Tamayo was well-known as a big-wave surfer and a lifeguard in
Oahu, home to some of the world's greatest surfing spots such as
the Banzai Pipeline and Waimea Bay.
He achieved wider fame appearing in the surfing film "Blue
Crush" in 2002, "Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides" in
2011 and the television series "Hawaii Five-0" in 2011.
Emergency services were called to assist a shark bite victim,
and Ocean Safety Services retrieved Perry from the sea by jet
ski, Shayne Enright, spokesperson for the Honolulu Emergency
Services Department, told reporters on Sunday.
Emergency medical services personnel pronounced him dead on the
shore, Enright said.
"We can confirm that it was one of our own ... North Shore
lifeguard Tamayo Perry," emergency services Acting Chief Kurt
Lager said. "Tamayo's personality was infectious. And as much as
people loved him, he loved everyone else more."
Officials offered no further details of the shark encounter.
"Tamayo Perry ... man, this one is hard to believe," Kelly
Slater, the 11-time World Surf League champion and occasionally
Perry's competitive rival, said on Instagram.
"RIP brother. Thank you for your service as a lifeguard on the
North Shore, holding it down at Pipeline for decades ... You
truly lived the life you loved."
Shark encounters are rare and fatalities even rarer still. There
have been 42 unprovoked shark encounters in Oahu since 1828,
second most among the Hawaiian islands behind Maui with 75,
according to the International Shark Attack File database.
(Reporting by Daniel Trotta; Editing by Michael Perry)
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