Taking personal responsibility for ones own decisions
Posted By Cliff Etzel on 17 October 2002
The tragic death of Audrey Mestre' on October 12th prompted me to write an article asking what the real causes were that led to her death.
I ask many tough and probing questions regarding the accountablility of the IAFD in Audrey's fatal record attempt. Were they responsible? - or was it a natural result of this extreme sport's hazards?
But I now want to ask a question that may ruffle a few more feathers in the process - What part did Audrey play in the eventual fatal dive she made that day?
Being one who believes that one should take personal responsibility for their decisions and actions, I have to ask this very question regarding Audrey's personal decision to make this record attempt.
The IAFD was, and still is, responsible for the safety of the attempt as the organizing entity, but the diver is ultimately responsible for deciding to actually make the dive. I don't enjoy asking raising these issues, but the truth needs to be disclosed.
Audrey was quite familiar with the inner workings of the IAFD, since she worked closely with it's founder and her husband, Pipin Ferarras, and its President, Carlos Serra. Acting within the confines of the organization, it can be speculated that she knew what was actually occurring regarding the support crew, emergency personnel, etc. surrounding her record attempt.
Knowing this, she trained as hard as anyone humanly could, and even succeeded in reaching 170 meters in a training dive days before her actual record attempt. She was physically, and psychologically capable of meeting her own expectations and those of whom she had around her.
But in this process, the difficult question needs to be asked: Was she influenced in some way, either subtly or outright, to make this record attempt, knowing the risks involved with the apparent current evidence showing a lack of safety protocols that needed to be in place to make this a safer and ultimately a successful record attempt?
No one will know, since the only person who can answer these questions fully is no longer with us.
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