As a child, Kelly Rancourt dreamed of becoming an astronaut. “A diver is a twisted profession that is out of the ordinary. “It’s the closest thing to being an astronaut, but without the long studies,” she points out.
Ms. Rancourt will not fly to space, but she will be able to say that she shared the series on dangerous professions with Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen.
Like astronauts, divers carry out their work in extreme conditions. They must also know several trades.
“People think that our job is to work underwater. But in a 10-12 hour day, we only spend 4 hours underwater,” she explains.
Kelly Rancourt. (Yan Turcotte)
“Whether underwater or on the surface, it’s like being on a construction site. The risks are the same as on a construction site,” she adds.
Only woman in her cohort
Very few women choose this profession, which requires, among other things, being prepared to leave the home for several weeks for contracts.
When she joined the Institut maritime du Québec in Rimouski, to follow the Professional Diving program, Kelly Rancourt was the only woman among 11 men.
“At first I found it intimidating. I had little experience in manual labor. My colleagues were mostly welders, carpenters or even formworkers,” she confides.
Last year, Kelly Rancourt received the Chapeau, les Filles! prize, a competition which highlights the motivation and determination of women enrolled in traditionally male-dominated trade study programs.
This prize rewarded Ms. Rancourt’s perseverance. An independent diver for several years, she had to try twice to join the school. Each year, around sixty candidates try their luck. The institute only retains 12.
“To put all the chances on my side, I invested in diving courses. I also gave up my job at the 9-1-1 call center to become an assembler at BRP,” she says.
A multitude of dangers
Graduating in July 2023, Kelly Rancourt began her career in Nunavik. She worked on fiber optic cables. “I had to install protective pipes to protect the cables from bad weather and ice,” she relates.
Subsequently, Ms. Rancourt spent a large part of the season inspecting Hydro-Québec dams in places that were not always very inviting.
“On one of them, I was diving in sewage. It is a contaminated environment. If I cut myself, I can get a disease, like hepatitis. Vaccinations are mandatory for this profession. We have medical examinations.”
— Kelly Rancourt
Despite increased safety, accidents can also occur. In November 2000, Martine Côté died at the Chaudière dam at Hydro-Québec’s Hull 2 power station, in Outaouais.
According to the coroner’s investigation report, Mr. Côté was “sucked into the entrance of a cave.” She remained “trapped underwater and after several rescue attempts, she came to the surface of the water unconscious.” Since then, Quebec divers have used Barry harnesses.
When diving, Ms. Rancourt must be attentive to her surroundings. During her contract at the Saint-Georges dam, where she had to inspect the sluices, she found herself in a “real jungle”. “There were branches and trunks. I really had to be careful. The umbilical could have gotten tangled into spaghetti. In an emergency, the surface would not have been able to bring me up,” she says.
Become the first Canadian
But, despite all the risks involved, Kelly Rancourt intends to go even further in her profession. She wants to become the first Canadian to obtain a position as a saturation diver.
In 2001, American Marni Zabarsky led the way as the first female saturation diver. In this sector, professionals work, among other things, on oil platforms and go to depths of more than 100 m.
Kelly Rancourt. (Kelly Rancourt)
“Saturation divers work on boats equipped with a pressurized chamber. Before diving, they spend several days in the chamber without leaving it. Every day the pressure increases until it reaches the same as that at their workstation. Same thing on the way back,” she relates.
These extreme divers cannot work all year round. They need to let their bodies recover from such strong pressure. Despite everything, Kelly Rancourt persists. “I like adrenaline. I feel alive.”
To be continued.
