Icebreaking Clips

[kham]

A couple clips from out in the ice this winter, Mackinac Straits area, with USCG icbreaker assisting. Although they were having engine problems, they did ok

Just east Lansing Shoals Lt

Thunder Bay breaking ice

Will add more as time goes by, shot a fair bit of vid and stills from the GoPro and Nikon Coolpix

[kham]

Couple stills while new clip uploading...
Mack Straits , or Frobisher Bay? Stuck in the ice here overnight

[kham]

Feb 6th Eastbound in straits

Think we were stuck shortly after shot this for about 6 hrs too

[kham]

Eastbound again, Jan 31

Lot more snowy this transit, one icebreaker ahead and one trailing. Makes a lot easier

[Nessie]

Cool...I mean, cold...that was awesome! I have never seen an icebreaker in action.

That satisfied a lot of curiosity.

However, it shot down my belief that just because water turns to ice, you did not work during the winter.

Nessie

[kham]

You dont often get the chance to get close to icebreaking just because of the timing and where you are. So rare clips, and hearing the ice breaking always cool

No, that just makes life more complicated. Now imagine, trying to spot ice at night? Its not quite 1912, but still best sensor is the eyeball. And good visibility. Advanced modern radar MAY pick up ice field on short-range but its not a guarantee. Drill is slow down to enter, then push the power back up

[DangerGirl]

Those are some good videos, Kham. I've only seen the bigger USCG icebreakers before; that one looked more like a tugboat.

I kept waiting to hear you yell "I'm the king of the world!" in that first clip.

[kham]

The bigger icebreakers are likely counted on the fingers on 1 hand, and they usually assigned to sectors such as Antarctica or the far north. Likewise for the Canadian ones. The Thunder Bay there is probably a typical one for the lakes. Biggest ones would be the new USCG Mackinac (modern but frankly inferior to the old Mackinac) and the CCG Samuel Risley (based on coastal rig supply vessel)

And, anyone that wants to try that standing on the bow in winter with that windchill, better have a good ECW Parka