Ice

Imagine the waves that for three-fourths of a century have buffeted the ancient Kristin, strained her skeleton.

Now picture her skin pulverizing ice of varying thickness.  In your mind’s ear, hear the sound of ice breaking.

The captain below, recently delivering a fiberglass vessel upriver, could continue  northward only after Michigan Service led the way, breaking ice with steel.

Given the season, I’m soon off in search of my own ice fotos for the season. I’d love to foto Lynne Cox swimming to Antarctica, a great read, by the way, or someone else.  I’ve done a SHORT winter ocean swim myself and know the spears of pain, followed by never feeling cold again the rest of the winter.

Meanwhile, I’m wondering about the impact, literally, of ice breaking on hull paint.  I recall once talking with workers at a shipyard in northeastern Massachusetts who were attaching oak sheathing planks as ice protection over a forward waterline area of a wood-hulled dragger.  I understand from “steel vessel” math that thin ice goes into steel only once, but … how many times (or what if any abrasion of paint/coating results) does steel go into Hudson River ice?

Fotos here by tugster, Jeff Anzevino and Aaron Singh, respectively.

As a means to thaw, check out this website, pelican passage . . . as its author says, “from a boatman’s point of view.  Another interesting site is “sleepboot” (Dutch for  “tugboat”).  Although the text is Dutch, the pix are interesting.  Both have been added to the blogroll.