Mikala Jones, 44, was surfing off the Mentawai Islands in Indonesia Sunday when the sharp fin of his surfboard clipped the vital artery. Jones is survived by his wife Emma Brereton and daughters Isabella and Violet.
Jones was born in Kailua, Hawaii and started competitive surfing before he’d ever turned 12. As an adult, he took on sponsors and traveled to hotspots in Tahiti, Fiji, South Africa and the Galapagos Islands. He became a favorite of sports photographers, who shot him for surf magazines and clothing and gear advertisements.
In the 1990s, Jones picked up the camera himself. At first, he attached a camera to fabric fastener on his board and then held the camera under his chin while paddling out to waves lying on his stomach. He’d grab the camera upon standing and hold it behind himself to take pictures. He began to use a GoPro after the lightweight cameras were invented and was eventually sponsored by the company. His Instagram was filled with images of himself inside the incandescent barrel of a wave.
“He was a humble artist. His pictures were incredible,” said his father John Jones, who lives in Honolulu.
Surf photographer Woody Woodworth, who said Jones took the best overall surf photo he had ever seen, said cuts from surfboard fins are common. Some surfers like to keep their fins sharp because they believe doing so will help them ride waves more precisely — but a fin can be like an axe or a cleaver when combined with a wave’s power, he said.
“All the fins that I see are certainly sharp enough with the force of a wave, and pointy enough with the force of the wave, that slicing into somebody’s leg would be very easy,” Woodworth said.
Jones’ daughter Isabella Jones posted a tribute to her father on social media.
“Life will never be the same without you,” she wrote. “I miss you so much, i would do anything to get one more moment, even if it was us arguing and then laughing our asses off.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.