Kayaking on Ice

An ice-rich winter

This winter (2002/2003) has brought us some good frosts. Already several times an ice veneer has covered our local waters of the Kieler Foerde, an embayment of the Baltic Sea. Each time it is a great challenge to go kayaking in these conditions.

The first frost, mid December. The ice layer is growing and growing, the Hoern ( the most inner harbour basin) is well-frozen by now. It is Friday the thirteenth and finally, after all those windy, miserable days, we have still and sunny weather. Now there is nothing holding me back to head down to the boat shed to go for a winter paddle. A look at the meteorological station at the Institute of Marine Sciences gave me a little set-back: air temperature –3 °C and water temperature 2.4 °C, however barometric pressure rising and wind speeds of 1-2 Beaufort. Hence - why not?

Now then, quickly I got the kayak ready and myself wrapped up warmly, careful not to forget the pogies. From our jetty I first headed south into the harbour basin, passing several moored and well-winterized traditional sailing ships. But, half way into the bay, where the Scandinavian ferries make fast, the leading edge of the ice stopped my progress. Quite this far out into the basin I had not expected it to be. The ice, though broken into large chunks, was already re-connected by thinner, clear ice. The wounds inflicted by passing ships heal fast.

To date, my water sport experiences with solid water were restricted to the long-range passing by of belated single ice floats in spring. Thus I sat quite excited in my kayak, which is not reinforced to icebreaker-quality, on the brink of the ice and started to try out what one could do:

Driving the boat onto the ice until the ice fails and the boat breaks through (very unpleasant scratching sounds on the hull).
Piercing the ice with the edge of the blade and driving the boat onwards onto the ice..

But I did not go far into the ice because it is a frightening feeling when the paddle does not penetrate the ice and instead glides abruptly off the ice surface. The pull of the intended paddle stroke can bring the paddler badly out of balance. Furthermore, I did not want to end up stuck in the ice, having to be rescued like a swan frozen in the ice.

Carpet of rounded, brittle ice floes; view from
Hindenburgufer to Kitzeberg

Thin ice in the inner fjord,
swedish ferry

When I wanted to take few photographs, as proof, the batteries very quickly went flat because of the cold. Then while trying to turn around I was forced to acknowledge that ice can be quite spiteful and intractable. Therefore I had to go in a large semi-circle, always on guard not to slip with the paddle. Eventually reaching the rim, it was wonderful to have liquid water surrounding the kayak. A quick look back showed that my “icebreaker” track looked rather idiosyncratic.

Onwards went the trip, heading north along the eastern side of harbour basin. The sun was shining and with the wind down it became pleasantly warm. After a while I realised that the water drops falling onto the shady side of my boat were frozen. It was not long before the whole surface of my craft was completely encrusted with knobbly, botryoidal ice. From the sides of my pogies as well as from the drip rings of the paddle cute little icicles hung down. My boat reminded me of an expedition ship on the way to Spitzbergen, which needed regular knocking off of its ice carapace to keep it from becoming top-heavy.

Near the little settlement of Moenkeberg a hot cup of tea and some munchies were welcome to replenish the energy reserves for the trip back. The air was wonderfully clear, the water was quiet and still. Nearly no shipping traffic, only the ferry connecting the east and the western halves of Kiel operated and a military vessel sailed into the military harbour. The Foerde, bathed in the sallow light of a weak winter sun, radiated a fantastic atmosphere.

Ice carpets looked at from close-by are fascinating entities. Our local Baltic Sea ice, which is strongly influenced by wind and wave action, shows a much wider range of shapes than freshwater ice of little lakes:

beached ice floes,
Hindenburgufer

Individual chunks made of thick, opaque ice have abraded margins formed by the constant rubbing against each other due to the wave motion.
Also, their margins can be bulging by adhering “ice puree”.
Other chunks can have a rather angular shape with sharp edges, like for instance wreckage chunks from passing ships.
Some chunks show a rim of clear needles of ice, which are oriented radially around the old ice body. They occur in rather quiet, motionless ice rafts.
In between those ice chunks, a kind of ice-needle-soup is forming, which grows more and more solid with time. The structure of this type of ice reminds me strongly of hash browns.
Again other forms are shown by continuous ice blankets, which for example can be perforated by updoming areas of about 30 cm diameter (possibly formed by air, trapped underneath ice, trying to escape).
Or they show irregular, winding and nearly-parallel ‘strings’. These are generated by the ice moving passed posts, buoys and other obstacles at the water surface.

All these many different forms of ice and the mixtures between “solid“ and “liquid“, which occur but do not have names, show us here a lack in terminology. People of the ice regions however have a much more detailed vocabulary, but of course they are very intimately involved in icy ice. Also, nobody there would cast funny glances at a kayaker in winter. But when I, cosily warm, arrived safely at our jetty, some people strolling by looked rather puzzled – just why??