IAFD/McCoy Report on Audrey Mestre's Death
Posted By Stephan Whelan on 8 February 2003
Publisher Note: This report is reproduced "as-is" from the official IAFD report that is due to be published later today. We are providing no commentary in this piece and this does not include any of the appendices or attachments described in the document. Editorial commentary and analysis will follow in due course.
On October 12, 2002, Audrey Mestre, the well-known free-diver, tragically perished during her No Limits World Record attempt. Since that time, her husband, Francisco "Pipin" Ferreras and the International Association of Free Divers (IAFD) have attempted to understand what went wrong with the dive, leading to Ms. Mestre's tragic death. This Report, and attachments, summarize that which is known and some conclusions about the tragic event.
In developing this Report, a number of sources have been consulted. Perhaps the most important is the detailed report of Kim McCoy. McCoy is a physical oceanographer and diver with decades of experience on and under the water and was present for Mestre's final dive. He is affiliated with Ocean Sensors, which specializes in the design and manufacture of oceanographic and water-quality instrumentation. McCoy has observed and certified numerous world record free-dive attempts, and provides high resolution electronic data to measure the precise depth, velocity and duration of dives. The computer (OS500 D manufactured by Ocean Sensors), worn by Ms. Mestre during her final dive, provided 'flight-recorder-like' information. Neither McCoy nor Ocean Sensors are compensated in any way by the IAFD or Pipin Ferreras. McCoy is involved in academic and environmental research and is the Marine Technology Society Chair for Oceanographic Instrumentation.
McCoy gathered additional information from the Mares dive computer worn on Audrey's wrist, the Aqualung dive computer on Audrey's leg and several other Mares and UWATECs dive computers worn by various divers. Interviews with over a dozen people were conducted before and after the dive. Measurements were made of the descent and ascent fixtures including weights and volumes. Finally, mathematical tools were applied to help explain certain processes. Historical records, videos and photographs from the many previous training and record dives from 1995 through 2002 also were referenced.
An official autopsy was conducted in accordance with the laws of the Dominican Republic and concluded that the death was accidental. This report relies on that autopsy as well as Kim McCoy's report, and on interviews and observations conducted directly by the IAFD team.
The conclusions reached by McCoy and the IAFD are very similar. McCoy's report is reproduced in its entirety as an attachment to this report. In summary, the following conclusions were reached. There was no single cause for the tragedy that befell Audrey Mestre. Rather, many different factors, ranging from technology to ocean conditions, contributed to the events of October 12th. One factor was the new, thinner diameter cable used in this dive. This new cable was intended to minimize friction with the sled. However, due to the reduced weight of the new cable combined with a different type of weight at the bottom, the cable was free to move to the side, an effect that was noted by Kim McCoy. The full impact was not apparent during training dives because of excellent weather conditions. On the date of the world record attempt, however, the weather was stormy and much windier than during the preceding two weeks of training. While the waves on October 12th were not in and of themselves so problematic as to require a cancellation, they apparently exacerbated the movement of the cable, resulting in several starts and stops during the ascent. One of these "stops" occurred at 164 meters, at which time the sled did not move up or down for approximately 30 seconds.
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