Fatality while diving the wreck of the Madeira in Lake Superior 9/23/2017

[eelpout]

I will agree with all that chuck_ed pointed out. In the late 70's we would huff it down the "goat path" and swim out to the wreck. That was when we were young and invincible. We were also in really good shape. As the group got bigger and diver experience got more diversified (new Lake Superior Divers) we started using boats. WE just took all the chairs out and hauled tanks and weights to the dive site so people wouldn't have to haul them down the "goat path". It got rid of the major issue we had with people who were not in shape to do all the huffing and puffing before and after the dive. In the mid 90's they actually put a boardwalk up and a bench for people to take a break. Later on I had a Zodiac so we just took that up there and dove it a lot. Running out of air is a problem with new divers in Lake Superior. New divers are multi-tasked with all the extra equipment, procedures, and environment. They have a tendency to forget looking their SPG when they start seeing the wreck. One of my REAL air sharing experiences was on this dive site. My buddy and I were swimming along the Stern section of the wreck when a diver comes up and rips my regulator out of my mouth. Saucer sized eyes staring at me and kicking crazily for the surface. This was back when an octopus/ alt air was an option. I had one, so no big deal. My buddy and I were both instructors so we got the situation calmed down by swimming him to the wreck and getting him to calm down. Fortunately we were dropped by our zodiac at the stern so we were at the beginning of our dive and had a lot of air. You cannot underestimate the danger of cold water to a unfamiliar diver. I was always careful by having enough experienced divemasters (who were actually my dive buddies) when I took students to this site. We always did the Ely site first because the water was warmer, they had a breakwater that we could set up our gear in and swim to after the dive. It also allowed the shore crew to be closer to the divers. We could evaluate the divers and make the decision to continue to the Madiera site on Sunday. I also know that there are some charter boats that take divers to this site.

 

[Chavodel8en]

This is sad news.

A shore accessible wreck sounds like a real attraction - you local folks are fortunate to have it there and despite what sounds like alot of work to shore dive it, Im sure there have been many great dives there.

Deeply unfortunate that a diver lost his life there. RIP.

 

[2airishuman]

Epilogue

Fantasea Divers, the dive shop that organized this dive, has now closed. It is unclear whether the aftermath of the accident had any role in the closure. They were a PADI shop. I have been unable to determine whether PADI took any action regarding the accident.

There has never been any "final" or "comprehensive" public report. The DAN annual report, issued in 2019 for the 2017 period does not provide a narrative, but does include one death in Minnesota in its statistics.

Annual Diving Report 2019

A report on 2017 diving fatalities, injuries, and incidents.

issuu.com

 

[Aslan72]

I’m not a diver, I just registered to answer this post.

I personally knew the decedent closely. To my knowledge, he had little to no experience scuba diving.

The dive instructor that day was Kevin Burkart, a personal friend of the deceased. He was expelled from PADI in early 2018, most likely as a result of this incident. I’m not certain because I never heard anything from him beyond the funeral. He protected himself legally very quickly.

I am not privy to every detail of the events that occurred this day, but what I can say is that the decedent played a significant role in this tragedy. It is my understanding that his actions included separating from his buddy on his own accord.

This all may sound shocking….but not if you knew the man. He had a very popular personality, however, reliability, responsibility, attentiveness and safety weren’t aspects of how he lived his life. He lived a very thrill seeking existence, and on this day he paid the ultimate price for this behavior.

I see there was a recent post on this, so looks like you were following up on details. Hopefully that clears a few things up. It’s all I’m willing to share as the family really wanted to keep most things to themselves, and that’s their right. At the end of the day, it was a tragic accident of human error, but it genuinely didn’t surprise me given my extensive interaction with the personality of the decedent.

@2airishuman