Ocean Beach, San Francisco

On July 25, 2006 at Ocean Beach, San Francisco, in the vicinity of Pacheco Street, a shark was sighted by a surfer at approximately 5:00 P.M. The surfer reported seeing two big fins, six to eight feet apart, about 100 feet away from the surfer and about 40 feet further outside from his position. He reported that the fins were cruising in a steady fashion, not like a dolphin's movement, before the fins disappeared under the surface.

Four-Mile Beach

On July 25, 2006 Mike Sach was surfing at Four-Mile Beach at about 6:00 P.M. Sach reported the following: "I noticed some splashing on the inside channel. Four-Mile Beach is a point break surrounded by kelp with an inside channel that is free from kelp. Since the waves were not very good, I was just enjoying being out there and checking out the wildlife. There were a few sea otters and what appeared to be a large porpoise or dolphin with a very small calf. Suddenly this huge porpoise jumped completely out of the water about 40 yards from shore in the channel. This is about 60 yards inside and about 60 yards south from the point where about 20 of us were trying to surf. I kept looking. I've seen porpoise and dolphin almost every time I've surfed in my 30 years of surfing, so it wasn't that big of a deal. Then I saw two triangular dorsal fins pop up right behind where this huge porpoise jumped, and I could also see the small calf right behind it. It was pretty shocking. I thought it was probably just another porpoise with an odd shaped dorsal, so I kept looking at the spot with interest. Then, there they were again, two triangular dorsal fins, probably 18–20 inches in height, accompanied by a lot of splashing. I mentioned to a couple of other surfers that I thought there was a great white shark inside the channel. Just to make sure I wasn't seeing things, I asked three or four of them to check it out. We decided to paddle in and continued to watch from shore as the splashing moved further outside beyond the surf break. I'm certain that I saw two sharks."

Rio Del Mar Beach

On July 18, 2006 Dan Kingsbook was surfing about 75 yards offshore at the south end of Rio Del Mar Beach (AKA Beercan Beach), just north of Hidden Beach near Santa Cruz. It was 8:00 A.M. and he had been in the water about one hour. Air and water temperatures were estimated to be in the mid-60s and 50s, respectively. The sky was clear with little or no wind, and the sea glassy with 2–3 foot waves. The water was 5–6 feet deep with a sandy bottom and "very good" visibility.

Kingsbook recalled: "A long wave set had passed through and I had spent several minutes paddling out. I had been sitting on my board waiting for a wave for about a minute since my last move when I first saw the shark about 20 feet beyond my location. It was silhouetted in an oncoming swell. Then the shark's dorsal fin broke the surface only a few inches and I could see it swimming slowly and calmly south near the surface, with its upright tail fin clearly visible in the clear water. Upon realizing what it was I turned towards the beach and paddled as quickly as I could toward the shore. Once arriving on the beach I looked back out to see if I could see it but it was gone. The shark was 10–12 feet in length, dark brown or gray on top, and chunky. The shark's movements at all times were calm and non-aggressive. I observed a seal in the surf about 20 minutes following the encounter."

Caution should be exercised when utilizing these locations for your ocean water activities. Please report any shark sighting, encounter, or attack to the Shark Research Committee.

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