Death of a very famous Free Diver.

[OceanSpirit]

I have kept an eye on this thread and frankly cannot believe what I'm reading.

Jepuskar - "Tragedy this is not"..but then she's not your wife, is she?

Mostly everyone else - You are not competition freedivers, so don't bother speculating or judging.

It *is* a tragic loss and I for one will miss Audrey.

 

[nicodaemos]

Jepuskar, you show an incredible amount of disrespect -- hopefully it is only out of ignorance.

Things you feel are safe - like driving a car, flying a commercial airline and recreational diving - are that way because many great people took risks and put their lives on the line to find the limits. Your safety factor is paid for in blood by those people who died while furthering our knowledge.

You like the fact that after just a few classes you can dive down to 60', swim around and come back to the surface without dying, don't you? How can it be that recreational diving is safe enough that the average person can do it? Were you born with an AL80, regs and a dive computer to measure ascent rates? Or were these tools developed because over the years various people took educated risks? Now I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and say that you would consider it a tragedy that all those divers got injured or died along the way so that you can dive safely today.

It is a tragedy anytime we lose responsible people who are pushing the envelope. It is a tragedy we don't lose more cyberdivers.

 

[GP]

nicodaemos once bubbled...
You like the fact that after just a few classes you can dive down to 60', swim around and come back to the surface without dying, don't you? How can it be that recreational diving is safe enough that the average person can do it? Were you born with an AL80, regs and a dive computer to measure ascent rates? Or were these tools developed because over the years various people took educated risks?

I realize you are directing this to jepuskar but this still is an apples to oranges comparison you're drawing here nicodaemos. Until we as humans develop gills, freediving to such extreme depths has no purpose other than for setting records or competition. We as humans need to BREATHE to live right??? You can't breathe underwater without SCUBA right??? What scientific data do we need to discover yet that isn't known already about holding your breath and descending underwater to 500+ feet? Flame away guys, I just don't get it.:boom:
So...that said, I guess all I'm saying is I don't see any valid points that you are offering in defense of freediving to such depths. I'm just seeing pissed off reactions to jepuskar's lack of remorse for the sad unfortunate death that took place which is quite understandable.

 

[landlocked]

IMHO: I feel life is a very special gift and demands our constant respect and thanksgiving. In participating in extreme sports we fail to show proper respect for the gift. Nevertheless, each individual has the agency to do with life as they will. This young lady chose to spend her gift in an attempt to set a record. Therein lies the tragedy. Not in death itself, for death comes for us all. The tragedy is that she spent her gift so foolishly. Unlike Jepuskar however, I feel a great deal of sympathy for those she left behind. As all good people she will be missed. And those that knew her will morn. My condolences and sympathy go out to them and I hope they will find comfort for their loss.

 

[nicodaemos]

You can drop the flamesuit and change back into your divegear, GP. No flamethrower here.

GP once bubbled...
... freediving to such extreme depths has no purpose other than for setting records or competition. ... What scientific data do we need to discover yet that isn't known already about holding your breath and descending underwater to 500+ feet?

I will not claim that people engage in these endeavors for scientific reasons, personally I believe they do it because they have an inner drive that wants them to push boundaries. But we as a society benefit from all of their successes and failures because we learn more about the environment and ourselves.

Before this thread, I had no idea that freedivers could go to depths past 200 feet, let alone 500! If you would have told me that the human body was capable of freediving to these kinds of depths, I wouldn't have believed you. Who could have imagined that the human body could take that?

holdingmybreath mentioned that deep freedivers have mastered a technique to fill their sinuses with water, that's an ability that wouldn't be readily apparent without the sport of deep freediving. What's the immediate payback? I don't know, but that pushes our understanding of how resilient the human body really is.

But pushing boundaries is not about finding a quick payback ... it's about finding limits. Did we really need to climb Mt Everest? Did we really need to send astronauts to space and the moon? Do we really need high energy particle accelerators like Fermilab? What's the immediate forseeable payback? Knowledge. What's the long term payback? The continual bootstrapping of this human society from a bunch of cave dwelling monkeys to a society that flies with the birds, swims with the fishes and may someday travel to the stars.

