Diver dead after accident in Lake Ontario near Oakville

[Graeme Tolton]

It is always very tragic when these things happen. People must learn they can only dive to their training and expeirence. Anyone with a pocket full of money can buy course after course after course, what people need to realize you must also take time to gain some personal expeirence. Charter operators need to tighten up and check certifications and only people to dive to their certifications. People get too complacent with diving, the gear is practically fail-safe, the computers are all you really need to find out safe deco schedules, they are very advanced as we know. I see these people with the "who needs a course" to know how to do hard core dives, it's hopefully not a trend of deep diving to come. The most important thing these courses teach is emergency preparedness, that's what lacks in these hot dog divers.

Sometimes a course will give you more confidence than you should be carrying around with you. I don't believe in card collecting, but gaining experience and confidence slowly. Depending on what kind of diving you want to do, there are some courses that are really good to have done, but nothing beats just getting out and diving... regularly. In ontario, depending where you live, your thermal limits, that can be hard to do. However, if you want to gain experience, you must put forth the effort.

 

[AcePilot]

Sometimes a course will give you more confidence than you should be carrying around with you.
...nothing beats just getting out and diving... regularly.

In aviation pilot has to be Current to be able to fly.
To be Current you have to fly regularly an not just fly but perform particular exercises and take some training.

I think similar kind of Currency has to be introduced in diving.
If you did not dive for some period of time you have to dive with Instructor, take training or refresher.
If you did not dive in cold waters - don't go deep and cold at the same time.
Get familiar with the environment on easier dives.

Education is a great tool but dry theory is not much of a help without proper practice.
Training programs must promote practice in safer environment, practice of the emergency situations regularly, being prepared for what ifs...

Every skydiver practice the procedure of opening reserve parachute before every skydive. So every diver should at least mentally prepare for the emergency situation before every dive, be able to recognize emergency and have the action plan ready and fresh.

 

[Graeme Tolton]

In aviation pilot has to be Current to be able to fly.
To be Current you have to fly regularly an not just fly but perform particular exercises and take some training.

I think similar kind of Currency has to be introduced in diving.
If you did not dive for some period of time you have to dive with Instructor, take training or refresher.
If you did not dive in cold waters - don't go deep and cold at the same time.
Get familiar with the environment on easier dives.

Education is a great tool but dry theory is not much of a help without proper practice.
Training programs must promote practice in safer environment, practice of the emergency situations regularly, being prepared for what ifs...

Every skydiver practice the procedure of opening reserve parachute before every skydive. So every diver should at least mentally prepare for the emergency situation before every dive, be able to recognize emergency and have the action plan ready and fresh.

Who is going to enforce this for diving? Would it be the dive shops at dive destinations who rely on fills and charters as their biggest source of income? If they started turning divers away who hadn't dove in a year, they would be out of business pretty quick. Especially up here in Canada, where most divers dive from June to September. It is not unusual for a diver to dive a weekend or two every summer and take the rest of the year off.

As of right now in most of the world, SCUBA is a self regulating business. This can lead to some silly rules, which are a topic of discussion for another forum. If we were to let other authorities take over regulating dive business, that could lead to the ultimate demise of our sport by making it increasingly harder to afford and keep up with.

 

[AcePilot]

Even though this thread is for the accidents and incidents I will post this information here.
More people reads this thread than “In memory” if one even exist.
And if it does please copy this information there.

The family of our dive buddy will need financial support in raising three young children.
Please make a donation for them on PayPal at 'TMF.Fund@gmail.com' or through TD Canada Trust bank account # 2492 6352075. Check or cash can be deposited into this account for the family BUT it must go under the name Eric Cooper or Carlos Fonseca because the family wants to remain anonymous.
The family will get all of any donations.
Even the small donations add up!
Huge thanks.

 

[The Chairman]

Thanks for posting this information.

 

[cruiser]

Even though this thread is for the accidents and incidents I will post this information here.
More people reads this thread than “In memory” if one even exist.
And if it does please copy this information there.

The family of our dive buddy will need financial support in raising three young children.
Please make a donation for them on PayPal at 'TMF.Fund@gmail.com' or through TD Canada Trust bank account # 2492 6352075. Check or cash can be deposited into this account for the family BUT it must go under the name Eric Cooper or Carlos Fonseca because the family wants to remain anonymous.
The family will get all of any donations.
Even the small donations add up!
Huge thanks.

Wow, I've got a real problem with donating to a nameless entity.

 

[AcePilot]

Wow, I've got a real problem with donating to a nameless entity.

2 names are listed for the bank account. These people are real people, real divers and close friends of the family.
PayPal account was received from very reputable source too and was set up for this particular donations only.

 

[Dhboner]

Wow, I've got a real problem with donating to a nameless entity.

The people behind the "fund" are decent people and well known in the Ontario diving community. At the time that e-mail/post was sent the family had not yet granted permisison to use the diver's name.

 

[cruiser]

2 names are listed for the bank account. These people are real people, real divers and close friends of the family.

My donation is not intended for Eric Cooper or Carlos Fonseca, so I'm still donating to a nameless entity.

 

[riftvalley84]

You can't keep much off the internet. A quick search such as, "oakville scuba diver identified" will identify the victim.

What I don't understand is why those who were on the dive don't give more information such as dive site, depth, length of dive before incident, etc. Many of us DO read this thread so we can learn from accidents. If I die while diving, I hope those who dive with me will give a detailed report and respond to any questions to the best of their knowledge. It doesn't matter whether my accident was something I did wrong, equipment failure or a health issue, I don't want anything glossed over or covered up.