GoPro captures moment clumsy dolphin body-slams surfer (video)

When surfer Matt Minich went out on the water with his paddle-boarder friend Peter Nelson, the last thing he expected was for a dolphin to crash into him.

But that's what happened at a southern California beach when three dolphins lined up to surf a wave.

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Minich was wearing a GoPro and filmed the moment the dolphins surfed towards him and one of the animals slammed right into his board.

Speaking to The Huffington Post, Minich said: "Once I got the camera on, I was thinking to myself, 'This is incredible. I am going to get a perfect video of these dolphins.'"

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He said he thought the dolphins would pass underneath him and two of them did but then the third barrelled right into him.

"The dolphin ploughed into me and the side of my board and I went down hard," Minich said.

"It made a very loud bang, so much so I was worried about the dolphin right after the crash."

Minich added that the dolphin appeared to escape the situation unharmed.

"He torqued his body in mid-air trying to avoid me. If he hadn't done that I think we would have made full-body contact," he explained.

"He may have saved my life with his action."

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