2/19/2003: Skaters on ice

Imagine being out there. These Swedish folks were caught when the ice they were skating on broke up and started floating out into the Baltic Sea. They actually had to be rescued by helicopter; this shot is from the point of view of the rescuers, who were filming it. There were 50 skaters altogther, so we could have hoped for a better cropped shot of the whole thing. The good news is that all 50 were rescued.

This never happens to inline skaters.

on ice that unstable, I sure wouldn't be standing up on my skates, concentrating the weight on a mere square inch or two of surface area.... spread eagled looking at the helicopters, waiting for my turn for rescue, yup.

hypothermia (if not quick drowning due to the skates and water logged clothes) would set in within 15 minutes... that's a lot of peeps to rescue in such a short time if it all went badly.

they are lucky indeed.

I wouldn't want to be standing on skates in the rotor wash either.

When I was a kid I used to visit an uncle in Minnesota who drove a school bus as a side job. In the cold of winter (and MN gets pretty darn cold) he would drop of the kids in the morning at school and take the shortcut across the lake back to the garage where he stored the bus.

I used to ice fish with him too. Once while out there I heard the cracking of ice in the distance. I wondered aloud if we had to worry and he told me you only worry when you don't hear anything as then the ice is getting soft and slushy.