WATCH: 'Speedy Gonzales' Shark Swim Off Capistrano Beach

DANA POINT, CA —Drone pilot and photographer Matt Larmand, a Capistrano Beach resident, had never seen a great white shark swim at full speed. At least not until Thursday when he captured the newly dubbed "Speedy Gonzales" on drone footage.

At first, the shark swam lazily, approximately 30 yards offshore in a flat ocean until something changed. Suddenly, the shark "took off" in what Larmand referred to as a "high-speed chase."

He estimates the shark swam at speeds of 20 miles per hour.

"He was swimming so fast, he was almost coming out of the water," Larmand told the Orange County Register. "It was the most unbelievable thing I've seen. It's insane."

Friends and fans shared Larmand's video of the high-speed shark chase to the tune of over 72,000 viewers.

If you see a drone above where you're swimming, you may want to head back to shore. Larmand appreciates the sharks from above and says that sharks swim near surfers, often too far from yelling distance.

According to Cal State Long Beach Shark Lab Director Chris Lowe, the great white sharks are the real locals.

Lowe and his Shark Lab are in the middle of a two-year study on beach users and shark behavior. The coronavirus pandemic has changed things this year, but what they have learned thus far, according to a report from the Orange County Register, is that large sharks typically come closer to shore when waves are flat.

"When the surf is up, there's a higher likelihood of a surfer encountering a juvenile white shark," Lowe told the Register. "When (waves are) down, they are more likely to encounter a shark."

According to Lowe, white sharks are essential to our coastal ocean and beach communities. They eat stingrays, seal and sea lions, and are a vital part of keeping the oceans healthy. Still, Lowe and the Shark Lab reminds shore fishermen that if you see a juvenile white shark, it's likely using the beaches as a "nursery habitat."

"It is illegal to target juvenile white sharks, and hooking them is dangerous to other beach users," they say.

Lowe says that over 90 percent of sharks avoid people or "don't care" if there are people around based upon current data.

Have you ever ran across a shark in Orange County? Let us know about it in comments.

Read also:

Watch: Shark Attacks Buoy In Dana Point

Great White Shark Tours The New Rage In Southern California

This article originally appeared on the Laguna Niguel-Dana Point Patch