“We were always afraid when he went freediving fishing”

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In the Notre-Dame-des-Flots church in Lège-Cap-Ferret (Gironde), a final tribute will be paid this Saturday, November 2, 2024 (from 3 p.m.) at Collin Martinsdied at age 37 in a spearfishing accident in Australia.

After growing up on the Arcachon Basin peninsula, this ocean lover left at the age of 20 to settle on the island continent to satisfy his boundless passion for surfing.

A spearfishing enthusiast

Nicknamed “Waterman”, Collin Martins spent his time in the water and when he was not taming the waves, the thirty-year-old used to practice freediving fishing brilliantly.

With his harpoon, he was able to catch fish more than 20 meters deep. But last Tuesday, September 17, off a beach in western Australia, Waterman was swallowed by the ocean.

Victim ofa syncopehe never came to the surface. The body of the 30-year-old was found two days later. Collin Martins leaves behind a woman et two sonsaged 4 and 2 years old.

A risky activity

His mother agreed to testify toBordeaux news to alert on the dangers of spearfishing. “Since Collin’s death, we have been very interested in the subject and we have realized that there are a lot of freediving accidents. In Australia, there is one death per week,” she says, even if it is difficult to corroborate these figures.

Every year, Pascale Martins went to the island continent with her husband to visit Collin, his wife and their children. “Sometimes, we took care of the children and he took the opportunity to go snorkeling. We always had fear in our stomachs when we saw him go offshore, she testifies. We told him to be careful but we always respected his choices. »

The ocean, Collin Martins had it in his skin. In a video documentary, he said: “The best moments of my youth were on the beach with my parents. This is what I'm trying to reproduce. »

He lived on a catamaran

By the age of four, he was already on a surfboard. His mother also remembers that as a child, he practiced freediving in the swimming pool at the family home.

Earlier this year, Waterman sold his house in Margaret River altogether to live on a catamaran with his wife Gabrielle and two children. The goal was to sail to Indonesia in search of “the perfect wave.”

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