Paddleboarder smacked off his board by dolphin

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a dolphin in pursuit of fish will not want to stop and chat.

In fact, certain dolphins will make sure you get out of the way.

An Australian paddleboarder learned this lesson the hard way when he found himself in the midst of a pod of dolphins.

Andrew Hill, 54, was paddleboarding on the ocean near Gracetown in Western Australia with his son, when "eight or nine" dolphins swam up, he told 7 News Perth.

A viral video of the incident showed Hill on his paddleboard as a group of dolphins swam in a line formation and surfed a wave, then descended upon Hill who was paddling ahead of the breaker.

As the dolphins got close, one dolphin in the group leapt out of the water and knocked Hill off his board.

"And hats off to him, he connected with me really well," Hill said.

Hill says that this has happened in the past, but that generally the dolphins swim around. He told 7 News Perth the believed the dolphins were there to herd fish.

The encounter was caught by Lucas Englert, who was filming surfers at that beach, and could be heard gasping as he watched the dolphin take down Hill.