Early Season Sailing Story

[Ralph Morrison]

The couple of posts of riders getting out on partially frozen lakes reminded me of something that happened to me. Some years ago I went out at Island beach at Deer Creek. The bay and part of the main lake were free of ice. I had taken a half dozen tacks and looked up wind to see a fifteen acre chunk of ice had broken off and the wind was blowing it right at me. I made a bee-line for shore (fortunatly the wind didn't let me down). The ice arrived shortly after I did. It hit the shore with alot of force, moving ice onto land and creating big piles. It was an eye opener.

[Mark Johnson]

I have also heard of stories of UL where ice starts to fly when the wind picks up during the thaw.

[JimSouthwick]

Hitting the floating ice with a modern fiberglass board is likely to have a very bad outcome, unlike the old days when we could use our polyethylene Windsurfers® as mini icebreakers.