Extreme dive over Lake Memphremagog cancelled due to high winds
By Jack Wilson
Lysanne Richard, a former Big Brother contestant and extreme diver, had to cancel plans to dive from a helicopter around 24 metres above Lake Memphremagog July 28. The 41-year-old athlete who planned to complete the dive in time for her 42nd birthday, said she now hopes to perform the feat as soon as possible.
Scheduled to dive around 7:30 p.m., Richard first joined several guests, including Magog mayor Nathalie Pelletier, aboard the Grand Cru dinner boat. “I’m hoping to set a record,” she said.
“In life, I’ve rarely performed as high [a jump],” Richard said. “There’s some fear,” she admitted, but “there’s a lot of confidence because all the preparation steps have been completed.”
Richard said she’d been training weeks ahead of the planned dive, including with exercises aimed to prepare her body for impact with the water at a speed of 80 to 90 km/h.
Just before 6 p.m., Richard disembarked from the Grand Cru onto a smaller boat, set to take her to the helicopter. Minutes before the scheduled dive, her team called it off, citing high winds which would have impeded the helicopter’s ability to remain stationary above the diving spot.
Cancelling the dive “wasn’t my decision,” a disappointed Richard told spectators after the event. She trusted her team made the right call, she added.
