Wow...
Glad the guy made it.
Another could-have-been-deadly reminder on importance of safety.
Make sure you have a life vest. Wear it all the time if all possible.
Have a VHF, preferably in a bag with attached small floater. Your cell in a dry bag won't do you much good in situation like this.
Have a manual pump or at least improvised device to scoop water out manually... Kayaks are tiny plastic boats - you can easily punch a whole in it without realizing by dragging it over a sharp rock. Not even to mention all the constant stress on internal plastic joints while the boat vibrating strapped on the top of your car/track doing 70+mph on the freeway... Plus the swell banging on it...
Have a GPS, preferably waterproof hand held, easily detachable. Have spare batteries for it. In blown out to sea situation, you ought to be able to tell the CG where you are at.
I know some folks carry light flares as well; great idea. I haven't been doing it, but now I'll throw a few in my dry bag. Better safe than sorry.
Always carry extra water with you!!! Now that I have a kill bag (btw, great way to keep your catch fresh), I take an extra 3-4 frozen water bottles to keep the inside of the kill bag cold. That water doubles as the emergency water supply.
I'm sure that's not all, but in my case - minimum safety standards I paddle by...
We're in the open ocean.
SAFETY FIRST!