Icebergs are quite picturesque on a sunny, light wind day. In fog, or at night, or in high winds, they are concerns to be avoided. While icebergs show up on radar, many smaller pieces of ice (growlers and brash ice in particular), don't. Most of the smaller pieces of ice that have split from an iceberg are found downwind of the iceberg. So, one generally tries to pass icebergs upwind.

Issuma's hull is strong enough to withstand some ice, but I'd rather not find out the hard way just how much it can take! The biggest danger from small pieces of ice is to the propellers, which are not protected. When motoring, if we can't avoid the ice (ie, there is enough of it that one can't go around it), I try and put the propellers in neutral when entering the ice and coast through--that way if they do hit the ice, they are closed (the propellers fold) and not spinning at speed.