Star surfer Mikala Jones has died in a surfing accident in Indonesia. He was 44 years old.
The Hawaiian became famous for his impressive photos and videos in wave barrels.
Jones went surfing in the Mentawai Islands off the west coast of Sumatra on Sunday morning. As he fell, his fin severed his femoral artery, a large blood vessel in the thigh that carries blood to the lower extremities.
Jones’ Instagram account, which has more than 54,000 followers, highlights photos and videos of him on his board amidst the waves.
nature surfer
Jones was born in Kailua, Hawaii to a father who was also a surfer. He first got on a board and started competing when he was seven or eight years old.
He has also won two US championships as an amateur.
He then began gaining sponsorships and traveling around the world, including to Tahiti, Fiji, South Africa and the Galapagos Islands.
Often the subject of photo coverage in trade magazines, he has also been the commercial face of several surf gear manufacturers.
Photo from Instagram
Experiment
In the 1990s, Jones invented the surf selfie, so to speak, by experimenting with first-person shots on his board.
He attached a camera to his board, he could also hold it under his chin while paddling, or hold it in his hand when standing to take a picture while holding the camera behind him.
The introduction of submersible, lightweight, and high-resolution GoPro cameras allowed him to hone his art, and the company became one of his sponsors.
He innovated by using software that allowed him to stitch images from multiple cameras together to create a photo with a 360° view from one photo.
Photo from Instagram
First warning
According to his father, Jones was well aware of the dangers of his activities.
He would also have had an extracorporeal experience after nearly drowning.
“He flew up into the sky and saw his body floating in the sea,” his father told ESPN. Then he heard his daughters calling him and returned to his body.
He would then have woken up on a reef, having been pushed there by the waves.