As I understand it, the approved technique is to get the bow to lunge up onto the ice and let the weight of the keel push the ice down to break. *
Our ice seems to be getting a bit thinner every day. It started out around 1.5 - 2 inches thick, then got six inches of snow on top, which all melted to form a 6" slush layer, which then refroze. No way the boat was going to budge from that. I was a bit worried that it seemed to be sitting very low in the water... until I realized that the ice was floating, so the actual water line was still several inches below the surface. Seems to be back down to 1 - 2 inches now. Maybe 200 yards to clear water. Or less if one could intersect that guy's track.
*Possibly a good way to crack off plastic depth and speed through-hulls.