I am not being prophetic or even critical, but since the announcement by the Paul’s to spend the winter in the ice in their boat ‘Gypsy Life’ my thoughts occasionally wander back a couple of decades. Back to the time that the ‘Gertrude and Ronald’ was over wintered in the ice, twice.

I/we dug through old photographs and come up with several of the time. I have put a couple up on the masthead of the blog, together with those a couple more are shown here.

The ‘Gertrude and Ronald’ was purchased off a local chap by another local chap/family. Much too many peoples surprise the new owners over wintered the vessel over at Kauk Harbor, about 5 K south west of Nain.

The photos of Fran and self sitting on the stern and the other of the boat almost obscured by snow drifts are of that winter. I may add that it was a bitterly cold day those were taken.

The boat survived that winter with a little help from the owners who periodically used a chain saw to cut the ice around the hull to relieve the pressure.

The following winter the new owners, presumably buoyed by the success of the previous year, decided to leave the boat in the ice again, this time just off the beach down near the airstrip.

Second time not so lucky. The ‘Gertrude and Ronald’ suffered hull damage and was hauled up on the beach never to sail the Labrador again.

The boat lay there like a big beached whale with time and scavengers slowly stripping her of any dignity and parts. From memory what was left of the hull was demolished and taken to the dump.

As mentioned I am not predicting any such events for the ‘Gypsy Life’. It is a well built steel hull, the owners have dome much research and taken many preventative measures.
From a previous stint in the ice in Europe [I know, it is not Labrador] it was discovered that after the boats engine was left running for an hour the ice would melt away from the hull to about a foot wide.
They also have a big muver of a chain saw to cut around the ice.

Sure there are many unknowns, but I wish them all the best for the coming season.