Michael Neverdosky wrote: > > Oddly enough, this is just how the big icebreakers do it. > Of course, they have a lot more horsepower and weight and so > can go through lots thicker ice and do it lots faster. > Then again the fuel bill just to get out of the harbor will buy > a bunch of kayaks. :-)) > > michael > > waddinj_at_recorder.ca wrote: > > > > thick. To get out we had to get up lots of speed then lean back just as > > we hit the ice. The kayak would run part way up onto the ice, then > > break down through. This talk of ice reminds me of the one time years ago in which I was able to lure my wife out for a winter trip up here. It was a day in which the air temperature hit around 60 with not a whiff of wind. One of these crazy days we get in January when air temperature can get pretty springlike. But this was the Hudson around West Point. The river was not totally frozen from bank to bank but it was massed in large fields of ice. We paddled through leads here and there between the huge fields. Sometimes we would have to do that ramming up on the ice and breaking the last part of lead to get into wider areas where we could swing our paddles. Well guess what we saw coming down river. A Coast Guard icebreaker on one of its runs to clear the shipping channel that supplies points north all the way up to Albany. We were in one of the leads and could see that the icebreaker's mission was closing monstrous fields of ice in on us. We frantically dodged from lead to lead as one after the other squeezed behind and ahead of us. The grinding sounds reminded me of documentaries about Arctic ice or the plight of Shakelton's ship in the Antarctic. We eventually worked our way over to the channel and followed the broad highway through the ice left in the icebreaker's wake back down to our takeout at West Point. 1,000 to 1,500 foot hills make this part of the river a veritable fiord. They loomed above us, snow white and rock grey streaked in evergreen. The river was eery silent except for the groaning sounds of ice. The deep coldness of the river contrasted with the balmy stillness of the air. The trip is etched in memory. Oh for the benefit of the hypothermia police. We did dress marginally adequately for the water temperature, which had to be in the 30s---farmer john neoprene, paddle jackets and pants, nylon and polyester pile tops. We also were in a very stable Klepper double and the guy with us in a solid Dirigo that wasn't going to go over. My only concern was that some of the sharp ice might slash the hypalon hull, but it left not a mark. The stuff is tougher than most people realize. I think I will have to keep my ear sharp to see if sometime this month such conditions are duplicated once more and go out again. I don't think however, that there is much ice on the river yet. ralph diaz -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Ralph Diaz . . . Folding Kayaker newsletter PO Box 0754, New York, NY 10024 Tel: 212-724-5069; E-mail: rdiaz_at_ix.netcom.com "Where's your sea kayak?"----"It's in the bag." ----------------------------------------------------------------------- *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List Submissions: paddlewise_at_lists.intelenet.net Subscriptions: paddlewise-request_at_lists.intelenet.net Website: http://www.gasp-seakayak.net/paddlewise/ ***************************************************************************
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