UP WIND OF OPEN WATER
The following picture is of a place you never want to be.
The picture is looking north. The upwind shore line is about 1000 feet south. The down wind open water is over a mile wide. It is gusting over 30 mph from the south. The ice sheet in front of the camera is being plucked away and often will loose a big piece. If the ice breaks upwind of you there is a good chance the outcome will not be good.
There are many stories in Scandinavia of rescues on their bigger lakes. The most well known break away rescue on Lake Champlain took place off Charlotte.
On February 22, 1988. It involved 21 fishermen and three heilopters. The max temp was 38 degrees and the peak wind in Burlington was 37 MPH, It is likely that it was significantly higher on the lake. Click here for a link to an article on the accident.
On Lake Champlain certain places do this regularly: Outter Mallets bay is about 3 miles in diameter and is well exposed to strong winds that will push the ice sheet back and forth as the big winds change directions. The north half of Shelburne Bay does the same thing.
