A search is on in southwest France for Pierre Agnes, the 54-year-old CEO of the surf brand Boardriders鈥攆ormerly 鈥攚ho is presumed lost at sea. According to , at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday, January 30, the Frenchman took his 36-foot motorboat fishing for squid off the coast of Hossegor, a popular surfing聽beach north of Biarritz that鈥檚 home to an annual .聽It is not known whether he was alone or not.
The surf was six feet, with light winds and heavy fog鈥攖ricky conditions, perhaps, but nothing Agnes wasn鈥檛 prepared to handle. He was an accomplished fisherman and surfer and had made a similar trip 鈥渢housands of times,鈥 . At some point, Agnes radioed to the Port Master at the port of Capbreton that he was going to delay his return due to poor visibility. The Twitter account for the French Maritime Prefect 1.2 miles of visibility.
The boat, the Mascaret III, washed ashore at the beach La Graviere at 9:15 a.m. without Agnes. the French coastguard launched a search shortly after, mobilizing three helicopters and two boats to comb the area. Nearly ten hours later, night has fallen in France, increasing the difficulty of the search.
鈥淓veryone at La Graviere was looking for him in between sets,鈥 surf photographer Tim Nunn told Carve. 鈥淭he聽lifeguards on the beach asked me to look out for a body whilst I was swimming around.鈥
Agnes, who has been with the iconic brand for nearly 30 years, became the CEO of the now-struggling company in 2015.