First ice on the water this morning, feels like winter has really arrived in south east. Earlier snow showers just didn’t count for a lad brought up in the lakes. Takes me back to last Dec when we set off for few weeks cruise to Kinver and spent a week breaking ice to get there. Apart from needing blacking this year, it was an enjoyable trip, cold days but no wind meant it was pleasant cruising.
I want to ask the question whether others think it is “polite” to cruise when the canal is frozen. We had some complaints and one person said we’d sink his boat (because the ice gets pushed against his “steel” hull). I know the noise is quite loud when you’re inside the boat, so can understand there may be some objection. Are we moving to a time when cruising outside social hours and times of teh year becomes frowned upon by a section of the boating community.
It is not frowned upon to navigate our waterways when frozen, it is only those that have older boats with thin hulls that may complain, but if passing boats at the slowest speed possible, no damage should be done, so enjoy the experience, having said that I always wait for an ice breaker to pass before I pull pins!