: Here in Canada I used to try to expand the paddling season to the full 12
: months I felt entitled to. I have managed to get the boat into the water
: right up to November, and once in January; never quite managed December
: tho. The geese walking around on the ice seemed a bit confused when I
: paddled past them in the narrow open channel. So narrow, I couldn't turn
: the boat, but the one I was using goes equally well in either direction.
: The paddles skid on ice so I contemplated putting tire studs on the paddle
: at one so I could follow even narrower channels but common sense
: prevailed. I did confirm by experiment that a kayak is not suited for use
: as an icebreaker! It did what all good icebreakers did, slid up on top of
: the ice so the weight could break it. That is, until I hit a thicker piece
: of ice; the bow rode up and up until the boat became unstable. I didn't
: get a ducking fortunately, just a bad scare; a lake with an uninhabited
: shore is not a good place for a mid-winter dip.

You can use a couple of long-shafted awls (or screw drivers) to get through the narrow spots. Keep them in front of your seat till you need them. When you need to claw your way through a tight spot, rest the paddle on the deck, grab the awls (drivers), spike them into the ice and drag yourself along. Works like a charm.

I beg to differ on the ice-breaker theme. Hee! Hee! I think some designs would not do well running over ice but my Waters Dancing Lightning 17 is flat enough in the center to do well enough, if and only if, I do not allow one keel to hang on the ice while the other is in the water - that situation has caused me to swim in the past (embarrassing only because there was a witness on the opposite shore to where I was launching). The edge of the ice used to chew up the keel (several layers of fibreglass) so I modified my yak by adding a 4' length of brass stem band to the forward keel - works like a charm. I also built my yak using West System 207 hardener to allow the hull more flex under the foam shock absorbers which were installed under all bulkheads. The bottom of the hull is coated with no less than 5 layers of Hex-Boron Nitride (HBN) which seems to me to be working a wee bit better than graphite powder. My only issue with ice running in this kayak is its length - it's too long to turn during severely clogged ice conditions. I do have a project on the saw horses that will aleviate that problem - the RP Sport, a 12' long, higher volume design that I think will work well once I complete certain modifications to make it better suited for ice running. It turns on a dime which makes it good for getting around those larger ice pans that seem to float too close together. A 17' kayak just can't be maneuvered comfortably under those conditions. Oh yeah, toss in a healthy current with a myriad of micro-currents to make things interesting.

Sigh, only 4 months to go before spring breakup.

Robert N Pruden