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 Post subject: AI ice breaker
PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 4:24 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:23 am
Posts: 39
Location: Belfast, Maine
March 14 I put in in Belfast Harbor (maine) for my first sail of the season. It was quite lovely-sunny with a gentle breeze. So last Saturday the 21st I tried again. When I got to the boat ramp there was a sheet of ice extending out perhaps 150 feet. It had gotten down to 10 F the night before. I could put my foot through it easy enough so I put the Hobie on it and it broke the ice. Using my paddle as a pole, I began to push out. But the ice was getting thicker and before long the paddle couldn't reach bottom. So there I was stranded in the middle of this ice patch. I used the paddle as an axe to break the ice ahead of the boat and then would break the ice on the side of the boat to leverage my way forward but could only gain inches before I had to break the ice ahead of the boat again. The onlookers on the breakwater over me were unexpectedly treated to the spectacle of this total fool stranded in the middle of the ice unable to move forward or backwards. One of them shouted "do you have a rope"? Well I would have needed a couple hundred feet of rope and even if I had one how would I have gotten the other end to him? I think he was making a joke. Then a light went off. The Mirage drive. So I plugged it in not expecting those little fins to be of much help. WOW!!!! Off the boat went as if the ice wasn't even there. The power or thrust was far more than I could generate pulling with the paddle through the broken ice. Just amazing. So when I returned from my sail 3 hours later the tide had brought the ice up higher on the ramp though the sun had melted half of it. I peddled through it quite easily and the sound of the ice breaking was incredible. I thought this experience was interesting enough to share with the forum and perhaps might be of interest to other northern AI sailors. I didn't measure the thickness of the ice --maybe half inch to 1 inch.

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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 10:44 pm 
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Joined: Thu May 25, 2006 5:17 pm
Posts: 203
Location: Ettalong Beach, Central Coast, Australia
Holy smoley, and we stop sailing when the air temp goes to 20c, water maybe 15c or 16c. Today was 30c but that's 7 degrees above normal this time of year.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Wed Mar 25, 2009 11:43 pm 
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Joined: Fri Jan 05, 2007 9:21 pm
Posts: 2498
Location: Central Florida
Great report!
I think I will leave the ice and snow sailing to you though. :o

Maybe you'll be the first to report on how a sprayskirt stands up against ice flows! :)

Glad you got out (and back!)

Kayaking Bob


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PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 3:55 am 
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Joined: Wed Feb 22, 2006 9:00 pm
Posts: 68
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ee3goe6D ... re=related

This one is posted by a guy in the US, but I saw another regular Adventure plowing through thin ice in the Netherlands on You Tube also but couldn't find it in a quick search.


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 7:07 am 
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Joined: Tue Jun 03, 2008 7:23 pm
Posts: 60
Location: Ft Lauderdale FL
Holy crap. Can anyone spell hypothermia. That water hat to be just around the freezing point for ice to be on the surface and the wind was blowing hard enough to bury the ama a few times. A persons survival time imersed in those conditions is measured in minutes not hours. Not to mention the posiblility of a heart attack. From what you can see on the video this guy is dressed in jeans a jacket and moccasins, perhaps some long johns.

And people get upset if I don't wear a lifejacket in 2-3 ft of 65 degree water????


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 11:40 am 
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Joined: Fri Aug 11, 2006 6:34 pm
Posts: 139
Location: Northern VA
Hi Doug,

I love it! And here I was all worried about ice during this years 1st Annual Adventure Island Polar Bear Sail. Guess I didn't have to be so concerned after all. So, care to join us for the 2nd Annual Adventure Island Polar Bear Sail? It's going to be an annual event, sailing out of Annapolis, MD on New Years Day. Only two of us launched this year, but I'm hoping for better participation next year. Here's a link to the thread on this years outing.
http://www.hobiecat.com/community/viewtopic.php?t=11285

I hope you were appropriately dressed for the occasion. Drysuits are pretty much a necessity for winter kayaking. I noticed that the guy in the video was rather lightly dressed. Hard enough to stay dry in an AI when it's warm. Wouldn't want to get wet when it's cold enough to ice things over like that.

Warm weather is just around the corner here, so soon we'll be sailing comfortably again.

Happy sailing,
- Jim L


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 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Mar 26, 2009 2:25 pm 
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Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 4:23 am
Posts: 39
Location: Belfast, Maine
Hi Jim,
Thanks for the invite. That would be quite a drive, but who knows, I just might make it next year. Yes. I do wear a dry-suit. Mine is a Kokadat (sp?) which came from ll Bean. If anything goes wrong with it, it can be exchanged for a new one. Wicked expensive but much cheaper than a funeral. The water is so cold here if not wearing it I carry it along even in August. That way if conditions get dicey I can put it on. The biggest mistake was not ordering one with a relief zipper. It cost $200 after the fact to have one put in. Now I'm down to around $5 per use--and if I keep drinking coffee it won't be long till I get it down to a couple of bucks per use!-- but whose counting. :D

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