loss of a great spearo legend Edward Hayman

[wp581]

hi guys

I am not a big spearfisherman but well a commercial diver, im sure allot of you guys would have known Edward Hayman.

He was the branch manager for the company I work at, Subtech, and also a diving supervisor. I had the privilege to have worked with him the past few months.

Just thought that I would let you know of his very tragic passing away two weeks ago in walvisbay,namibie while working on a dive site.

His family is in all of our divers thoughts
RIP Edward Hayman

 

[jb2]

Hi

Edward was a legend. I can remember spending ages at Champion Divers just looking through his old photo albums.

If anyone has contact with his family, please send condolences.

 

[Mariusvj]

Oh no man we dived together a lot, myself, Tommy Botha, Attie Louw.

What happened ?

His mother has now lost both sons in diving related incidents, first Adrian, to a shallow water blackout and now Edward.

 

[wp581]

here is some more info about Ed..

Edward Hayman: 21/12/1970 - 06/09/2013

The Subtech Group was contracted to complete the anchoring block placement for a new floating dock in Walvis Bay. On Friday 6th September 2013, in the course of operations to locate one of the blocks the vessel that the Subtech dive team was working off capsized and sank. As a result of this, 2 Subtech employees were injured and taken to hospital. Tragically, Edward Hayman, Subtech Regional Manager, who is based in Cape Town and was on board the vessel at the time to observe operations, died in hospital. The other employee is currently still in hospital under observation but is expected to make a full recovery.

An in-depth internal investigation, involving all of the external stakeholder groups as well as internal role players will get underway in earnest on Monday 9th September.

Edward was an experienced dive supervisor who had been with the Subtech Group for over 6 years, the last 3 as Regional Manager, responsible for the west coast region operations of the Company. He was a well-respected and liked figure in the marine industry who will be sorely missed by all.

He is survived by his wife Samantha and daughters Morgan & Tori. Our heartfelt condolences go out to them as well as all of Edward’s family and friends.

 

[jensent]

Edward Hayman was a quiet legend in his own time.  It was my very great privilege to dive with Edward for a good number of years.  He was without doubt the most generous diver I ever dived with – he knew what fish you were missing, and if he found one he would call you over for them.  He called me onto a number of good fish over the years, and I learned more from him about spearing than from anyone else, and many, many divers can say the same.  He was always happy to share his spots and tips, and the first out with his wallet for a round of drinks.

Over the years we had a pile of adventures, too many to retell – a number of “great fright” incidents, many good fish, a lot of fish braais, and many trips to St. Francis, Knysna, Stilbaai, Arniston, Struis, Yzerfontein and probably a few I’ve forgotten. One trip the slip at Arniston was too wild to retrieve Tigger so we dropped the drivers and ran to Struis in a thumping south wester, a long day after diving Skipskop banks!

On the St. Francis trips, Jacques Tresfon and I introduced Ed to golf, and he battled, especially playing wrong handed.  Not being a regular golfer, when he let one go towards some people (often us, his playing partners), his shout instead of “Fore” was “Dekking!!!!”  If you’ve done national service you will understand this

One day we towed a boat from Cape Town and beach launched at Sedgfield, coming back the same day.  Left Cape Town at 3 in the morning, got back at 9 that night, tired but full of stories of big fish and a big shark that nearly ate Jacques.

Ed, myself and Noel Madison shoredived Kaptein’s klip together one day (after having dived Strandfontein!!), we swam out in a very tight group, with eyes on stalks, and when we got there I hugged the rocks.  The fish there were phenomenal for False Bay, and the reef amazing - maybe it’s a good thing that the great whites protect it.  Ed shot a very big knifejaw and galjoen, rare for False Bay.  We grouped up again for the swim back, and felt much better on solid land, even though we had left Cecil, Ed’s neighbour, armed in the car so it didn’t get stolen – I never went back there!

Edward had an interesting life – he survived cancer, and had lung surgery when he was young, leaving him diving competitively with about 1 and ½ lungs – imagine if he had a full set!!  He never won a Nationals, although he was a Springbok, but was almost unbeatable in False Bay, only Tommy Botha ever could beat him there.  He did win the Australian Bluewater classic, which is a hugely respected international competition.  He was bitten by a white at Millers point while diving with Adrian van der Merwe, and on hand on the boat to help search for the body of the diver killed in almost the same spot many years later.  He was also one of only a handful of people on the planet to have got the bends from freediving – over a 6 hour competition, he spent enough time below 20 metres to get too much nitrogen into his body, and bent after the tournament!!

My last dive with Ed a few years ago was at Gerickes on a shoredive in the winter, and the vis was pretty foul, but he still swam wide and came back with two decent cracker while I got nothing.  Always the legend.

