California kayaker thrown out of boat by great white shark

May 30 (UPI) -- A man filming kayakers in California's Monterey Bay captured the moment a man was thrown out of his kayak by an attacking great white shark.

Gene Mace Jr. shared video of the tense encounter that took place in March when Brian Correiar was kayaking just off San Carlos Beach.

The video, which was released this week but recorded March 18, shows Correiar get thrown out of his kayak by an attacking great white shark, while then circles Correiar as he flails in the water.

"That person just got knocked out of his kayak by a shark," Mace says in the video. "See his kayak, a shark's pushing it around...It's swimming towards the guy now."

Correiar said he initially didn't know the cause of his kayak's tipping.

"I landed outside my boat, look back to it and to my horror saw a large great white shark no more than three feet away had my kayak in its mouth. I could clearly see it's 2-inch teeth and it's black eye that looked lifeless," he wrote online.

Correiar said he swam toward shore as the shark turned its attention toward him. A sailboat came over to help, but he was unable to climb onto the vessel and was rescued by a Coast Guard boat a few moments later.

Correiar said the attack was not typical of great white shark behavior.

"I had always thought that great whites hit a target to test it and then backed off," Correiar said. "This was a prolonged attack on the surface."