ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area The world has lost someone special

Gloria,
I'm not letting off steam. His actions were no different than an electrician working on energized systems without PPE. We don't accept that as being ok. I see no difference.
Don

His croc experience taught him a bad habit. You may be able to jump on top of a croc but you never get over a stigray. That is wherre the barb is. I know divers who have been nicked that way but they were not right on top of the ray, only swiming close to the bottom. It appears Steve came right over top of the ray from behind trying to stay in the shot. The rule is you always swim under a ray. When they spook they throw up the barb and jump straight up, then out. That is how they get off the bottom where they lay and get going.

BTW it is really pretty cool to swim with the rays in the Caymans but the guides give you the same warning before you get in the water.

Don, if it had been a crock, lion, hippo, snake etc that he had been near I would not have been surprised.

A Stingray was a surprise, people get near them without problems all the time.

It was a true freak accident, short of hiding in a fallout shelter none of us can say we are safe from freak occupancies.

RIP Mr Irwin.

Bob

That would be up to each individual.

I personally think boxing is a stupid sport, still I would never say that someone that wants to box should not be allowed to do it.



[This message has been edited by iwire (edited 09-05-2006).]

I was suprised. I figured when Steve's time came he would slip and fall in the bathtub or something equally ironic.

Lest things get heated... sometimes we vent our grief by striking out, looking for fomeone to blame. "If only...."

We are so wrapped up in our hi-tech, top of the food chain lives that we often underestimate the power that is often found in nature. Ever 'defy' nature by, say, climbing a ladder in a storm... only to have the wind remove the ladder once you're up?

And we get complacent.

I'm not going to point fingers. I am sure that, once all the facts are in, there will be lessons to learn. But hindsight is always 20/20.

The guy certainly lived his life to the fullest, and brought joy to many. I must confess, there were times I cheered for the croc!

One lesson of his, that I wish more celebs would take to heart: stick to your business, and act like a grown-up! I never, ever heard him spout off about, say, the "midle east," or hear of him drinking, drugging, chasing women, hitting photographers,.... or any of the other misbehaviour so many "famous" folks seem to think is OK, just because they're famous.

I was very depressed to hear of his loss! I keep thinking of his wife and two children and his surviving father and friends. I'm lifting them all up in my prayers.

Sometimes there is very little perceived risk while a hidden dynamic risk is just waiting to zap you. For me, jump 37 was almost my last(400 feet) just because we taped up my used old baggy jumpsuit to increase my fall rate. We made sure I could still get my pullout but never considered my aerodynamics at pull time. Had I bounced, any amount of second guessing wouldn't have helped the pain felt by my loved ones. You would have been able to measure the impact that I would've made on this world, probably 2 to 6 inches. Steve Irwin's love of nature and passion touched and educated alot of people. He got a huge amount of life out of his 44 short years.
G'day mate!

Joe

Don, I think what endeared him to so many was that through the screen you could tell that he was genuine. Most of it show, but a genuine showman at that. Those who knew him personally have said that they always expected something like this. Granted he took considerable (Calculated, and un-calculated) risks all the time, but that was part of the show, like a stunt-man - no different than say Jackie Chan, or Evel Knievel. (For that matter any rodeo clown) All three did not see pain or risk of death as an obsticle. On the other hand, all could have faked, or had other people do thier stunts - none did it solely for money - they liked risk, and lived for it. In Steve Irwins case he was so comfortable with things you or I would never think of doing that he often never thought of them. What is tragic is that a man who wrestled Croc's was killed in a freak accident by a what is reffered to as the "pussycat of the sea". Stingray's often hide in the sand, and its speculative at this point if he even knew it was there. * Also being in those waters he was just as much at risk (if not more) to be stung fataly by a 2" box jellyfish. Nature can be dangerous....

(*I myself, while snokeling in Okinawa Japan, had a 10+' Stingray swim under me - I didn't know what it was untill the tail passed - I thought it was the shadow of a cloud on the bottom. Later that year I accidentley stepped on a sea urchin, the next year I was a sniper target during convoys in Somalia - life is full of risk...)

Anyway, the reason I even mentioned this topic is that as far as the animale kingom goes, the guy was truely excited, and was always pushing to get other people as excited as he was. In the end, that will be his legacy, not the stunts.

The story that came out the first day was that the ray was looking over the camera man and Steve came into the shot from over top the ray. When the ray spooked it just did what rays do. The result was very predictable.
This wasn't a freak accident, it was a very bad choice of how to approach the ray. If he came up under the ray he would have simply had a great shot.

The story I heard is that they had finished filming for 'dangers of the deep' or whatever it was to be called, and he and a camera man went looking for small animals for his daughters show..... Either way, all speculation at this point.....
http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=5362163