The Last Attempt

Vince, you want to skip this one.

This is my blog, and the advantage of having few readers is that I can write what I damn well please. This is about a book and an event few outside the diving circles have even heard of. To anybody who has not read the book, it will probably be charabia. But it's my blog, so I can indulge!!!

This post is a follow-up to the October 11's one, titled "The Ocean".

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I've just finished reading "The Last Attempt" by Carlos Serra. Former friend and associate of Pipin Ferreras, he wrote the book trying to find out what really happened to Audrey Mestre on the day she died. He was there, he was one of the main players. And he was very fond of Audrey.

The book is riveting. In fact it cost me five hours of sleep because I could not put it down.

Having known Pipin, the book triggered several memories for me.

In 1993, when Mayol was in Freeport, he was there to do a symbolic dive: in 1966, he had broken the world record in Freeport by free diving to 66 meters. That year, in 1993, he was 66 years old and had decided to do it again, to mark the occasion.

Pipin was there either to dive or break another record. That they would both be on island at the same time seemed a little much for coincidence, especially considering that they didn't like each other. Mayol, with whom I spent more time because I spoke French, dismissed Ferreras as reckless, a bad example for others in a dangerous sport. (He would say the same to Serra.) At the time, I had overlooked it as a childish attempt to put down an competitor, because Mayol could be quite harsh in what he said about other people.

I also remembered more what Pipin was like, as Serra so accurately described the various moods. He could seem almost childish or naive in a way that made you want to protect him. He could be extremely smooth, friendly and charming. He could snap very shortly at someone but usually in Spanish, which I didn't understand. He could be somber and moody. Always, he was larger than life. And for sure, he made arbitrary decisions, following a reasoning that the rest of us seldom got, and they usually were never challenged. He was the undisputed master, in charge at all times.

I think Serra's explanation hits the nail in several regards, but there are still some holes in his theory:

Why would Pipin, making a scuba rescue of Audrey, become a hero for the public? Footage of them sharing a tank as they slowly got back up would be very anti-climatic, nothing spectacular. That he was thinking ahead for a future film makes more sense to me, because Pipin was always thinking way, way ahead. But I'm not convinced about the intended plot.

I am convinced Pipin knowingly did not fill the Pony bottle and I am convinced that asking for a scuba set to be geared up for him in advance is extremely revealing.

Something else doesn't make sense. My first question about the story was "WHY did Audrey not take air from her safety diver?" Serra has what I think is an accurate answer for that. But WHY did Pascal not clearly offer it to her, insisted with a regulator right in her face??? You see him trying to push her up. How senseless is that? Especially after the sled got stuck for 30 seconds at 164 meters. By then, he should have KNOWN she couldn't make it to the surface on time. And my guess is that Audrey wasn't even trying to swim up.

Eventually, Pascal caught her sinking back down, unconscious, and then took her up. But it remains a big mystery to me what happened at the bottom and Pascal seemed to have contradicted himself in later versions. I can believe Pipin had a hidden plan. I don't for a minute believe Pascal would have been part of it.

One thing is for sure: there are holes and lies and delusions on Pipin's part that are undeniable. The unexpected decision to suddenly put Serra in charge officially, but still not let him be. The suggestion of replacing Pascal as the deep safety on Trimix. Brushing away all attempts to remind him to fill the Pony.

One of the most revealing thing for me, as an experienced instructor, came at the very end of the book: footage of Pipin alternating a straight kick with a static kick on his way up with Audrey. Anybody who has spent significant time in the water knows the static, sideways kick that allows you to remain almost stationary or moving very slowly. NOT what you would use when bringing up your wife in a life and death situation.

All in all, I don't know. But Serra writes with the accent of truth. I don't believe all his conclusions but most of them. The episode of Pipin stealing Serra's air left my jaw hanging.

And Audrey, in all this? She was a disturbed and unhappy individual. It is very hard for me to respect a doormat woman. That she could show such physical courage as to descending to the depth she did, yet so little spine to assert herself is bitterly ironic. She was not a fighter, a survivor. I agree with Serra: I think when she found out the tank was empty, knowing who was in charge of it, she simply gave up. Holding on to the sled with both hands doing nothing, waiting for death.

I never knew her and what I learned made me lose a lot of respect for her. Still. So sad.