Breaking: Quiksilver CEO Pierre Agnes lost at sea…

"I love this man," says Kelly Slater.

Yesterday morning, the eleven-metre boat of Boardriders Inc president Pierre Agnes was found empty and washed ashore at La Graviere, the site of the Quiksilver Pro  in Hossegor, France.

Agnes, who is fifty-four years old, had gone fishing alone at first light, in a six-to-eight foot swell and with heavy fog.

As various French outlets reported:

“He was out alone at sea at 7:30 on Tuesday aboard his boat Mascaret III  after leaving the port of Capbreton. He sent a message to the port master  to explain that he was going to postpone his return because of the fog. An air search  is under way, in close coordination with the Maritime Prefect of the Atlantic, who is in charge of rescue operations at sea.”

One local surfer and business owner speculated that, “On the way back he likely tried to get to Capbreton using GPS but found himself at low-tide La Graviere. So the boat got rolled and he was lost. Now there’s all sorts of boats going backwards and forwards trying to find a body.”

Pierre was famously thrown into the job of Quiksilver CEO (or Boardriders Inc as the name was changed to earlier this year) in 2015 after the disastrous two-year reign of former Disney boss Andrew Mooney, whose most significant achievement was the loss of Kelly Slater as a team rider.

Earlier today, Kelly Slater posted a photo of Pierre on Instagram with the note, “I love this man.”