A French madman swam Everest. No, really. In a wetsuit.
André Payraud, born in 1948 in Passy, Haute-Savoie, nicknamed "the swimmer of the impossible," is a major figure in French whitewater swimming, known by the nickname "Dédé the Carpet." He is renowned for his daring descents of large mountain rivers and for having helped popularize the sport from the 1980s onward. His achievements include swimming down the Mont Blanc torrent in 1980, the first in a long series of filmed feats: swimming Everest in 1982; the Ganges in 1985; the Colorado; Annapurna; the Jordan River—no river can stop Dédé in his quest for adventure. For his whitewater exploits, André Payraud was made a Knight of the National Order of Merit and received the Silver Medal for Youth and Sports. Alongside his exploits around the world, Dédé set up the first rafting company in Haute-Savoie in 1982, in Domancy, Session Raft, Aventures Payraud mont-Blanc..
Direction
Charles Egory captures Dédé's unhinged charisma without question.
Production
Glorious 1980s footage of genuinely life-threatening stunts.
Director
Charles Egory
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Hydrospeed wasn't even a recognized sport when Dédé started; he basically invented it by being too stubborn for rafts.
In 1990s France, 'Dédé' became shorthand for any reckless adventurer—this film cemented a national archetype of the charming mountain madman.
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