rather more fearsome cousin, a great white.

The 14 to 15-foot (4metre) long shark was thrashing around in 3ft of water. In-between bouts of activity Pearson managed to approach to with touching distance of the animal, being sure to stay behind it all the time.

The shark also had a deep gash behind its dorsal fin, which was likely from a boat propeller.

The video has since gone viral and scientists from the Marine Conservation Society commented that the wound was not serious and the shark would recover from it quickly.

They also agreed with Pearson’s suggestion that it was hunting for stingrays in the shallows. Indeed, one of Pearson’s friends is jabbed by a stingray towards the end of the video – while the monster shark eventually slinked away into the depths.