Pipin vs Netflix - your views?

[Stephan Whelan]

Some of you will remember when this story first broke in 2002. Many of you have been part of the debate ever since.

Pipin Ferreras’s lawsuit against Netflix is over. The California Supreme Court refused to hear his final appeal in December.

But the case isn’t really closed. The New York Times Magazine just published the most thorough independent investigation into Audrey Mestre’s death ever written - 30 witnesses, new testimony, and an admission from the oceanographer who led the original 2003 report.

For freedivers, the part that still matters most is the safety setup. Tanya Streeter had 16 safety divers for her 160m (525ft) record two months earlier. Audrey Mestre had three for 171m (561ft).

We’ve kept a record of this story since the day it happened in 2002. Our team was on the ground in the Dominican Republic at the time.

Full feature: https://www.deeperblue.com/pipin-ferreras-vs-netflix/

What was your take when this happened, and has it changed since?

 

[Bill McIntyre]

I just read an article about this in the NYT yesterday. I thought his story was a bit fishy when its happened, and now I feel it was more fishy. I read a lot more details than I did back when it happened- stuff like witnesses saying that they had a violent argument in the room the night before she died. And how hard is it to make sure that bottle was full of air? That was the one basic thing needed for her to survive. No matter how many safety divers and other stuff they had, she needed air to blow up that balloon to take her up.

 

[SDC79]

It's been a while, but I read both Pipin's and Carlos' books when they were published, and for what it's worth the impression I had afterwards was that he probably did bleed some air out of the pony tank (or just fail to ensure it was full), but didn't mean to kill her. I think he might have been jealous of her success - I seem to recall that he was suffering from some sort of injury that prevented him from going so deep - and wanted to punish her a little bit. But ultimately no-one knows, and it only affected me insomuch as I took dive safety seriously.