After breaking world records and training movie stars, B.C. free diver becomes police dispatcher
For as long as Mandy-Rae Krack can recall, the water has inspired wonder.
“I was a water baby!” Mandy-Rae recalls before showing photos of herself as a baby in a pool and as a child wearing flippers and a snorkel by a lake. “I absolutely loved being underwater.”
While she made the most of living in nowhere-near-the-ocean Alberta by competing in synchronized swimming competitions, it was the discovery of a book about scuba diving in her high school library that proved to be a life-changer.
“There you go,” Mandy-Rae recalls thinking. “I’m going to be a dive instructor!”
So, after graduating, Mandy-Rae saved up enough money to by her own scuba equipment, drove out to the West Coast and became a certified instructor. Later, she was introduced to free diving.
“It just clicked,” Mandy-Rae appreciated the possibilities of diving unencumbered by oxygen tanks. “Animals approach you more readily and the world opened up.”
While she relished being able to swim effortlessly alongside humpback whales (with the photos to prove it), Mandy-Rae also realized she could dive deeper than anyone else she knew.
Thanks to a competitive spirit, strong work ethic, and innate talent, Mandy-Rae ended up setting more than a dozen national records and seven world records, including free-diving down 136 meters — deeper than the height of a 43-storey building.
“And you’re like, ‘Wow! I’m at world record depth,’” Mandy-Rae recalls with a laugh. “And then you’re like, ‘OK! I've got to get up!’ And you snap back to reality and start making your way back-up (to the surface) because you’re only halfway there.”
Mandy-Rae’s accomplishments under the sea led her to train Olympic athletes, special ops, and iconic golfers (Tiger Woods).
She was also featured on the Oprah Winfrey show after working with magician David Blaine, and played a pivotal role in the Oscar-winning documentary "The Cove."
The list of movie stars she’s worked with includes Tom Cruise, who was taught how to hold his breath underwater for six minutes to film a scene for "Mission: Impossible – Rogue Nation."
“(Tom Cruise) was a very nice guy,” Mandy-Rae says before snapping her fingers. “He picks up stuff like that. Amazing student.”
But after taking time to focus on raising her daughter, Mandy-Rae sold her business and found herself looking for a new career during the pandemic.
“It was frightening trying to get back into the job market,” Mandy-Rae recalls.
Though she had many transferable skills after running her business, employers seemed reluctant to hire a 47-year-old without a diploma, until Mandy-Rae happened upon an online posting for a job that required the sort of skills you can’t teach that she had — stepping up and staying calm during dangerous situations.
“They could see what I could bring to the table and not dock me for being old,” Mandy-Rae says. She was hired to be a 9-1-1 police dispatcher.
After working as a dispatcher for a few years now, Mandy-Rae says it's proving to be just as exciting, challenging, and satisfying as being a diver.
“Teaching free diving was opening somebody up to the possibilities of what they achieve,” Mandy-Rae says. “(Being a dispatcher) I could also make a significant impact in someone’s life by bettering the outcome of a situation.”
And whether you're training to be the world's best or striving to make your community safer, Mandy-Rae says the key is to "dive deep."
“If you have a thought and you want to try something, go full into it and it can happen,” Mandy-Rae smiles.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING 3 injured after man with knife enters Montreal-area mosque
Three men were injured after trying to subdue a man armed with a knife during afternoon prayers at a Montreal-area mosque Friday afternoon.
Teen arrested in New Brunswick after emergency alert; 5 people in custody
A 15-year-old boy who was the subject of an emergency alert in New Brunswick has been arrested.
Police arrest 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole Porsche and ran over its owner
Police have arrested an 18-year-old woman who allegedly stole a Porsche and then ran over its owner in an incident that was captured on video.
Woman nearly shut out of mother's estate sues brother in B.C. Supreme Court – and wins
Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.
'We're still pushing hard': Search for missing Manitoba boy continues, RCMP find tracks
The search for a missing six-year-old boy in Shamattawa is continuing Friday as RCMP hope recent tips can help lead to a happy conclusion.
11-year-old boy dies after subway surfing in NYC
An 11-year-old boy died Monday after subway surfing in New York City. He's the fourth person to die from subway surfing in the city this year.
On the trail of the mystery woman whose company licensed exploding pagers
What Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono, 49, the Italian-Hungarian CEO and owner of Hungary-based BAC Consulting, says she hasn't done is make the exploding pagers that killed 12 people and wounded more than 2,000 in Lebanon this week.
Top Hezbollah commander among 12 killed in Israeli strike on Beirut
Israel killed a top Hezbollah commander and other senior figures in the Lebanese movement in an airstrike on Beirut on Friday, vowing to press on with a new military campaign until it is able to secure the area around the Lebanese border.
'A fake, a phony and a fraud': Heated exchange between Pierre Poilievre, Jagmeet Singh
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh got into a heated exchange in the House of Commons on Thursday, just minutes after Singh announced his party would not be supporting the Conservatives' first non-confidence motion against Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's government.