Mikala Jones, Professional Surfer, Dead At 44

Hawaiian professional surfer Mikala Jones died Sunday following a fatal surfing accident in Indonesia’s Mentawai Islands. He was 44.

Isabella Jones, the athlete’s daughter, announced his death in an emotional post on Instagram .

“I’m not sure how to put this in words, but my dad got into a bad surfing accident and didn’t make it,” she wrote. “I’m happy he was doing what he loved the most. Life will never be the same without you. 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.”

Mikala Jones suffered a 4-inch wound to the inside of his left groin, reported Surfline . “All signs point to a severing of the femoral artery, likely from a surfboard fin,” said the website.

Jones was taken to a local hospital but declared dead.

The outlet remembered Jones as a pioneer of surfing imagery who “helped reimagine how it could be photographed.”

On Instagram, surf icon Kelly Slater hailed Jones as a “legend.”

Apparel company Reef, for which Jones had been an ambassador, praised him as “arguably one of the most barreled surfers on the planet,” a “surfing savant” and “an artist ahead of his time painting his canvas on waves like no other” who “lived with gratitude, grace, wisdom and most importantly kindness for all.”