Mikala Jones passed away at the age of 44

HONOLULU –

Mikala Jones, a surfer from Hawaii known for taking awe-inspiring photos and videos from the inside of huge, curly waves, has died following a surfing accident in Indonesia. He was 44.

Jones had gone into the ocean on a trip to the Mentawai Islands off the west coast of Sumatra on Sunday morning when his surfboard fin severed his femoral artery, his father, dentist Dr. John Jones. The femoral artery is a large blood vessel in the thigh that supplies blood to the lower extremities.

“He was a humble artist. His pictures were incredible,” his father said in a telephone interview Monday from his Honolulu office.

Jones’ Instagram account shows stunning images of waves curling around him from above as he crouches on his board. In some shots, a sunset or sunrise is visible through the curved wave opening in front of him.

Surf photographer Woody Woodworth, who said Jones took the best overall surf photo he’d ever seen, said surfboard fin cuts are quite common. Some surfers like to keep their fins sharp because they believe it allows them to ride waves more precisely — but a fin can be like an ax or a cleaver when combined with the power of a wave, he said.

“All the fins I see are certainly sharp enough with the force of a wave, and pointy enough with the force of the wave, that it would be very easy to cut into someone’s leg,” Woodworth said.

The elder Jones took pictures for surf magazines from the 1970s, but mostly from the beach or pictures of other people in the water. Not his son.

“He was interested in taking pictures while he was surfing on himself and the wave,” he said.

Born in Kailua, Hawaii, Jones started surfing when he was about seven or eight years old and a few years later began competing in the “menehune” age group of 12 and under. He won two national championships as an amateur.

He later took on sponsors and traveled to surf spots in Tahiti, Fiji, South Africa and the Galapagos Islands. Photographers took pictures of him and other surfers on the waves that would appear in pictures in surf magazines. Manufacturers of surfwear and equipment used them in their advertisements.

In the 1990s, Jones began experimenting with taking first-person shots of himself on the water. Jones attached a camera to a cloth fastener on his board, then held the camera under his chin as he paddled out to the waves that lay on his stomach. He picked up the camera when he got up and held it behind him to take pictures.

He started using a GoPro after lightweight cameras were invented and eventually got sponsored by the company. He used software to stitch together footage from multiple GoPro cameras for 360-degree views.

Woodworth praised one photo in particular, calling it “beyond spectacular”. The shot, which appeared on the cover of The Surfer’s Journal, shows Jones in a corrugated tube with his left arm outstretched. The wall of the gulf looks like glass and reflects both the sunlight shining into the barrel and Jones himself.

“It’s 10 points on the surfing and 10 points on the photography technical and 10 points on the concept,” Woodworth said. “This is without a doubt the photo of the all-time Olympic winner.”

Jones was aware of the dangers that can come with surfing, having once experienced an out-of-body experience after nearly drowning.

“He flew in the air, and he looked down and his body floated in the ocean,” his father said. “And then he heard his daughters calling to him ‘Daddy come home.’ And then he went back down into his body.

He woke up on the reef after being engulfed by waves.

The femoral artery is the main source of blood for the leg, and a person can bleed to death very quickly if it is cut, said Dr. Martin Schreiber, a professor of surgery and medical director of trauma at Oregon Health and Science University School of Medicine.

The common femoral artery is in the groin, so a tourniquet can’t be tied to stop the bleeding, he said. Just applying large amounts of pressure is enough, he said.

The elder Jones said he tried to get his four kids to wear wetsuits, helmets and other protective gear while surfing. Surfers are often told to use sandpaper to dull the edges if their fin is too sharp, he said.

“But they’re stubborn, you know?” he said.

Jones is survived by his wife Emma Brereton and daughters Bella and Violet, who divide their time between homes in Bali, Indonesia and Hawaii. In addition to his father, Jones is survived by an older sister and two younger brothers. His mother Violet Jones-Medusky died in 2011.

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Associated Press news researcher Jennifer Farrar contributed to this report.