Zero10

Yikes. I as well was AFK for the weekend, and I come back to this. Truly terrible news. He was one of the best guys I have ever known. Although, I am left quite confused, could somebody fill me in on what happened?

RIP Dan

500

This is really sad.

I'm feeling the same way as many have already expressed. Although I never met Dan in person, I communicated with him a lot and found him to be a very classy and interesting person.

When I signed on this morning, I was shocked to find this...

It is going to be a very bittersweet experience when I put those wonderful battery cables he made for me in the car...

Geez, I just don't know what to say.

paralleltangent

Just signed the guestbook. I also have a set of the battery cables just waiting for installation. Bittersweet is right. This was an unwelcome surprise today.

Godspeed, Dan.

Peckster

This is an awful thing, but it's strange no one seems to know what happened. No word from anyone who knows him?

Robby

I'm still hoping we will find something out eventually... I did send a reply to his old e-mail address, as his family is checking it periodically... I asked them the question, but, am not going tio push it... if they want people knowing, then, I guess i'll hear back from them... i'm just hoping that a lot of other's don't do the same- e-mailing them for info- as I would feel bad to bombard them w/the same question. Anyway, give them a few days.... they may respond to me about it & I'll let everyone know if they don't mind... also, I would say at least one or two other's sent replies w/the same question... again, I'm just hoping it wasn't overkill OR that any of us would be considered rude for asking... It's just confusing b/c several peope said he was on vacation- I spoke to him as late as the 17th or 18th & he said nothing about that- he DID say he was having dinner- a job interview- about possibly taking one oversea's- said it would be so far away- "....if so, you can forget all about Dan Wray & his light kits... the shipping would kill the whole deal..." Anyway, several here said they thought it might have been that he took vacation & died while on it... again, does not make much sense... I think he always had access to his phone & I sent my first e-mail to him w/my lighting prob on the 19th & left messages as soon as two days later & he died on the 23rd, so, I'm thinking something bad happened & he ended up in the hospital & only lasted a few more days... Again, this is only speculation...

jonnybgood

His sister responded in two of the threads I read and did not say what had happend. Perhaps she will say something later after the grief is not as strong.

Very sad.

phil0618

I once asked Dan about the origin of his nickname and he wrote me back the following.

------------------
Quote:
Originally Posted by IceShark

IceShark is sort of a long story. I'm a SCUBA diver and have done quite a few ice dives. I've been diving since I was 11 years old and have been all over the world in all sorts of circumstances. Some friends and I went down to Belize diving. On one dive trip offshore I spotted some pilot whales and had the Captain motor over to them and told him I was going to slip in the water and try and swim with them. He said "go for it" while everyone else was on the bow taking pictures. So I slipped over the edge right next to them ~ 6 feet off. The whales sort of spooked and dropped down 20 feet and the boat backed off a hundred yards. I just had fins, mask and snorkel and was hanging over the pod on the surface wondering if I should let them get used to me or try diving down to their level.

Then as the waves put my ears above water I hear this yelling "Baby in back of you!" The pod had very young calves in it. So I turn around and here is coming a shark with his mouth open and inner eylids rolled up white. He was attacking! I punched him in his eye, trying to keep my arm out of his mouth, with my fist and he shot off away from me. This was a big shark well over 9 foot but I wasn't too sure what it was as everything happened so fast. I screamed to the Captain "what knid"? Oceanic White! Great! They are in the same top tier as Great Whites and Tigers. "Do you want to come out?" YES!!

I kept my eyes on the Oceanic and the props of the boat and shot out of the water onto the swim platform. Looked behind me and the shark charged past where I exited the water a quarter second later. It was a really close call and if I hadn't kept eye contact until the last moment I'm pretty sure I would have been hit hard. There was a marine biologist on board and he speculated that the shark thought I was a calf whale and it was going to cut me bad enough to bleed out. Then eat me. The biologist asked to see my hand that I supposedly punched the Oceanic with. I have a custom gold ring of a dragon (my chinese year of birth) that has the fins on the back of the dragon that stand fairly proud and sharp. There was white tissue lodged in the fins. And my whole main knuckle ridge and beyond was stained dark gray. So my punch scored and hurt the shark's eye and that is why he backed off trying to figure out what he was dealing with.

Details of this event spread across the whole island within a couple hours. Everyone was buying me drinks despite my girlfriend trying to keep me from drinking myself to death. Even a local hair stylist dragged me off to one bar's back room to give me a trim so I would look better in all the pictures that were being taken. It was really crazy. Well, I apparently made it back to the hotel OK but don't ask me how that happened. From there on out I was called IceShark and it has stuck for 15 years.

Dan

Robby

That's a good story... I remember him telling me that at some point, but, dont remember it in that much detail... I have said, several times here, that he got the nickname by diving into the water & being one of the ones who dealt w/extremely low temperatures the best... I definately remember him saying this, that he dove in much colder waters than most- was always the first one in... Well, I guess I confused this part w/the actual origin of the nickname...? In any event, the cold water diving only serves to cement the nickname I guess...? Thanks for posting that story...

Matt O.

That's the coolest story for a callsign ever. Just awesome.

Jim 944S

It fits the Man, Matt! He was an "awesome" guy!

Jim 1987 944S