The body of 91-year-old Gambier Island resident Geoffrey Smedley was recovered May 9 after he accidentally drove his all-terrain vehicle off the New Brighton public dock and drowned.
Sunshine Coast RCMP said it appeared the senior reversed the ATV he was driving when it struck a barrier and flipped into the water. He then became partly trapped underwater by the ATV.
“Whether he meant to go backwards and he gave it too much throttle or meant to put it in drive, hit the throttle and went backwards … at the end of the day the fellow is not here with us,” said RCMP Sgt. Michael Hacker.
Hacker said police are still investigating to confirm the circumstances of the accident.
Smedley was a well-known sculptor and writer who had lived on Gambier Island since 1992 following 15 years as a professor at the University of British Columbia. His friends were devastated by the news.
“I loved him. He was just such an interesting guy,” said Jan DeGrass, who had recently edited Smedley’s latest book, a study of the work of 15th century Italian artist Piero della Francesca. The book, published last month, “demonstrated Smedley’s astute grasp of principles of art and geometry,” DeGrass said.
“He may have been 91 but he was sharp as a tack.”
Born in London, England, Smedley was a builder of complex mechanical devices that he called metaphorical machines, many of which had been exhibited in 2013 at the Canadian Centre for Architecture in Montreal.
Close friend Mary Burns said despite his international reputation he shied away from the term artist and preferred to call himself a builder. His workshop was “full of tools meticulously kept,” and inspired her own writing. “My friend Geoff made sculptures of ideas, that’s what he did,” said Burns. “He was a gracious guy... He was interested in other people.”
Ian Winn, Sunshine Coast Regional District director for West Howe Sound, called Smedley “a brilliant man with a passion for inventing, creating, and sculpting masterful works of art.”
The Joint Rescue Coordination Centre in Victoria received a distress call just after 5 p.m. Wednesday by marine radio and activated the Coast Guard, which sent a hovercraft from Sea Island. The Gibsons RCMSAR also arrived, as did oceanographic vessel John P. Tully. The Queen of Surrey, en route to Horseshoe Bay from Langdale, was also called in to assist and launched its rescue boat at 5:50 p.m.
Coast Guard divers retrieved the body from within the ATV’s cab in about six metres of water.
Police said there was no indication that drugs or alcohol were involved.
New Brighton is located on the southwest side of Gambier Island.
– With files from Jan DeGrass and The North Shore News
