Lone surfer frantically paddles to shore after spotting shark

A solitary surfer in southern California had a hair-raising encounter with a juvenile great white shark a week before a swimmer was attacked at a nearby beach.

David Woodward was testing out his new GoPro camera while surfing alone on a longboard at Bluffs Playground in San Clemente's San Onofre State Park.

"All of a sudden a great white shark appeared in the next wave," Mr Woodward said.

He says the shark was about three metres away and swimming in front of him.

"It was the fifth juvenile great white I've seen in the water in the last two years there, so I wasn't too concerned," he said.

"Until he turned abruptly in my direction. At that point, I spun my board to get out of there."

In Mr Woodward's GoPro footage, the shark can be seen using the traction of an oncoming wave to approach the surfer.

He can then be seen furiously paddling back to shore.

"That's the closest I've ever been to a shark in the water," he said into his GoPro camera once back on the sand.

Eight days after Mr Woodward uploaded his footage to YouTube, a woman was attacked by a shark at San Onofre State Beach.

Four women were in the surf together, two on surfboards and two swimming.

Leeanne Ericson, 35, was wearing swim fins and wading in the water when a shark bit her on the "glute and down her thigh," according to the San Diego Union Tribune.

She was rescued by her boyfriend and beachgoers, who tied a tourniquet around her leg in an attempt to stem the bleeding.

Paramedics said their quick-thinking probably saved her life.

The single mother of three is recovering from traumatic injuries and will require multiple surgeries.

In a crowd-funding appeal set up by Ms Ericson's mother, she said her daughter was finally able to breathe on her own.

Authorities closed San Onofre Beach briefly following the attack.

Of the 12 shark attacks that have occurred along San Diego's coast since 2004, six of them were at San Onofre.