Legendary Pipeline surfer Tamayo Perry killed by shark in Hawaii

Some news is too terrible and heartbreaking to believe.

Today on Oahu, news broke that popular North Shore star Tamayo Perry was killed by a shark while surfing Goat Island, a wave off the east coast of Oahu that is used almost synonymously with him.

The 49-year-old was born and raised in Laie and made a career on the North Shore, both as a professional surfer and later as a lifeguard.

Tamayo is one of the most persistent and dedicated pipeline specialists of all time and has long been ranked among the best alongside Lopez, Andy and Bruce Irons, Sean, Briley, Michael and Derek Ho.

While 13-year-old Bethany Hamilton lost her arm to a tiger shark on Kauai in 2003, this is, to our knowledge, the first time a professional surfer has been killed by a shark. It’s truly unbelievable.

Our condolences go out to Tamayo’s international friends and family in Hawaii.

We will share memories below, as there are countless surfers around the world who have been touched by Tamayo.

From that Encyclopedia of surfing:

An ambitious, God-fearing Pipeline specialist from Oahu’s North Shore, he was named Surfing Magazine’s “Most Likely Barrel of the Year” in 2002. Perry was born and raised on Oahu’s east side in 1975. He started surfing at age 12 and soon became best friends with future pop singer Jack Johnson, who lived in a house on Pipeline Beach.

Perry was known in his late teens as a quiet, up-and-coming local boy who had to borrow surfboards because he had no sponsors. By 1997, the wiry goofyfooter had come a long way, developing a tuberiding style that combined features of Gerry Lopez and Tom Carroll, his two favorite old-school pipeline surfers. By now, he had become a devout, born-again Christian: When asked by a surf magazine about the last two books he’d read, Perry named the Bible and The End: 50 Reasons Jesus Christ Might Return Before the Year 2000.

Perry competed in select competitions and had modest success, finishing fourth at the 2000 Pipeline Masters Trials and fifth at the Billabong Pro Trials in Teahupoo. However, he was widely considered Pipeline’s most dominant surfer in 2005.

Perry has appeared in more than a dozen surfing videos, including The Bomb (1998), Revelation (2000), All Aboard (2002), and Loaded Pipe (2004). Tamayo’s Australian-born wife, Emila Perry, is a professional bodyboarder.