The famous Hawaiian lifeguard who was attacked by a shark and killed while surfing off the North Shore of Oahu was a former professional surfer and actor who had also had a successful career, including appearing in the “Pirates of the Caribbean” film series.
Tamayo Perry, 49, died Sunday near Goat Island, Shane Enright of the Honolulu Office of Emergency Services said in a statement.
Brendan Buckley, editor of surfing website Stab Magazine, said it was unclear whether Perry was the first professional surfer to be killed by a shark because the definition of professional in surfing is vague.
“But in terms of a high-level surfer that people all over the world know and respect, he’s the first of his kind that I know of,” Buckley told The Associated Press on Monday from his office in Portugal.
Perry and his wife, Emilia Perry, owned the surfing lessons company Oahu Surfing Experience, and according to a biography on the company’s website, he had surfed professionally for more than 15 years and won the Pipeline Masters Trials in 1999.
Pipeline, off Oahu’s North Shore, is famous for the tube-shaped wave that allows surfers to ride it for as long as possible, but it’s also the most dangerous wave in the world, claiming the lives of some of the world’s best surfers, Buckley said. Surfing the wave, he said, became Perry’s specialty.
Surfers either focus on the competition or what they can do outside of the competition.
Perry “was never really a world title contender,” Buckley says, “he was more of a guy who chased big, crazy waves and recorded them.”
“For a while he was one of the best,” Buckley added, “and he rode some of the craziest waves of his time. And obviously he was incredibly respected for what he did by everybody there and around the world.”
Perry said on his website that he had taken to heart the lessons he learned from a near-fatal accident while surfing at Pipeline several years ago.
“The lessons learned from this incident have inspired me in my goal to teach proper surfing etiquette and safety to those I teach,” he wrote.
Emilia was a professional bodyboarder in Western Australia before moving to Hawaii at age 18. She and Tamayo met while both were bodyboarding into the waves at Pipeline.
“A few years later, I picked up a surfboard, got married, and there was no turning back,” she wrote. “The vast amount of ocean knowledge that Tamayo imparted to me over the years is priceless.”
Tamayo Perry began her career as a lifeguard on the North Shore for the City and County of Honolulu Ocean Safety Department in July 2016, Enright said.
Perry’s other passion was acting, and he was credited with several small roles on the film website. www.imdb.com, In 2011, he played a pirate in Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides. In the same year, he appeared in an episode of the TV series Hawaii Five-0. He also appeared in several national commercials.
“When I’m not acting, I’m quite the character so that’s always a lot of fun,” he said.
Enright said officers from the Honolulu Ocean Safety Office and the city’s fire, police and emergency medical services departments were dispatched to Malaekahana Beach on Oahu’s North Shore just before 1 p.m. Sunday after a caller reported seeing a man who appeared to have been bitten by a shark.
Lifeguards carried Perry to shore, where he was pronounced dead, Enright said.
Marine Safety Bureau officials posted a shark watch in the area after the attack, Enright said.
Honolulu Ocean Safety Bureau acting director Kurt Lager said Perry was “a beloved lifeguard.”
“Tamayo’s personality was infectious and as much as people loved him, he loved everyone even more,” Lager said at a news conference.
“Tamayo was a legendary sailor and highly respected,” said Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi, who called Perry’s death a “tragic loss.”
of Hawaii’s last shark fatality On December 30, a man was attacked while surfing off the coast of Maui about 150 yards (137 meters) from shore.
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Thiessen reported from Anchorage, Alaska.
