Horrible news just in .....

[efattah]

Reading about the tragedy on the net, one website commented on the fact that Loic's fatal dive was 171m -- the same depth that killed Audrey Mestre. What a sad but remarkable coincidence.

In another sad parallel between the two tragedies, in both cases, the first report came back something like this: 'something happened down there, but we don't know what.' It's more than just a statement-- take a moment to understand what that statement really implies.

[Tbird]

It's too sad. I dived with Loic a few times in Nice and was surprised how much of the time he spent safetying, advising and helping others, rather than concentrating on his own training....a real gentleman. This is a catastrophic loss for freediving.

Theo.

[AltSaint]

I woke up this morning and hoped yesterday had all been a bad dream.

I have written a tribute to Loïc here: Beyond The Big Blue

[aude]

so sad..
my deepest condolences to his family & friends.

aude

[turtle]

rest in peace Loic & condolences to friends and family

fred

[Akoni]

What a shock. His No-Limits videoclips were among the ones that sparked my interest in Freediving. Unfortunately I've never been able to meet him and tell him that in person. My deepest condoleances to his family and friends.

[naiad]

Originally Posted by Apnea_Addict

I´ve met Loic on the "Boot" in Duesseldorf a few years ago. He was there for his sponsor, tribord I guess. Nothing spectecular - They just had some posters lying around. Walking by I stopped, because ...hey, the freediving guy on this poster is just sitting there. We went over to get an autograph. Unfortunately we were too shy to ask questions or to get into a little talk. He seemed to be a nice guy without any fuss about himself, though.

I also remember thinking that he was very down to earth.
An article about him on DB from 2004...
Loic Leferme: Explorer, Adventurer, Freediver by Peter Scott on DeeperBlue.net - Fanatical About FreeDiving, Scuba Diving, Spearfishing & Technical Diving

[ChristianRedl]

yesterday was a really bad day for the freediving community.
loic was a really great freediver, i had the pleasure to meet him severeal times and dived with him in nice.
2 days before he died, i say a documentation about loic and pierre. they are talking about family and the reason of setting records. i was really impressed about that, loic loved his famliy and i was thinking about my life.
and know that :-(
loic - i hope you will find now, what you are looking for ...
if i can help his family - let me/us know!

[DanBolt]

we heard the sad, sad news this morning & still can not believe it.

Loic was a fabulous, friendly person and the few times we had the pleasure to meet him we shall never forget - truly a legend.

Our deepest condolances to his family and friends.

Dan & Chris B

[Sanne Buurma]

Sad to hear and read about all this terrible news...

My thoughts and condolances go out to his family, friends and the fellow freedivers who knew him well.

[DeepThought]

I think maybe it is time we'd start think of NL dives the same as skydiving, in the sense that once the diver is down he depends on equipment to keep him alive.
Skydivers have an backup parachute, maybe it is time to consider incooperating backups into the NL system.
It is more complicated as the diver will in many cases be too narced to do anything out of the ordinary if equipment fails.
Maybe a combination of floatation vest and counterballast/float-on-sled that are always activated should be the unofficial accepted minimum for NL dives beyond a certain depth.

[SnuFPunK]

"When you were born - you were crying and the world was laughing, live your life in a way that when you die - youll be laughing and the world will cry"

He has played his part.

R.I.P

~ Snuf.

[Spaniard]

Terrible news. My condolences to his family and friends......

[G.Néry]

Dear friends

in the name of his family, his friends, and his team, I would like to thank you for your support and your kind messages

Everybody here is very chocked and we don't realize exactly what does it mean.
Unfortunatly, I was not on the boat yesterday to help the team.
But what I can tell you about what we know:

Loic attempted to dive at -171m. We didnt feel the moment he stopped and we don't know if he touched the bottom plate (he forgot his dive watch).
After 2min, we start the counterweight system. Everything was ok until 2min 40sec, when the counterbalance was slowing down and completly stoped.
Loic was supposed to be around 80 and 90m.
Then the team tried to make the maximum to pull the roap but nothing came... They tried to fix the roap in an other boat to help the ascent... only fews meters (we dont know exactly).
At the same time, the safety freedivers dived many times around 20 meters and nothing appears.
At least, Olivier Heuleu, who was one of his best friend, dived with the Nitrox tanx (which is normaly used by Loic for decompression) to find him.
Around 30meters, he found him inconscious. He dont remember what he saw (sled or not, anker or not), the only thing he remember is that it was a big shit. After 6min 30 sec of immersion, Loic surfaced.
The team cut the roaps and anker and went directly to the port where the fireman were waiting.

After 30 min, they declared Loic was dead

We spent hours and hours with Loic, Claude, Cedric, Christophe and all the others trying to understand what happend exactly
Unfortunatly, we had to cut everything and the sea took the secret with him. We can only make assumptions: Something hanged the roap and the sled: a fishing net, an underwater cable, a wreck... we absolutly don't know. Did Loic tryed to put the lanyard out? did Loic realize what happend? Did he try to come up with his own power?
We absoltly don't know

The only thing I can promise you is that the team made the maximum very very quickly.. They acted as professionals and anybody else could have made better.

Loic always told me that he didn't care about the depht.

He wanted the freediving family remember his philophy and his way of diving.
Reading your comments, he succeed.

Friendly

Guillaume

[Jorg]

Thanks for your story... Good luck in the coming times with this great loss.