I would, too. Not because I’m a strong swimmer, but because I’d be more worried about dying of embarrassment from being rescued that close to civilization.
Then instead of the New York headlines reading “GET A LOAD OF BRIGHT BOY HERE: Bougie Dipshit Probably Should Have Left the Kayak on the Roof Rack of His Volvo,” they would have said “LOCAL MORON FISHED OUT OF JAMAICA BAY IN NON-MOB-RELATED INCIDENT: Man Who Left Corpse Remembered as Unusually Stupid.”
Retired NYPD aerial photographer here. What’s even better is that the NYPD Aviation Unit is based only about a mile east of that island, at Floyd Bennett Field. He had a good chance of being noticed, once he built the sign, since regular patrol flights often overfly that location. One crew member is always looking down on the ground for problems.