He will be missed by many people, but I am sure the water is clean and the cracker are thick on that great reef in the sky …

 

[Mariusvj]

I dive a Province open with Ed and Attie Louw at Saxon Reef, when I was a newbie, but their first dive was on the Bulldog, much too deed for me, so I swam towards the reef and got dverely reprimanded when they had to come look for me, but did not know about the Struis residents then. We dived Sunday on the banks and drove back to PE, after the dive.

My wife was at the national/international when he got bent, diving Hangklip, because struis was blown out. Julie still asked him if he had been drinking, because he never drank a dop back then. Tommy took him straight to the hospital in Cape Town.He could not write, for a few months after that.

Julie kept on pestering him, about when he was getting married and he said that if he gets married, we will get an invite and if we did not come, he would be very upset, so the invitation arrived and we were in. We left PE at 2 AM and attended the wedding. We left again on Sunday morning, back to PE with a Babelas, but is was a great wedding.

Edwards mother and my wife became good friends and kept in contact for a while.

 

[tuna]

Sadly just too many accidents with the above mentioned company in the last few years
Condolences to close family and friends

 

[Serra Moz]

Respect! Condolences!

R.I.P.

 

[pelagic]

What a loss! Edward was such a good person and he tough me a lot about diving 15 years back when I was a doppie as he would say. Like Tony says he was unstoppable in false bay. I remember diving with him at Millers and going out to boat rock and he would dive so fast that I could hardly keep up with him by swimming on the surface while he was diving down , swimming and shooting roman on the bottom and then resurfacing in front of me. By the time we got to boat rock he had all his fish already and i was just out of breath from keeping up let alone shoot anything! Amazing diver all round.
Ed showed me some great crayfish spots at Donkergat years back when you could still dive there and like Tony said he was very generous and would help you out if you never got enough crays and even with fish in false-bay and arniston he would let you know if there was one around.
I remember swapping gps marks for wrecks with him in arniston and struis that held good fish and his marks where also spot on - honest bloke.
Really sad to hear he passed away.
Condolences to his family and all those effected by this incident.
R.I.P Champion Diver Ed, the next fish i shoot will be dedicated to you.
Noel Maddison

 

[pelagic]

article from the Namib times and link:
http://www.namibtimes.net/forum/topics/man-drowns-at-floating-dock

MAN DROWNS AT FLOATING DOCK
Posted by Namib Times on September 10, 2013 at 9:55 in NewsView Topics
Madelaine Laubscher:

A supervisor working on repairs to a vessel in the harbour of Walvis Bay died tragically on Friday, when the vessel he was working on capsized and sank.



Mr Edward Hayman (42) had been employed as a Regional Manager at Walvis Bay Subtech Namibia Diving and Ma-rine for the past three years. His sudden death has raised a number of pertinent questions regarding health and safety within the marine engineering profession.

Various versions have been reported regarding the events that led to the death of Mr Hayman, who perished tragically on 6 September 2013, while working on a floating dock alongside two other employees, but the details still remain sketchy.

During the course of operations, the vessel upon which Subtech employees were working capsized and sank. Two Subtech employees were injured, while Mr Hayman, who was supervising the operation on the vessel, the Bismarck, died as a result of the freak accident.

According to a statement from Durban issued by the CEO of Subtech, Mr Craig Heslop: “The Subtech Group is contracted by a third party, Elgin Brown & Hamer Namibia, to complete the anchoring block placement for a new floa-ting dock in Walvis Bay. Hayman was an expe-rienced dive supervisor. He had been employed by Subtech for more than six years. In the last three years he was working as Regional Man-ager, responsible for the Western Cape and Namibia regional operations of the company.’’

“Our heartfelt condolences go out to Hayman's family and friends. Subtech is relieved that the two other injured employees are expected to make a full recovery. In the interim, Subtech is in the process of conducting an investigation in order to determine the possible cause of the accident. Subtech will remain committed to co-operating with all of the local authorities during the external investigation process,” Heslop said.

The deceased was working on the boat with vessel. They apparently threw a weighty object into the water, causing the vessel to capsize. Hayman apparently fell into the water and the contents of the ship then landed in the water and pushed Hayman down, meaning he was trapped underwater.

Eyewitness reports noted that it was not immediately clear to his co-workers that Hayman was missing and only once the medics arrived, did they notice that he was not on board.

The Namib Times also directed questions to Nampol. Inspector Iikuyu said that he is not able to comment on this story and referred all questions to Deputy Commissioner Kashuupulwa, who could unfortunately not respond by the time of going to press.

Eye-witnesses reported that Hayman was trapped under the water for at least 12 minutes and that he was wearing protective diving gear at the time, which suggests that his air supply was cut off. Hayman was still alive when retrieved from the water, but died shortly after arriving at the Welwit-schia Hospital.

Mr Hayman was a well-respected figure in the marine industry. He is survived by his wife, Samantha and daughters, Morgan and Tori.

 

[nofootprints]

heard about this only recently. truly sad. he was always a gentleman. sadly i never dived with him but i certainly bought a lot of gear from him. regards to friends and family.