Icebreaking operations in full swing on Great Lakes, Coast Guard says

Commanding Officer Travis Borchuk of the Canadian Coast Guard says the first time he was aboard an ice breaker was as an 18-year-old cadet aboard the CCGS Louis St-Laurent on the Arctic Ocean.

The experience left an impression on him. 

"We were going through some multi-year ice," Borchuk said. "I distinctly remember running out to the bridge ... in order to see what we'd just gone through."

The ship had driven through an ice ridge, almost four metres thick.

"The ship went through, cleanly, sliced through and folded that sheet, that heavy ridging down in half and pushed it aside. It was really impressive." 

Borchuk is now at the helm of the CCGS Samuel Risley, an icebreaker, one of two ships – the other being the CCGS Griffon – currently breaking a path for commercial vehicles on Lake Huron.

Though it's been a mild winter, there's still plenty of ice, and currently the Risley is making its way through "brash– " small, broken up pieces of ice that have been chewed up by ships passing through. It's not a difficult run for the ships to make, Borchuk likens it to a toboggan moving through slush.

But being aboard the ship during a harbour breakout, where the ship plows through untouched, solid ice, is an almost indescribable experience.

"And when we do go in there, you can feel it actually rumble through the whole ship," Borchuk said. "Different types of ships actually move a little bit differently as they go through the ice."

"I guess you see an undulating feeling as it sort of rides up and down and it sort of, it gets a bit of a harmonics going."

"Then you get a very deep rumbling with the occasional loud banging noise as you hit pieces of ice with a little bit more energy."

The CCGS Risley has what's called a forward superstructure, so crew sits right on top of the ice as the ship plows ahead.

"It's kind of a very constant heavy rumble and crushing sound," Borchuk said. "So you get really cold weather, and that ice becomes brittle and makes more of a cracking noise as you move through."

The CCGS Griffon recently finished breaking ice near Manitoulin Island and Bruce Mines, and is currently heading south.

Provincial Police sent a reminder this week to outdoor enthusiasts to steer clear of the icebreakers, and to take caution, as the operation can render surrounding ice unstable.