I would never ask anyone to push the boundaries just so I can learn. But if they CHOOSE to do so in a professional and responsible manner, then I will support them. And if need be, mourn them when things do not go their way. Either way, I will respect their courage to push the limits of our understanding.

She was a professional freediver, she chose to push the limits. She did many practice dives before this one that gave her confidence to pursue this record. Her work has contributed to our body of knowledge. Mourn her loss.

By the way, had she been a newbie and tried to freedive to anywhere near that depth, I would have nominated her for a Darwin award.

Too bad God didn't provide each of us with an owner's manual with their body. This way you could just look up the specs -- oh yea, the autonomous system will conk out after being deprived of oxygen after 6 minutes and the skin can handle up to 20 atmospheres of pressure before rupturing.

 

[freediver]

sheesh nicodaemos! that was rather poignant! Well said!
By the way, has anyone here ever been to, say... 100 feet or 200 feet on a single breath of air? I realize it is difficult to understand the motivation unless you, yourself have the desire. It's an awesome thing to feel so comfortable in the water that you can accomplish these depths. By the way, I have served as a lab rat (on a local level) and have used my freediving for scientific applications.

 

[jepuskar]

"Unlike Jepuskar however, I feel a great deal of sympathy for those she left behind. As all good people she will be missed."

Landlocked, how nice of you to type words into my mouth. I don't recall saying I had no sympathy for the people who knew and loved her. My viewpoint is on her death within itself, not the pain and suffering her selfish act as caused.

You know what, I was wrong, this is a tragedy. Its a tragedy that this lady didn't have the decency to think about her loved ones, friends, and others who would miss her, before attempting to do this. It was way too risky and selfish.

JAmesK, yes I have driven in Atlanta traffic. Not too bad, LA is the worse I have seen to date. Can't judge Chicago traffic, Im too use to it, speaking of...gotta go get my road rage on.

 

[JamesK]

You must not have been here in a while. 7 lanes in each direction of non moving cars. There was a report about 3 months ago on the local news that stated that Atlanta now had the worst traffic in the nation on it's freeways.

 

[rcohn]

Pipin recently published the following letter. I can't even begin to comment on it (at least nothing that the regulators won't immediately censor), it speaks for itself.

Source: http://www.iafdusa.com/training/day37.htm
See also: http://www.iafdusa.com/

Ralph

OPEN LETTER FROM PIPIN FERRERAS


"First of all, on behalf of Audrey’s parents and myself, I would like to thank all the people that have sent us condolence letters, even without personally knowing Audrey or us. Your words of support have been much appreciated in this time on grief.

After some deliberation, Audrey’s parents and I have decided not to disclose any information whatsoever about Audrey’s accident and its causes. This will only increase the morbidity of the enemies that both Audrey and I have. I’m sure this would have also been Audrey’s will, and as such, I would ask that everyone respect our decision.

In her honor, I’m going to continue on with my career. Personally, with everything that I’m going through, I have given orders to my relatives and closest friends, that in case some day this kind of accident should happen to me, they tie me with my weight belt and let me fall into the ocean, with no investigation at all. Audrey and I had talked about this as well.

Our loss is extremely painful. I would like to ask everybody to please let her rest in peace. The best honor that she can receive is to be remembered as the great champion and the great person that she was, and as my most beloved companion.

Audrey will always be in our hearts and in the hearts of those who love her. Really deep in my soul I feel she is now in a better place.

If by knowing the causes of her accident, we could bring her back, I would be the first one to encourage the investigation, but I know that this is only going to cause more polemic and more vicious comments that at this moment are not appropriate and that nor her family nor myself are able to withstand.

I have asked the people involved in this investigation not to disclose any information regarding Audrey’s accident. And I will not be accepting e-mails or phone calls or any other kind of approach from anybody in order to discuss the matter.

Thank you for your understanding.

Pipin. "

 

[jepuskar]

It must be hard enough to lose a family member, yet alone listen to people approach you asking for details. I feel sorry for the guy.

Ofcourse knowing the details would stop the speculation.


JamesK, all I remember is every street was named Peachtree!