sea skating

[smoo]

Anyone here skate on the sea?

Saw someone doing it last weekend and it looked really fun. I've actually never ice-skated in my life, but I do quite a bit of inline skating in the summer. I don't much fancy skating on a rink, but the idea of gliding off any-which-way across the sea is rather attractive.

There seem to be two schools of thought. This bloke reckons that the skates with heels not fixed (like XC skis) are best, and uses poles:

http://lipas.uwasa.fi/~ts/info/timonice.html

But this guy seems to think the fixed heel skates are safer, and doesn't use poles.

http://xray.bmc.uu.se/markh/skating/skating.html

Coming from a vaguely freestyle (or at least non-nordic) inline roller skating backround the idea of poles really doesn't appeal, and neither does having the heels not fixed. I was always taught that you should push through the heels when skating and I didn't get on too well with skate style XC skiing when I tried it once. So I'm thinking that different people will have different opinions but that with my background I'd be better off with the fixed style....

Although given that the ice seems to be melting now this may be a next year thing...

[teddibiase]

Anyone here skate on the sea?

Saw someone doing it last weekend and it looked really fun. I've actually never ice-skated in my life, but I do quite a bit of inline skating in the summer. I don't much fancy skating on a rink, but the idea of gliding off any-which-way across the sea is rather attractive.

There seem to be two schools of thought. This bloke reckons that the skates with heels not fixed (like XC skis) are best, and uses poles:

http://lipas.uwasa.fi/~ts/info/timonice.html

But this guy seems to think the fixed heel skates are safer, and doesn't use poles.

http://xray.bmc.uu.se/markh/skating/skating.html

Coming from a vaguely freestyle (or at least non-nordic) inline roller skating backround the idea of poles really doesn't appeal, and neither does having the heels not fixed. I was always taught that you should push through the heels when skating and I didn't get on too well with skate style XC skiing when I tried it once. So I'm thinking that different people will have different opinions but that with my background I'd be better off with the fixed style....

Although given that the ice seems to be melting now this may be a next year thing...

Push through the heels? Were you taught by Derian Hatcher?

[smoo]

Push through the heels? Were you taught by Derian Hatcher?

'fraid that reference escapes me... Google brings up Philadelphia Flyers. What's that, American "football"?

[teddibiase]

Push through the heels? Were you taught by Derian Hatcher?

'fraid that reference escapes me... Google brings up Philadelphia Flyers. What's that, American "football"?

NHL: He's about as mobile as an immobile thingy.

[Linda]

I'm not going to comment anything on pushing through heels, but rather on the ice-skating as a hobby:

Ice-skating on natural ice is really great, but one downside is that you really need good ice, and that is not always easily found. It should be thick and even enough and not have any snow on it (well, a couple of cm of light snow is OK, but makes it a lot more difficult to see the changes in the ice structure). I'm supposed to attend a long distance ice-skating course this weekend, it has been postponed 3 times already because of the lack of proper ice, and it will probably be postponed again. For the last course we had, we sat in a car for 6 hours to get to a place with good ice...

The poles are crucial for safe ice-skating on natural ice. Usually one of them is heavier and you test the thickness of the ice with that. And it's also very nice to use the poles when you have to go against the wind...

Having fixed or non-fixed skates is a matter of taste. They say that the non-fixed are more energy-efficient, but might be a bit more difficult to master. I've never tried a non-fixed skate, so I don't have any personal opinion on it... Actually I'm a beginner in this sport as well. I'd probably go ice-skating more, but I won't go alone for safety reasons, I don't have friends who share this interest and I haven't joined any organisation yet. Maybe next year...

Anyway, if you want to start ice-skating on natural ice, I'd definitely recommend you to attend some course, or go together with others who know what they're doing.

[smoo]

Thanks!

Yes, I hear you've really got to know what you are doing in terms of knowing the quality of the ice, whether there are hidden channels etc. I suppose that's something you're only going to learn easily from other people.

Would you not go alone because 1) you aren't experienced enough yet 2) because most people accept that it is too dangerous to do so, or 3) because it's a personal decision you've taken based on the magnitude of the risk although other people might reasonably see it differently? Quite a lot of the appeal for me would be getting to a point where I could do it alone reasonably safely.

[Mook]

On Monday we had some teambuilding - skating on Tuusulanjärvi, which is about 30km from Helsinki. (Lakes don't have the same current problems as the sea...)

From my brief experience (only 6 km) poles are a must since the surface isn't quite as smooth as an ice rink; they also help you go a bit faster.

Now I'm not sure that the fixed heel thing matters so much, but the skates meant for the sea/lake have a much thicker blade than normal hockey skates. Interestingly, some of the skates we used had the same bindings as cross-country skis.


-Mook

[Linda]

Would you not go alone because 1) you aren't experienced enough yet 2) because most people accept that it is too dangerous to do so, or 3) because it's a personal decision you've taken based on the magnitude of the risk although other people might reasonably see it differently? Quite a lot of the appeal for me would be getting to a point where I could do it alone reasonably safely.

I think that for me personally, it's a bit of everything. I am not experienced at all yet, I don't own those poles so I can't go and check how thick the ice is (and normal skiing poles are too weak for that), and in case the ice breaks under me, I know I can be in big trouble.

The problem with skating on natural ice is that the skateable ice is often new and thin, because the old (=thick) ice is covered with snow. On the other hand it's great to go on thin ice, you hear it "singing" under you (the tone gets higher when the ice is thin), and it is a bit exciting.

Anyway there are lots of people who go ice-skating alone on natural ice and I don't judge them. After all, it's a personal decision that you make, but it's good to know the risks involved.

[smoo]

Thanks for the info. Singing thin ice, wow, that's an interesting concept! A siren song, presumably...

Well, I guess I'd better find a club or something for next year, unless there's such a book as "the misanthrope's guide to dodgy ice", translated into English by the Kent & Sussex sea skating association ...

[Linda]

Thanks for the info. Singing thin ice, wow, that's an interesting concept! A siren song, presumably...

You can hear a bit of it here (it takes a while to load & you hear the sound best in the beginning of the video). It gets exciting when the guide tells you to keep distance to the person in front of you, and not go too fast!

The video is from the course I attended north of Savonlinna in January.

[smoo]

That's very cool; is it that warbling sound? Reminds me of something but I can't remember what...