Canadian dead in Dominica

[yle]

At 69, notwithstanding the subject matter of this thread, I have to say I am more than a little offended that a diver's age is immediately identified as "a likely cause."

Age, while potentially one of an inventory of factors, is not necessarily always either the primary cause, or even a contributory cause.

I think you're being serious, but it's hard to tell for sure. Life insurance companies would disagree with you; they seem to think that, in general, the risk of dying increases as a person ages. And they bet their money on that opinion.

No need to be offended... take it as a challenge. Aim to be the exception by still being an active diver at 100. (My mom is 69 and an active diver, and has no intention of stopping anytime soon. The oldest diver I've met was an 85 year old WWII Marine veteran. He needed a little assistance with his gear... but only a little.)

 

[chillyinCanada]

Suggesting that some of you take your feels about older divers to the thread in Basic Scuba Discussions called
90 years old female diver. World record?

 

[ibj40]

I think you're being serious, but it's hard to tell for sure. Life insurance companies would disagree with you; they seem to think that, in general, the risk of dying increases as a person ages. And they bet their money on that opinion.

No need to be offended... take it as a challenge. Aim to be the exception by still being an active diver at 100. (My mom is 69 and an active diver, and has no intention of stopping anytime soon. The oldest diver I've met was an 85 year old WWII Marine veteran. He needed a little assistance with his gear... but only a little.)

Trust me, I intend to keep diving until I require a lift into and out of the water.

And I have had more "dangerous" prior hobbies excluded from my life insurance policies (auto racing), which may have directed the underwriter away from the Scuba question.

 

[rddvet]

You old guys are getting your depends in a bunch over nothing. It's a simple fact, the olde you are the more likely you are to have some sort of life-ending event. Sure it can happen to people of all ages, but the older you are generally the more problems you're likely to have. No need to be offended by the statement, since it isn't an uncommon reality. To automatically blame everything on medical after a certain age and not do a proper investigation is a different story.

 

[Steve_C]

I will note that there is no mention of his experience. Assume that he was on an AL80. I have seen a couple of divers who could suck one of those down in 20-30 minutes. Had one as an instabuddy once.

 

[chillyinCanada]

It does sound like a medical event, despite that he was not tremendously experienced as a diver, he was apparently in good shape until the time of his death.

Obituary for Randolph M. O'Neill at Raymer-Kepner Funeral Home

 

[agilis]

I love these threads when everyone agrees that nobody knows anything, so we shouldn't speculate... Then we all go on to speculate. I suspect he was fluke-smacked by a whale btw. They have those things there.

Age in now the leading causative factor in recreational diving fatalities... Not because the diver is old, but because the diver has the "health" of an aging person. A perfect reality check is to climb on to a treadmill or elliptical that has a heart rate monitor. I can remember not very long ago that my target heart rate was 180 bpm for a good workout. Now the machine sets it at 112. I lie to a machine about my age so I can get a better workout. I assume this keeps dropping until it's about 12 bpm, then you die.

I'm 63 btw.

I've been diving in Dominica since the 90s and have dived Champagne many times. It's nice, though a bit boring after the first 20 times. It most certainly is not a dive that can be compared in any way to a workout on a treadmill. There is really no exertion involved at all. The most taxing part of the dive is getting back in the boat. I know that older divers statistically have issues. These days I only dive in warm water with a depth limit of about 70 feet. These have always been my favorite kind of dives in any case, so I seldom feel any loss. I almost always surface with more air than most of the other vacationing divers despite having experienced some of the ravages of old age. BTW I'm 77.

 

[ibj40]

You old guys are getting your depends in a bunch over nothing. It's a simple fact, the olde you are the more likely you are to have some sort of life-ending event. Sure it can happen to people of all ages, but the older you are generally the more problems you're likely to have. No need to be offended by the statement, since it isn't an uncommon reality. To automatically blame everything on medical after a certain age and not do a proper investigation is a different story.

Interestingly, if you look at the most recent DAN statistics, more divers aged 50 to 59 died than those of us 60 to 69.

Notwithstanding, my beef is the instantaneous assumption that age is the primary cause, where fitness is summarily ignored.

 

[tursiops]

Interestingly, if you look at the most recent DAN statistics, more divers aged 50 to 59 died than those of us 60 to 69.

Yeah, but there are a lot more divers in that age group, too. Using your argument, the safest age group is 90-99.

 

[ibj40]

Yeah, but there are a lot more divers in that age group, too. Using your argument, the safest age group is 90-99.

I'm working on it.