Tobermory Fatality this weekend

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Apparently the shop owner has referred to it as a medical situation. They had 80 plus folks in town.

I've only been to Tobermory once. Going up there again on Friday for the weekend. So I don't really know the area well.

Can you dive the Caroline Rose from shore? Or was it a boat dive? Looking at a map of the site it looks like (a) you cannot get to the shore near Driftwood Cove and (b) looks like a bit of a swim to the wreck.

Sad to hear someone got hurt. Prays go out for the family.
 
It was a boat dive. I'm not sure about diving the Caroline Rose as a shore dive, people more familiar with Tobermory can answer if you can do that.

Heath issue, overweight, deconditioned. Had never done a dive trip in Tobermory or in cold water, likely did exit dives down south too. Was not trained by the dive trip organizers; first time guest diver with the outfit. I suspect also inexperienced with this depth. Coral Reefs are shallow and warm. Equipment was in proper working order. Not enough time below to develop the bends. There was no seizure. Likely cardiac event, possibly pulmonary edema or embolism. Many experienced divers on the boat despite the level of dive and depth and very few beginner/novices, good supervision ratio between dive masters and those who still had their diving training wheels on. If there was a boat to have an emergency on this one was it, if he could have been saved they would have pulled it off. They had many divers there with the training and they did everything they could.
 
It was a boat dive. I'm not sure about diving the Caroline Rose as a shore dive, people more familiar with Tobermory can answer if you can do that.

Heath issue, overweight, deconditioned. Had never done a dive trip in Tobermory or in cold water, likely did exit dives down south too. Was not trained by the dive trip organizers; first time guest diver with the outfit. I suspect also inexperienced with this depth. Coral Reefs are shallow and warm. Equipment was in proper working order. Not enough time below to develop the bends. There was no seizure. Likely cardiac event, possibly pulmonary edema or embolism. Many experienced divers on the boat despite the level of dive and depth and very few beginner/novices, good supervision ratio between dive masters and those who still had their diving training wheels on. If there was a boat to have an emergency on this one was it, if he could have been saved they would have pulled it off. They had many divers there with the training and they did everything they could.
Were you on the trip? I've been up here almost 2 weeks and no one has breathed a word about the accident. I was in the dive shop on Tuesday and asked "Has anyone heard any more info about Kim?" I was referring to Kim Martin who was hurt diving the Lusitania (first met Kim around 1989). There was silence in the dive shop and then I got asked "Kim who?" Everything returned to normal when I added a last name and was told that no one had any progress update..... makes sense now that I know there was a local fatality too.
 
The owner of the campsite that I am staying at told me today that the fatality occurred on the deceased's second dive of the day, at the Caroline Rose.(max. depth approx.12m) As far as he knows the cause of death was a massive heart attack. He also mentioned age, obesity and lack of cold water diving experience. I have no way of verifying any of this, but it is still painful for his family and friends no matter how he passed.
 
Something I have noticed in my area is the average age of local divers. There are some new young divers who dive locally but there are a LOT of divers who have been diving since they were younger. Now they are in their sixties or seventies. At some point some of these divers will start developing cardiac disease. The last time I was at Tobermory (also my first time) I wake up in the middle of the night to some commotion. One of our divers had a heart attack in the middle of the night and we had to call an ambulance. This could have easily happened in the middle of our diving the next day.

Maybe a decade or two from now someone will be posting about me having a stroke while diving the Niagara II. I hope I'll be smart enough to stop diving before it happens... but I really like diving.
 
Yes I was there on that trip. Not sure why it's so hush hush. It was a clear case of dying WHILE diving instead of dying FROM diving. Maybe that's why no press release or to-do in the dive community?? Maybe they don't want to appear to be "victim blaming", it was likely a personal error in judgement regarding his fitness level and suitability to dive and if it was an MI would have happened somewhere down the line regardless.

DAN medical evaluation guide is a great resource. I'd love to see more voluntary medical checks from divers who've been out there for a while and less fibbed medical forms. More dive assessment qualified physicians. A lot of people still have the impression that diving is impossible with any YESes on the form. When I first looked into diving ten years ago few doctors would sign off on medical releases so everyone was checking no to everything and making their own decisions. I decided not to do PADI down in the Dominican anyways as it is far from adequate training and will never do an exit dive for any qualification level down south either.
 

Text of article:

"CTV London
Published Wednesday, August 13, 2014 4:27PM EDT
OPP in the Northern Bruce Peninsula are investigating after a 66-year-old man died while out diving at Fathom Five National Marine Park in Georgian Bay.

Investigators were called around 4 p.m. Tuesday for an investigation into the death of the Brampton, Ont. man.

Police say Andrew Liptak was one of five scuba divers on an expedition to the Caroline Rose Shipwreck in Driftwood Cove, but after entering the water showing no signs of distress, he was seen shortly afterward on the surface without vital signs.

Attempts were made to resuscitate him, but he was pronounced dead by the Coroner.

A post-mortem examination is expected to be conducted in London."




Bob
 
Text of article:

"CTV London
Published Wednesday, August 13, 2014 4:27PM EDT
OPP in the Northern Bruce Peninsula are investigating after a 66-year-old man died while out diving at Fathom Five National Marine Park in Georgian Bay.

Investigators were called around 4 p.m. Tuesday for an investigation into the death of the Brampton, Ont. man.

Police say Andrew Liptak was one of five scuba divers on an expedition to the Caroline Rose Shipwreck in Driftwood Cove, but after entering the water showing no signs of distress, he was seen shortly afterward on the surface without vital signs.

Attempts were made to resuscitate him, but he was pronounced dead by the Coroner.

A post-mortem examination is expected to be conducted in London."

Bob

Please note that Mr Liptak's accident on the Caroline Rose was in 2014 due to a "cardiac event".
I would link you to the OUC 2014 Incident Report, but the new website is still under construction. Here is a screenshot of that page of the report:

20190822_222024.jpg
 
Maybe a decade or two from now someone will be posting about me having a stroke while diving the Niagara II. I hope I'll be smart enough to stop diving before it happens... but I really like diving.

As I understand it, a stroke is a poor example because they happen to skinny people too. Other than "family history of strokes", the risk factors are the same as for heart attack, and if you aren't an overweight diabetic with high cholesterol and BP of multiple hundreds, you may have no reason to be smart enough to stop diving. :(
 

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