Pipin Part II: When my wife read about Pipin Ferreras she immediately wanted to know more about the tragic death of Pipin’s wife, Audrey Mestre. My wife has good instincts. Turns out that Audrey’s is a sad and fascinating story that was well told last March by Tristram Korten in the Miami New Times. Korten details the extraordinary physical aspects of the deep diving that Audrey and Pipin were doing. As late as the 1960s scientists did not believe humans could survive the water pressure at depths deeper than 300 feet. But Pipin rewrote the books with successively deeper dives that took him past the 500 foot mark, and revealed that humans have what is known as a “mammalian dive reflex” in which the heart rate slows (Pipin’s would drop to 8 beats per minute at the bottom of his deep dives), blood flow to the extremities is choked off, and the lungs are crushed to the size of oranges. Through training, Pipin developed this reflex to the point where he had a peak lung capacity of 8 liters of oxygen, double the capacity of your average couch potato (which allows him to to hold his breath for….eight minutes).

Korten also details the touching love story between Pipin and Audrey, who met him in 1996 at the age of 22, during her marine biology studies at university. Two weeks later she moved in with him, and in the following years he helped her become the deepest diving woman on the planet, capable ultimately of matching the deepest dives of men–including Pipin. When Audrey died last October, she had already set an unofficial world record of 170 meters (557 feet) during her practice dives off the Dominican Republic (surpassing Pipin’s world record of 162 meters). Tragically, the methods for formal documentation were not in place for this dive and she went out again for one last plunge. This time, nothing went right. The weather was choppy, and as Audrey tried to resurface after hitting 171 meters the balloon which was supposed to speed her upwards started to slow and stall on the wire guiding it. Her unofficial 170-meter dive had taken just 2 minutes and 55 seconds. On her last dive, at 3 minutes and 50 seconds she was just 51 meters off the bottom, with another 120 meters to go to the surface. She passed out and lost her grip on the balloon, slowly sinking back into the depths. A safety diver with tanks grabbed her and headed toward the surface. Pipin, also with tanks, swam down from above. When he finally surfaced with her, 8 minutes and 38 seconds into the dive, she was dead.

Controversy about the risks of free diving naturally ensued, and Pipin was accused by some of leading an innocent young woman to her death. Korten finishes his excellent account:

Pipin, lost in his grief, does not want to discuss the controversy. He’d rather talk about Audrey, the woman who managed to break through the armor of his uniquely insular world and touch a man trapped by his obsession.

Observes his friend and partner Carlos Serra: “I don’t think he will retire. I truly believe he thinks so, but he is so competitive, and I know he has plans to do a 200-meter dive.” That scares Serra. A 200-meter dive (656 feet) has never been attempted. It would be the most dangerous endeavor ever undertaken in a very dangerous sport. “If there’s anyone capable, it’s him,” Serra says while also acknowledging that Pipin is no longer a young man, that the years have taken a toll on his body. “If there’s anyone who might die trying, it’s also him.”

Diving Duo: “Hey Baby, want to see my conch shells…….”

(Photo: Pipin Productions)