Sunday, January 4, 2015

Dealing With the Ice

Off the Island--Shore Side Behind Me

Moving from Water to Ice

Home at Last!

C said I should get my picture in the blog as it's been a few years for me.  I thought it might be useful to show how we deal with the ice when it is in the "water or ice" stage on the lake.  We use the kayak outfitted with a two piece breakdown paddle, two ski poles collapsed to two feet, and one hoe that runs around four feet.  It is common to use all of these items in one trip across. 

Today we ran from ice, using the ski poles and sliding on top, to water using the oar, and back to ice on the shore side using a sharp stroke from the paddle to get on top again.  Lots of good, calorie-burning exercise after the holidays!  We didn't need the hoe, as it comes in more useful when the ice is collapsing all around the kayak and you need to reach out further to find a purchase to move the kayak along.

We had lots of trips across today as C runs an antique business via the mail and I wanted to get her merchandise ready for mailing on the other side before the wind chill moved to below zero--where it will be tomorrow.  If her customers only knew how their antiques traveled!