A friend of mine, let's call him Chuck, who is somewhat crazy, tells this story. Knowing him I believe it!
One day, Chuck was out diving with friends off Davenport, about half way between Half Moon Bay, and Santa Cruz CA.
He was swimming along, minding his own business, trying out his new $80 flippers. A seal grabbed one of his flippers. Annoyed, he kicked his foot up to shake the seal loose. This flipped HIM up under what he describes as a boxcar with fins. His "seal" was a Great White Shark!
The shark didn't like the taste of rubber and spit out the fin. He boosted for the surface stuck his head up and said "HELP!" Head back down, look for shark. Head up: "SHARK!" At this point he sees everybody on the boat franticly running to and fro. He and the boat manage to get together.
Later he found out that some local fishermen were in the habit of cleaning their catch in that area.
Soooo, the shark came up beside the boat looking for a handout. Finding none it then swam off in his direction. His friends said it was as long as the boat, 12 feet.
OK, now fast forward a month and a half. Chuck is visiting friends in San Diego, They go out for a dive. There are Basking Sharks, a harmless filter feeder, in the area. So his friend who knows about the earlier dive says, "Hey, Chuck! Wanna swim with the sharks?"
Slow Learner Chuck says "Sure!"
Soon, he's in the water. He sticks his head up and can see the dorsal fin of a shark approaching him. Oh goody! Dunks his head and looks. The water is too murky. Head up. Fin still coming. Head down, too murky. Then...
Out of the gloom a mouth "big enough for me to stand up in in any direction" suddenly appears.
His friend says it was the funniest thing he ever saw. Chuck came straight up out of the water, walked 10 feet across the surface and sank back down...
There’s two strikes, did he try for a third?
Oh, here's another not-quite-shark-story:
One day, I took a 12' SUP right out to the mouth of the harbor in Santa Cruz. Right at the end there's a jetty with a little curve to it, and the swell and outflow was just right to baby surf on it. It was so easy I just sat on the board and enjoyed slow motion surfing in a standing wave. Very relaxing, just dipping the paddle occasionally to re-position.
Suddenly a couple of 18" striper jumped out of the water and flew by me, one close enough that I could have touched it with my nose. Well, that was pretty exciting. And with a sudden rush of adrenalin, I realized it was trying to get away from something. So I looked around and saw a massive boiling swirl right next to my SUP and then....
Up pops an enormous sea lion with a striper tail sticking out of it's mouth.
Seriously I've seen a big shark take an elephant seal at the channel by Año Nuevo. Blood everywhere and blobs of seal washed up on the beach just to the south.